Cucumber Thambuli – South Indian

Step 1: Prepare the paste ingredients

Take 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber (deseeded if needed), 1/4 cup grated fresh coconut, 2 green chillies, 3 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves, 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, and 1 tsp sesame seeds.

Step 2: Grind the ingredients into a smooth paste

Place all the paste ingredients into a grinder and blend until a smooth paste is formed.

Step 3: Combine paste with curd and salt

Transfer the ground paste to a bowl. Add 1 cup of fresh homemade curd and salt as per taste.

Step 4: Whisk until lump-free

Whisk the mixture well until the curd is lump-free and fully incorporated with the paste.

Step 5: Add remaining chopped cucumber

Add the remaining 3/4 cup of chopped cucumber to the mixture and mix gently.

Step 6: Prepare the tempering

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan over medium heat.

Step 7: Add tempering spices

Once the oil is hot, add 1 tsp mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add 1 tsp cumin seeds, a sprig of curry leaves, and 2 dried red chillies. Cook until the chillies darken slightly and the curry leaves are crisp.

Step 8: Pour tempering over the thambuli

Carefully pour the hot tempering over the cucumber and curd mixture.

Step 9: Mix well and serve

Mix the tempering into the thambuli. Serve immediately with hot steaming rice on a banana leaf. Do not heat or cool the thambuli further.

• Do not temper with ghee, as ghee will solidify in a cooling agent like thambuli; use oil instead.

• The ground paste can be salted and used as a cucumber chutney.

• Cucumber can be replaced with other ingredients like spinach, Dodapatre (Indian Borage), fenugreek, ginger, or Brahmi leaves to create different variations of thambuli.