Sunday, October 10, 2010

Pavarkaai Pitlai (Bitter gourd in spicy gravy)


Pavarkaai pitlai is a traditional dish and I used to make this often at home. This is a healthy dish with bitter melon and less oil. I know most of you would not cook pavarkaai (bitter gourd/bitter melon) because of it's taste. But this vegetable has lot of nutrients and it is considered to have high medicinal value. If you regularly consume bitter melon, you are sure to be away from lot of diseases. My mom used to cook lot of dishes with this vegetable. She also taught me how to reduce the bitterness in the bitter melon. If you really follow her steps, I'm sure you'l start to love bitter melon as much as I do. I have given the step-by-step procedure and hope you'l all start to cook bitter gourd and utilize it's health benefits.




Ingredients :

1. Bitter Gourd (Pavarkaai) - 2
2. Thoor Dhal - 1/4 Cup
3. Channa Dhal - 1/4 Cup
4. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
5. Tamarind - juice from a gooseberry sized ball
6. Sambar Powder - 1 tsp
7. Curry Leaf - A few
8. Salt - Needed qty
9. Mustard - 1 tsp
10. Oil - 2 tsp





For dry grind :

1. Urad dhal - 1 tsp
2. Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp
3. Red Chilly - 2 or adjust to your taste
4. Coconut - 1 tsp
5. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp (I used coriander powder)

Dry roast all the above ingredients till brown and powder using small mixer jar. Keep aside.





Procedure :

1. Wash the bitter gourds and cut them in to small pieces. Remove seeds.








2. Transfer the cut pieces to a vessel. Add little water, half the quantity of tamarind juice, turmeric powder and little salt. (You can very well see in the picture that the water and tamarind juice just covers the vegetable) Let the bitter gourd cook till the water evaporates. (This is how my mom removes bitterness from the bitter gourd)








4. Meanwhile, cook both the dhals together. Mash and keep aside.





5. In a pan, add oil. Splutter mustard. Then add bitter gourd and curry leaves. Fry for a minute.





6. Add the remaining tamarind juice, salt and sambar powder. Cover the pan with lid and let the contents boil for 10 minutes or the raw smell of the sambar powder is gone.








7. Now, add the cooked and mash dhal. Allow the contents to boil for another few minutes.





8. Finally, add the dry ground spice powder. Mix thoroughly. If you wish, you can add a little jaggery to enhance the taste.





9. Switch of the stove when the contents get thickened.





10. Enjoy with hot rice.





Serves : 2

25 comments:

Akila said...

hmm pavakkai pitlai looks delicious dear.... nice presentation and lovely clicks...

Menaga Sathia said...

எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்த பிட்லை அருமையாக இருக்கு....

Asiya Omar said...

சூப்பர் ப்ரெசெண்டேஷன்.அருமை.

Gayathri Kumar said...

Nice illustration. Thanks for the tips to remove bitter taste of bitter gourd.

Madhura Manoj said...

Looks delicious...Lovely clicks.

Torviewtoronto said...

healthy delicious curry

Santosh Bangar said...

ur plate with veg is looking attractuve the step by step giving is nice unerstsnd easily and veg is looking tasty

Mahi said...

tempting recipe with step-by-step photos nithu..will try it soon.

vrinda said...

New recipe to me..lov pavakka,will try soon...

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious, its my husbands one of the favorite vegetable and i shall try it.

Satya said...

bitter gourd curry looks very delicious ..very tempting clicks nitu

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

sonu said...

looks delish nithu..luved the cute presentation..nice clicks !

Suji said...

pitlai is a fav to me Nithu..I learned it from one of my Brahmin friend...I am glad i could participate in the event too...

Sangi said...

pavarkkai curry looks yummy.. from now on will adapt your way to remove bitterness from pavarkkai.. thanks for the tip.. :)

harini-jaya said...

looks yumm...good clicks!

Elaichii said...

Not a big fan of pitali, but your pics are tempting me to make it!

divya said...

healthy delicious curry.....

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

we too make it in the same way. nice stepwise pictures.and cute presentation too

Pushpa said...

Pitlai looks very tempting and looks delicious.Love the way you have cut the pavakkai, looks beautiful.Thanks for sharing.

Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com

Sadhana Valentina said...

nice dish

Priya Sreeram said...

my favourite dish well made !!!

Priya Suresh said...

Favourite bittergourd pitlai, simply tempting!

Nithya said...

Looks delicious :)lovely pictures and nice presentation :)

Binys Recipes said...

u dont need to explain the process ...the pics do it for u......nice and healthy recipe

Anonymous said...

all the best nithu