Pavakai Pitlai
Pavakai pitlai is a popular Tamil Nadu dish prepared by cooking bitter gourd with spices in a coconut based gravy. It goes well with plain rice and ghee.
- Category: Curry Recipes, Lunch Recipes, Tamil Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 100 grams Pavakkai (Bittergourd), chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon Gram dal / kadalai paruppu
- 1/4 cup Toor dal
- Half a lemon sized Tamarind, soaked in water
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 1/4 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 Dry red chilly
- A sprig Curry leaves
For paste:
- 2 tablespoons Coconut scraped
- 1 pinch Hing
- 2 Dry red chillies
- 1 teaspoon Gram dal
- 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds
Instructions
- Temper it with hot oil with fried dry red chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- Boil bitter gourd in water with salt and turmeric powder. Drain and keep aside.
- Pressure cook toor dal and gram dal separately with turmeric powder.
- Roast ingredients for paste (except coconut) in oil and grind to paste along with coconut.
- Heat tamarind extract in a pan and bring to boil.
- Add cooked bittergourd, ground paste and cooked dal. Boil until the curry becomes thick.
- Serve Pavakkai pitlai with hot rice and ghee.