Sandalwood Leaves Tambuli / Gandhadele Tambuli

Recently, a friend’s family visited us for lunch. Post lunch, we were roaming around in our small garden. They spotted that sandalwood plant in a corner, which is growing on its own. They said, “the leaves can be used to prepare chutney and it tastes very well too.”  It was not known to us so far though sandalwood plants are not new to us. (I tried Bilwapatre tambuli earlier and it came out very good). So, very next weekend, this Gandhadele Tambuli was ready in our home for lunch. The result was "Awesome" with that very refreshing healthy pleasant mild aroma of sandalwood that anyone will love. Sandalwood extract is a well known remedy for indigestion problems. The paste/powder (a pinch) of the sandalwood stem is used for colic/ stomach cramp in infants.

Here is the recipe for Sandalwood leaves tambuli.

Ingredients:

Sandalwood Leaves (tender) – Handful or 10-20

Fresh grated coconut - ¼ cup

Fresh Curds/ Buttermilk – 1/2 cup

Salt

Green chilli – 1 or Pepper (I prefer later)

Pure Sandalwood oil or Pure sandalwood powder – a pinch (optional)

Mustard – 1 spoon

Oil -  1 spoon

Red Chilli - 1

Method:

Pick the sandalwood leaves, wash, fry with little ghee or oil in a pan. Need not fry too deep and keep aside. Take coconut, pepper in a mixer jar, add the fried leaves and grind adding salt. Bring it to a smooth paste.  Add curds/ buttermilk to the ground paste. In a tempering/ tadka pan, heat oil, add mustard and chilli flakes. When starts spluttering, add curry leaves, switch of the heat and season the tambuli, add a drop of pure sandalwood oil or pinch of powder to improve aroma.Serve as a side dish for rice.