Summer is all about greenery and bright colors; it’s exciting to see a platter of different yet natural colorful foods. This is one of my favorite thuvaiyal. Fresh curry leaves with fresh cucumber and green chillies blends well together yielding an ultimate spicy, tasty and flavorful thuvaiyal. Curry leaves are rich in iron and cucumber is a natural summer cooler. It pairs well with chapathis, hot idis, steamed rice with a spoonful of melted ghee.
Take a chutney blending jar, add curry leaves, coconut, salt, ginger, garlic, green chillies and tamarind.
Add cucumber juice few tablespoons at a time and grind into a coarse paste.
Finally add grated cucumber and just pulse it few times to get a thick and coarse (thuvaiyal) consistency.
Transfer this to a bowl.
Heat oil in a pan; add mustard seeds allow it to splutter.
Add the cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal and allow frying until they turn slightly brown.
Add red chilli and asafoetida.
Pour this seasoning into the thuvaiyal and serve with rice or idli or chapathi.
Notes
Thuvaiyal should be of thick consistency not flowing like chutney. Hence add cucumber juice accordingly. Do not add extra water while grinding.Do not grind the thuvaiyal for a long time after adding cucumber.