Skip to content
FriendsPantry

South Indian · Indian

Karuveppilai thogayal (curry leaf chutney)

Vegetarian

கறிவேப்பிலைத் துவையல் · kaṟivēppilait tuvaiyal

Curry leaves fried until crisp with urad dal, dried chillies, pepper and tamarind, then ground to a thick, dark green paste. A thogayal is drier than a chutney and is meant to be mixed into hot rice with ghee or gingelly oil.

Karuveppilai thogayal (curry leaf chutney) is a South Indian condiment, ready in about 33 minutes and made with curry leaves and black gram (urad dal). It serves 6 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep
15 min
Cook
8 min
Rest
10 min
Total
33 min
Serves
6
Level
Easy
Calories
—

Ingredients

6 servings (about 20 g, for one plate of rice each)

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Strip the curry leaves (opens in a new tab) from their stems, wash them and spread them on a cloth until completely dry. Wet leaves spatter violently in oil and fry soggy.

    • 10 min

  2. Step 2

    Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Fry the urad (opens in a new tab) dal, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until evenly golden. Add the dried chillies and peppercorns (opens in a new tab) and fry for 1 minute until the chillies puff and darken a shade; add the asafoetida (opens in a new tab).

  3. Step 3

    Add the curry leaves (opens in a new tab) and fry, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until they shrink, turn crisp and slightly darker but are still green. Turn off the heat, add the tamarind (opens in a new tab) (and coconut (opens in a new tab), if using) and stir in the residual heat for 1 minute.

    Food safety: Curry leaves crackle and spit as they hit the oil; add them at arm's length.

  4. Step 4

    Cool for 10 minutes. Grind without water first to a coarse powder, then add the salt, jaggery and water a tablespoon at a time and grind in short bursts to a thick, slightly coarse paste you can shape into a ball.

    A traditional ammikal (grinding stone) or mortar gives the best texture.

  5. Step 5

    Taste: it should be hot, tangy and savoury with a pleasant bitterness. Serve mixed into hot rice with a spoon of ghee or gingelly oil (opens in a new tab).

    • 1 min

About this dish

Origin
Tamil Nadu, India · Commonly attributedThogayal (thuvaiyal) is a Tamil family of thick ground relishes; curry leaf is one of the most common. Coconut is optional and varies by household.More food from India
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Condiments, chutneys & relishes
Cooking method
Sautéed, Blended
Taste
aromatic / warmly spiced, earthy, spicy (chilli heat), tangy, bitter
Diet
Vegan · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegan · Plant-based · Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Whole-food focused · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free
Without the optional extras: No added sugarWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Everyday · Budget-friendly
Cook more with
Curry leaves · Black gram (urad dal) · Gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil) · Dried whole chillies · Black peppercorns · Asafoetida
Techniques
Sautéing · Wet grinding · Emulsification

Allergens

  • May contain: Wheatfrom asafoetida
  • May contain: Glutenfrom asafoetida
  • Contains, can be adapted: Sesamefrom gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil)

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

Nutrition not available for this recipe

Not enough data to calculate: Curry leaves. We show nothing rather than a made-up number.

Good to know

Tips

  • Use mature, dark leaves for flavour; tender pale leaves give less aroma.
  • Mixed with rice and a little oil, it makes a complete lunchbox meal with papad.

Common mistakes

  • Frying the leaves until brown, which makes the thogayal bitter and dull.
  • Adding too much water — a thogayal should be thick, not a dipping chutney.

Serve with

  • Mix into hot rice with ghee or gingelly oil and eat with papad, rasam or vathal kuzhambu.
  • Serve beside curd rice or with dosa and idli.

Food safety

  • Store in a scrupulously clean, completely dry jar (sterilise it in boiling water or a low oven and let it dry fully) and always use a dry spoon; moisture is what spoils chutneys, podis and pickles.

Storage

  • Keeps 4–5 days in a clean jar in the fridge without coconut, 2 days with coconut.

Variations

  • Karivepaku pachadi (Andhra): Adds garlic, cumin and more tamarind, and is finished with a mustard-seed tempering.
  • Coconut-free travel thogayal: Omit coconut and water and grind to a stiff paste with a little more oil; keeps longer.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Goes with

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 2, 3

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like