Tangy Tamarind Shavige/ Tangy Tamarind Rice Noodles

Tamarind rice noodles is a nice twist to the regular lemon based or coconut based rice noodles and tastes similar to the puliyogare/pulihora but is quite different in texture .This is an ideal food even on a festival day as no onion and garlic are used in preparing this recipe.The tangyness from tamarind is well balanced by the sweetness from the jaggery,where as the sesame seeds and coconut gives a nice nutty texture and hing adds a nice zing flavor to the noodles.All I can say is this is a completely packed with flavors and a well balanced meal.

Ingredients:
1 small pack rice noodles or 4 cups freshly pressed rice hoppers
1 big lemon size tamarind
3-4 tbsp groundnuts
4-5 cashewnuts,chopped
2 tbsp grated jaggery
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
4-5 dry red chillies,broken
3-4 green chillies,slit
a pinch of turmeric/haldi(optional)
2 generous pinches of hing
a sprig of curry leaves
2 tbsp oil(normal cooking oil what ever you use)
1 tbsp sesame oil
salt to taste

To roast and grind:
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 tbsp grated dry coconut
1/4 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek
1/4 tsp mustard seeds

for garnish:
2 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Method:

• Boil the rice noodles with some salt and oil in a big pot of water until they are cooked.Drain and keep it aside to cool.Spread on a wide plate in order to retain noodle strands separately.You can even use freshly pressed rice string hoppers which ofcourse gives you better taste than the ready made one's.
  
• Soak tamarind in 1/4 cup of water for 10-15 mins or microwave the mixture for 1 min.Microwave method is quite quick when u have lack of time.After it is cooled add grated jaggery and mix well until it is melted completely.
• Dry roast mustard,fenugreek seeds separately.Dry roast sesame seeds until they pop up.Cool them completely and grind all the roasted seeds along with grated coconut to a fine powder.
• In a kadai heat normal oil and sesame oil and crackle the mustard seeds,add groundnuts and cashewnuts and fry until they turn red.Add chana dal,urad dal,red chillies,green chillies and fry for a couple of minutes until done.
• Add curry leaves,hing and turmeric powder and fry for a minute and then add tamarind pulp mixture and mix until the mixture thickens completely.Add enough salt to it and mix.
• Now remove it from the stove and let it cool a bit and reserve some mixture and pour the remaining mixture over the cooled rice noodles and also add the powder (ground) and mix properly until everything is well blended.Now check the taste of it and add more tamarind mixture or salt according to your taste.
• Garnish with coriander and grated fresh coconut and serve.

Serve with salad and raitha.