Alma Bax 
Cumin Pepper Gravy is a traditional Indian dish made with flour, cumin seeds, pepper powder, salt and yogurt. It is a popular accompaniment to rotis or rice.
Cumin Pepper Gravy is a gravy that is made with cumin, pepper, and onion. The spices are fried in butter or oil before the water is added. To make it more authentic, you can add tomato puree to the gravy while cooking. Read more in detail here: how to make country gravy.
Jeere meere khadi is a Konkani gravy made with cumin and pepper. It has a tangy, spicy flavor with a strong garlic flavor. It’s prepared with cumin, pepper, and sour buttermilk/yoghurt in a coconut gravy. The addition of garlic spice enhances the flavor.
In Konkani, khadi refers to any gravy that contains curds. Because this dish contains cumin and pepper, it is called jeere meere khadi. In Konkani, jeere denotes cumin, while meere means pepper.
This gravy/khadi is served with rice by Konkanis for lunch or supper. When served with potato stir fry, this is my husband’s favorite meal (batate upakari). Everyone at home like this dish (jeere meere khadi) with dosas. Brown rice-white rice dosas (ukde suray polo/bakri polo in Konkani) are very popular. That’s a wonderful combination. I prepare dosas for breakfast almost every day simply to eat with this curry.
Ingredients:
- cumin (1 teaspoon)
- 7-8 peppercorns
- 3/4 cup coconut grated
- 3 red dried chili peppers
- 1/2 cup buttermilk/sour curds
- (if your curds/buttermilk aren’t sour) 1/2 tamarind (if your curds/buttermilk aren’t sour)
- season with salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Seasonings include:
- 2-3 tbsp. olive oil
- 7-8 cloves of garlic
Serves: 2
Time to prepare: 20-25 minutes
Method of Preparation:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a tempering pan, add cumin, peppercorns, and roughly broken down pieces of dried red chilies, and cook until cumin begins to sputter, about 2 minutes. Remove them from the fire and set them aside to cool fully.
2. Grind them with the shredded coconut and tamarind (only if your curds/buttermilk aren’t sour enough) into a smooth paste using as much water as needed.
3. Pour the ground paste into a cooking pot and add enough water to make the curry semi-thick to watery. The curry will thicken as it cooks, and it will thicken even more as it cools, so keep it watery to semi-thick to begin with. In the end, jeere meere khadi should have a semi-thick consistency. We don’t want the curry to be overly thick or thin.
4. Season with salt to taste and bring to a boil. When the water has reached a boil, add the sour curds/buttermilk and stir thoroughly.
5. Simmer for a few minutes, or until the rawness of the masala has gone away, then turn off the heat.
6. Seasoning: In a tempering pan, heat the remaining oil, add the slightly smashed garlic, and cook until it begins to brown. Mix this spice into the curry/khadi well.
Garlic is crushed to release its flavor while also preventing it from spurting out.
7. Enjoy this spicy cumin and pepper gravy with a dish of boiling hot rice.
Observation:
Curds are traditionally used to make jeere meere khadi. My MIL, on the other hand, avoids the curds and instead grinds the masala with 1 lemon-sized tamarind. She also replaces the garlic spice with onion, mustard, and curry leaves. My favorite flavor in jeere meere khadi is garlic, while my husband prefers jeere meere khadi with onion spice.
Season mustard + curry leaves in a frying pan, then finely chop 1 medium sized onion and fry till it begins to brown, then add to the prepared gravy. It should be named jeere meere ambat, in my opinion. There’s a better term for it.
Here are some more curry dishes from Konkani cuisine.
Spicy, lunch, gravy, khadi, vegetarian, Konkani recipe, Konkani meal, Konkani cuisine, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, Konkani food, jeere meere khadi, Mangalore food, Konkani food
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Ben Austin 