Gongura Pachadi

Before you start

• Soak the tamarind in 100ml of hot water for 20 minutes, then squeeze it to a thick pulp and discard the fibres.
• Wash the greens and spread them on a cloth until bone dry — wet leaves steam instead of frying and the chutney turns watery.
• Have a clean, completely dry glass jar ready; any moisture and this will not keep.

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp of the sesame oil in a kadhai and fry the dried red chillies, fenugreek seeds and half the cumin over low heat for 2 minutes, until the chillies darken by a shade and smell toasty.Fenugreek burns from tan to black in about ten seconds. Pull the pan off the moment it colours.
2. Lift the spices out onto a plate and set them aside to cool completely.
3. In the same pan add another 2 tbsp oil and the garlic, and fry 2 minutes until the cloves are pale gold at the edges.
4. Add the greens a large handful at a time with the green chillies and turmeric, and cook over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the leaves collapse and the pan goes almost dry.Keep cooking past the point where they look done. Any water left behind will spoil the chutney within days.
5. Stir in the tamarind pulp and salt and cook another 4 minutes, until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan in a single mass.
6. Cool the greens fully, then grind them with the toasted spices to a coarse paste — no water at all, and it should still have some texture.Grind in short pulses. A smooth purée loses the rustic bite this is meant to have.
7. Heat the last tbsp of oil, crackle the mustard seeds and remaining cumin, add the curry leaves and asafoetida, and pour the whole tempering over the chutney.Wait for the mustard to actually pop before the curry leaves go in, or the tadka tastes raw.
8. Fold the tempering through and taste for salt and sourness — it should hit sour first, then heat.

Storage

Packed into a dry jar with a thin film of oil on top, it keeps 3 weeks refrigerated and about 5 days at room temperature. Always use a dry spoon. Serve at room temperature with hot rice and a spoon of oil.