Udupi Tambli

Cold coconut-yogurt herb preparation — the signature cooling side dish of the Udupi meal: a single herb or ingredient (raw cumin, pepper, fresh ginger, fenugreek, or pumpkin) briefly toasted or used raw, ground with fresh coconut into a smooth paste, then mixed with beaten yogurt and tempered with mustard seeds and dried red chilli in coconut oil. Served at room temperature or cold — unlike all other Udupi curry preparations, the tambli is not heated. The herb or spice ingredient determines the medicinal and flavour character: cumin tambli aids digestion; fenugreek tambli reduces pitta; ginger tambli warms in winter. Eaten as a small pour over rice at the beginning of the meal to prepare the stomach; the cooling, lactic, coconut-flavoured tambli sets up the palate for the heavier huli and saaru that follow. Unique to the coastal Karnataka Brahmin kitchen.