Saturday, 11 January 2014

Sweet Bitter Gourd Gravy (Paagarkai pitla in Tamil)

Bitter gourd can be turned into a sweet dish with a little effort. Let us see how to make the bitter gourd taste sweet.

For that all we need :

1.  Bitter Gourd  1/4 kilo.
2. Tamarind  (size of a small lemon).
3. Turmeric Powder 1/4 tea spoon .
4. Sambar Podi  to your taste.
5. Grated coconut  2 teaspoons.
6. Salt to taste.
7. Powdered jaggery 2 to 3 teaspoons.
8. Oil to fry and garnish.
9. Mustard  to garnish.
curry leaves and coriander a little.

To fry and  grind:

Asafoetida a little.
Dhaniya   2 teaspoons.
Bengal gram dhal( Channa dhal)  2 tea spoons
Raw rice  2 tea spoons.
Red Chillies  2 or 3

Cut the bittergourds into small pieces.
  
Pour oil in pan. Heat it. Fry the asafoetida and then fry the rice,dhal, dhaniya and red chillies  till they are golden brown. Put all these fried ingredients along with grated coconut  in a mixie  jar, powder it , add water  and  grind to a paste. The paste should not be very fine or smooth. Let it be  a little coarse , so that the consistency of the gravy will be good. Otherwise it will become  very thick and sticky.

soak the tamarind in water  and extract  the juice.. Let the juice be a little watery

Now, heat a little oil in the pan. add mustard seeds. Let it pop. Then add the curry leaves and the cut bitter gourds. Fry a little. Then add the tamarind juice . Add salt,turmeric powder, sambhar powder. Keep in mind the red chillies you have ground , when you add sambhar powder.

Let the bittergourds  get cooked. After that  add the  ground paste to the bittergourd.  When the mixture starts boiling , add the jaggery. After the jaggery get dissolved , remove from fire. If you keep the gravy on fire for a long time  it might get thickened to a paste. The consistency should be like  sambhar.
Taste the  gravy. If need be ,you can add sambhar powder/ salt/ jaggery.

Serve it Hot. This goes well  with rice.

Don't forget to  serve it with lots of love and affection. 
Iam sure that will make a world of difference in taste .

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