Wash ginger well, peel the skin and cut them to thick slices.

Heat oil in a pan. Fry chana dal & urad dal until light golden. Add red chilies and saute until they turn crisp. Dal should become deep golden. Transfer these to a plate.

Add onions and ginger. Saute until they turn pink or light golden. Do not brown the ginger. Add cumin and turn off the stove. You can also skip frying ginger to retain the medicinal benefits.

Cool all the roasted ingredients. Soak tamarind in water for a while. You can also use tamarind directly if you prefer. Set this aside.

Add all the cooled ingredients to a blender jar along with jaggery, little tamarind, salt and little water. Blend all these till smooth or coarse chutney to suit your taste.

Add more water if needed to bring to consistency. Adjust salt, jaggery & tamarind as needed. Allam chutney should taste spicy, hot, sweet & tangy.

Heat a tbsp oil in a small pan. Add mustard, urad dal & red chilli. When the mustard splutters, add curry leaves. When they turn crisp, sprinkle hing. Turn off the stove and pour this over the allam chutney.

Serve ginger chutney with pesarttu, dosa or idli.