I love allam pacchadi (ginger pickle), and I have always eaten Pesarattu with this, so much so that I cannot imagine eating pesarattu with anything else. I always ensure we have a big bottle of this in the fridge so we can eat pesarattu anytime we want.
Long ago, I worked along with Mom to come up with this recipe, this is her's and she is a total boss with her kickass allam pacchadi.
However, over the years, using her recipe as a based, I have come up with my own method, to suit my kitchen and cooking style. Here it goes...
- Tamarind (1C, tightly packed) - soak in water and set aside.
- Jaggery (1C) - Chop or powder and set aside.
- Ginger (350gm) - Wash, dry and chop ginger. Shallow roast in some oil, set aside to cool. Once cooled, grind with some tamarind-paste or water to a paste.
- Mustard & Fenugreek seeds (1/4 C each) - Dry roast these together. Cool and dry grind them to a powder.
- Red Chillies , dry (roughly 2C in their dry state; half and half of regular and Kashmiri chillies) - take the tips off and shallow roast in oil. Set aside to cool. Dry grind to a powder.
- Hing - 1Tbsp, Turmeric powder - 1Tbsp, Salt - to taste.
- Mix all the dry ingredients - the roasted chili powder, hing, turmeric and salt - together and keep aside.
- Mix the ginger paste, tamarind paste and jaggery together.
- Now mix the dry and wet ingredients together to a paste.
- Curry leaves & Red chillis (to taste) - Heat some oil, sauté the curry leaves and red chillies. Add the mixed ginger paste to this and mix well. Keep mixing till the ginger paste leaves oil in the pan.
- Take off heat and set aside to cool.
- Keep in an airtight container. Can be eaten for upto 6 months if refrigerated.
- Serve with Pesarattu