Mint or Pudina Chuntey

Pudina or mint is one of my fav herbs...With all its medicinal values and great flavour this is one herb I wish to have in my fridge to make use off.

I use it in biriyanis, tandoori chicken, kebabs, to flavour my fruit punch, or lemonade, to make mint rice and to make chutney

Growing up always enjoyed my granny's thick spicy version with hot rice. But for upma we need a softer thinner version and also add a spoon of sugar to bring up those minty flavours which i really think go well to lift up mildness of upma.

Ingredients:
1 bunch Mint/Pudina leaves
1 Tbsp oil

To fry:
2 Tbsp Channa dhall
1 Tbsp Urad dhall
1 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1 Tbsp Cumin seeds
2 long Red chillies dry (increase the no. if desire spicy)
3-4 small Garlic pods skin on and crushed gently

Others:
1/4 lemon size tamarind soaked to soften
2/3 tsp sugar or powdered jaggery
Salt to taste
Enough water to grind the chutney.

Procedure:
Add oil to a hot saucepan, when heated add the dhalls and fry till color changes then add all the other frying ingredients and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or they turn the color.
Empty the fried ingredients onto a plate and allow them to cool.

Separate pudina leaves from stems and rinse them thoroughly, strain from water.
Add the leaves to tawa in which we just fried all the other ingredients.
Fry for a minute and remove from heat.
Empty these leaves onto another plate and top it with the soaked tamarind mixture to cool it fast.
Grind the fried dhal and other ingredients mixture to powder along with salt, then add the mint leaves, tamarind mixture along with sugar or jaggery and enough water to make a fine paste.
Check for enough salt, sweet and sour and add more if necessary. Add more water if the chutney is too thick and it is hard to grind.
If everything is OK, then empty into a bowl and serve with upma, idly or dosa.