Today’s recipe is my definition of comfort food. ‘Thambuli’ is a light and easy to make yogurt based recipe that can instantly cool your body. This is a very popular dish in Udupi style of cooking and it usually is a part of every meal during summers.

‘Thambli’ can be prepared with almost all vegetables and each type is sure to have a unique flavour to it.

Here is the recipe for Thambuli 🙂

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

Spinach / baby spinach – 1 bowl

Shredded fresh coconut  (Or frozen is ok too) – 3 tbsp

Curd / yogurt / buttermilk – 1 cup (or more based on consistency required)

Ghee / clarified butter – 1 tbsp

Jeera or cumin seeds – 1 tbsp

Peppercorns – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

For tempering:

Refined oil – 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Urad Dal – 1 tsp

 

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Dry red chillies – 2

METHOD:

In a pan, heat ghee. Add the cumin seeds and peppercorns. Sauté well till the cumin seeds change color and you get the aroma of the spices.

Now add the chopped spinach or baby spinach. Sauté till the greens are blanched well in ghee.

Allow it to cool. Meanwhile defrost the shredded coconut if you are using the frozen one.

In a mixer, blend the coconut and the blanched spinach with spices into a fine paste using 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water.

Once this paste is ready, add salt and buttermilk / yogurt / curd. Mix well. You can add buttermilk / yogurt to attain a consistency of your preference.

Generally the thambuli’s are of a raita consistency but you can adjust it as per your preference.

Just before serving, prepare the tempering using the ingredients mentioned under ‘for tempering’ section and add to the spinach thambuli.

Serve with hot rice, dal and crunchy papad.