I tasted this curry at my friend C's home and I got this recipe from her. This ambat is another twist to the normal "Randayi" or coconut curry made in a typical Konkani home. Ambat means "sour" in Konkani and curd is added in the end to give this curry a tangy taste.
Alsando or chawli (long beans), raw banana, magge (also called Konkani cucumber or lemon cucumber), ashgourd (called kuvale in Konkani and petha in Hindi), yam or suran and ghosale (ridge gourd) can be used to make this curry. Which ever vegetable is on hand can be used individually or in a combination with the other vegetable. I used raw banana and long beans to make this curry.
Ingredients
1 cup vegetables cut in cubes (choose from the above mentioned vegetables; I used raw banana and long beans)
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup curd or yogurt
3-4 red chilies (byadgi or kashmiri chili will give the curry a rich red color)
4 pea-sized piece of tamarind or 1/4th teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil or any other oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
5-8 curry leaves or karipatta
1 teaspoon jaggery or gur or 1 teaspoon sugar
Method
Boil or pressure cook the vegetables in a little amount of water and a pinch of salt. Fry the chilies in 1/2 teaspoon oil. Grind into a fine paste with tamarind, jaggery and coconut using as little water as possible. Mix the paste with the boiled vegetables and get the curry to a boil. Mix curd with water need to get the curry to a desired consistency. Remove any lumps in the curd. Add the curd to the curry and salt the curry as per taste.
Cook on low flame for another 2-3 minutes.
Seasoning:
Heat coconut oil in a seasoning pan and add mustard. When the mustard starts to splutter, switch off the gas and add curry leaves. Stir and add it to the curry. Cover the curry for 5 minutes so that the flavor from the seasoning gets infused into the curry. Serve hot with rice.
