Vatane Aambat with Teppal (Peas Curry )

Teppal is a commonly used spice in Konkani cuisine. Or rather I should say, a must for most of the fish curries, raandayis, sukke and dhodak dishes. I love the use of teppal too, but my husband hates it. Thats the reason, I hardly make anything with it. Infact, I can say in the past 5 years, I must have hardly used it about 2-3 times. But recently seeing it some blogs, I just longed to have the teppla aambat. Shilpa has given a very nice explanation about teppal here.

The 2 round black pieces in the above pic are teppal. The ones I have used are the dried variety and pretty old. The fresh ones in season are bright green in colour. I remember my mom dividing it into shares for different aunts who din't have them easily available :).

Please note that Teppal cannot be consumed. It is used just for its flavour. For using it, a few teppal are crushed slightly in a little water and If you accidently bite into it, it gives a very strong tingling sensation which is very hard to get rid of. So pick it out of the curry when you see it and then eat the rest. So wondering, why use this after all ?? You have to eat it to know, its all worth it :) ....

I made the curry with potatoes, green peas and drumsticks.

Ingredients

Grated Coconut - 1/2
Red Chillies - 15
Tamarind - 1 big piece
Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Teppal - about 8 pieces
Potatoes - 1 ,cut into chunks
Drumsticks - about 6 pieces
Green Peas - 1/4 cup, soaked overnight
Salt - to taste

Method

- Pressure cook the soaked peas for 1 whistle.
- Crush the teppal in a little water and keep aside.
- Grind the coconut, red chillies, tamarind and haldi by adding water to make a fine paste.
- Boil the potatoes and drumsticks with a little water in a vessel, add the green peas to it ,add the ground coconut masala. Also, add the teppal and salt and boil well.

Note :
- These kind of curries with Teppal are usually made very spicy.
- Instead of tamarind, we also use kokum pieces ( Bhinda Sol ) . The Kokum will not be ground though, it is added while the masala is added to the boiled vegetables.
- Raw mango pieces also are added to this curry sometimes. Tastes very good.

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