Kothamalli / Cilantro Thokku

Cilantro is such a flavorful and aromatic herb. Although it's mostly used to garnish and season Indian dishes, it can also be used to prepare a tart and spicy dish that can be used a side-dish. Thokku can be used as a dip and even as a spread on breads.

If any of you are familiar with, or are fans of Grand Sweets' Kothamalli thokku and have been trying to replicate it at home, look no further! My mother-in-law has outdone herself with this thokku recipe. The thokku tastes very much like the popular one!

Ingredients (yields about 1 - 1.5 cups):

1. A big bunch of cilantro / coriander leaves (as purchased from the store and amounting to about 4 cups). Remove half of the stalks (the tough ends), not the whole. The stalks are equally flavorful.
2. 1/2 inch ball of tamarind
3. 3 tablespoons ulutham paruppu / split urad dhal / split black gram dhal
4. 4-5 dry red chillies
5. ⅓ cup sesame oil
6. 2 teaspoons salt
7. 1.5 - 2 teaspoons hing / asafoetida
8. 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
9. 2 teaspoons jaggery / brown sugar

Preparation:

1. In a tablespoon of oil, fry the ulutham paruppu / split black gram, hing and red chillies until the dhal turns golden. Remove from oil.
2. Wash the cilantro (no need to cut) and towel dry slightly. Add the cilantro to the residual oil in the pan from step 1. Saute the cilantro on medium-heat until it wilts. Then add tamarind to the residual heat and stir.
3. When cool, grind everything from steps 1 and 2 along with salt, to a smooth thick paste by just sprinkling water as required
4. In the same pan, heat the remaining sesame oil. When hot, splutter mustard seeds, and add the ground paste and keep stirring on low-medium heat. Halfway through the cooking process (in about 5 - 10 minutes), add the jaggery and brown sugar and continue stirring until the thokku comes together as a mass and leaves the sides of the pan. If needed, add more oil as the thokku cooks to avoid it from sticking to the pan. The more oil you add, the more the thokku will absorb and fry for longer resulting a much deeper greenish-brown shade.
5. Remove from heat, let it cool, then transfer to a clean, dry, air-tight jar. Refrigerate to maximize shelf life.

 

Now this thokku tastes very similar to the Grand Sweets' one. However, the Grand Sweet's version has twice the amount of tamarind used in this recipe, a little more salt, and way more oil. A comparative taste-test reveals how much tamarind has gone into the Grand Sweets'  version! So if you are looking to get the exact taste of the packaged thokku, use more tamarind, oil, and salt. In my opinion, the recipe listed here retains and highlights the flavor of the coriander leaves as opposed to the packaged one that masks the taste of the herb with its liberal use of tamarind. While both versions taste really good, you can adjust the proportions of tamarind and salt to arrive at a version that you like.  Also, since this thokku is not meant to be stored for a long period of time, the conservative amount of oil used in this recipe is sufficient.