Try the desi taste of Karindi

BANGALORE: Karindi is a kind of chutney relished mostly by Veerashaiva community families or the families having influenced by that community living in central and northern Karnataka. This delicacy has to be enjoyed with plain rice or jowar roti or with rice and sambar as a side dish.Some of the ingredients of this special spicy chutney are fresh ginger, garlic, mustard and sesame, which are believed to have medicinal value. So, apart from adding taste to the food that one consumes, if it is used in a limited quantity, Karindi can help in curing many minor ailments like cold, cough, minor variations in blood pressure. The ingredients necessary to prepare this delicacy are: Green chilly (100 gm), fresh ginger rhizome (two pieces of index finger size), garlic bulbs (100 gm), mustard (half table spoon), turmeric (half tea spoon), sesame (25 gm), groundnut seeds (100 gm), methi (fenugreek) (25 gm), salt to the taste.Slice green chilly, fresh ginger rhizome into medium size. Peel four or five fleshy cloves of garlic. Grind all the ingredients, except methi, with green chilly, ginger and peeled cloves of garlic in a mixer to coarse texture and to a semi solid state. Keep this aside. Wash methi and add it to the mixture. Peel all the garlic cloves and cut them into medium size. Add cut garlic also to the mixture. Pour this mixture into an earthen pot, close its mouth air tight and keep it under the sun. Remember, nothing is added to this to give sour taste. So the mixture has to get that taste under natural fermentation. The pot has to be kept under the sun for three days. Leave it outside even during the nights. Karindi gets a good taste if the pot is exposed to mist during the night. Karindi is ready for use after three days. Pour this into a glass jar or bottle and keep it in refrigerator. This delicacy can be kept for a longer period if stored in refrigerator.Karindi has a tempting taste. But use it in smaller quantities. Otherwise it may lead to acidity if it is used without restraint. If one feels it too spicy little ghee or coconut oil may be added to tone down the spicy taste.Since this special chutney gets good taste if it is exposed to sun and mist alternatively and since the city is experiencing mist in the present winter this is the right season to prepare and enjoy Karindi.