Traditionally Modern Food

Traditional Recipes with a Modern Twist

  • Home
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Postpartum recipes | Pathiya samayal
  • Toddler friendly Recipe
  • Oven/Microwave Oven Recipes
  • Humbly Honored
  • Contact me
  • Privacy Policy

Pakarkaai Pitlai | Pavakkai (Bitter Gourd) Pitlai

July 3, 2014 By Vidya Srinivasan 33 Comments

1shares
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

IMG_3468

Pakarkaai Pitlai (Bitter gourd pitlai)  is traditional South Indian rice accompaniment prepared with pavakkai, tamaring extract, toor dal and freshly ground spice paste. Healthy bitter gourd turned into a delicious kuzhambu. I would say pavakkai Pitlai is cousin of Arachuvitta sambar😂

Pavakkai Pitlai is yet another recipe from my Amma’s cook book. As a child, I always hated Bitter gourd, though its a healthy vegetable. If I see Bitter gourd in fridge, I go crazy, even without tasting it. I will say a big no. I always want some other dish when bitter gourd is cooked at home. Rasavangi is yet another tasty rice accompaniment 

One day I was with Amma in the kitchen when she was preparing pavakkai pitlai. I saw her adding a tsp of jaggery to the dish. I was so happy seeing jaggery, and tasted it that day. After tasting the dish, I liked it, and surprisingly didn’t feel the bitterness. From that day onwards I started eating Pitali. Later when I started cooking, I realized even without Jaggery pavakkai Pitalai tastes good. But i started liking the dish because of jaggery, so I add it even now 🙂 Pavakkai Gojju is yet another tasty recipe with pavakkai

If you are interested for some tasty South Indian kuzhambu varieties in TMF,

Kuzhambu varieties  with tamarind

Kuzhambu varieties without tamarind 

IMG_3466

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd – 1
Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
Toor Dal – 1/2 cup
Chickpea/Channa – 1/3 cup (Soak Channa overnight/ in hot water for 4 hours)
Sambar Powder – 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves – Few
Tamarind – small Lemon size
Jaggery – 2 tbsp
Asofedtida – generous pinch
Salt – as needed
For Grinding:
Grated Coconut – 1/4 cup
Red Chillies – 2 ( Adjust according to your spice level)
Coriander Seeds – 1 tbsp
Channa dal – 1/2 tbsp
For Seasoning:
Oil – 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek – 1/8 tsp

Method:

  • Soak channa dal overnight or 5-6 hours in hot water
  • Soak toor dal for 1 hour in hot water
  • Soak the tamarind in warm water for 10  -15 minutes  and extract the pulp. Pressure cook the toor dal and channa, and keep it aside. (To save time I generally cook both together)
  • Dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds and channa dal till they turn golden brown color, and switch off. After it comes to room temperature add coconut and grind everything to a fine paste by adding water and keep it aside

pitalai

  • Add turmeric powder and small pieces of tamarind (Adding both removes the bitterness) to bitter gourd and cook it (I microwaved for 5 minutes). After it comes to room temperature squeeze it well and rinse twice

IMG_7801

  • Add oil to the pan, when the Oil is hot add mustard seed and fenugreek. let it splutter. Add the cooked bitter gourd and saute for 3-4 mins. Add tamarind extract, Sambar powder, hing, turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for 10- 12 minutes till the raw smell goes off tamarind

IMG_7802

  • Add the cooked toor dal and channa, cook for another 10 – 12 mins till you get the aroma. Add grounded paste and jaggery; cook for 7-8 minutes. switch off garnish with coriander leaves

IMG_7806

Pakarkaai Pitlai | Pavakkai (Bitter Gourd) Pitlai

Pakarkaai Pitlai (Bitter gourd pitlai) is traditional South Indian rice accompaniment prepared with pavakkai, tamaring extract, toor dal and freshly ground spice paste. Healthy bitter gourd turned into a delicious kuzhambu. I would say pavakkai Pitlai is cousin of Arachuvitta sambar<img draggable="false" data-mce-resize="false" data-mce-placeholder="1" data-wp-emoji="1" class="emoji" alt="😂" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f602.png">
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Comment
Course: Kuzhambu
Cuisine: Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Vidya Srinivasan

Ingredients

  • Bitter gourd - 1
  • Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
  • Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
  • Chickpea/Channa - 1/3 cup Soak Channa overnight/ in hot water for 4 hours
  • Sambar Powder - 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp
  • Curry Leaves - Few
  • Tamarind - small Lemon size
  • Jaggery - 2 tbsp
  • Asofedtida - generous pinch
  • Salt - as needed
  • For Grinding:
  • Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
  • Red Chillies - 2 Adjust according to your spice level
  • Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Channa dal - 1/2 tbsp
  • For Seasoning:
  • Oil - 1 tsp
  • Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
  • Fenugreek - 1/8 tsp

Instructions

  • Soak channa dal overnight or 5-6 hours in hot water
  • Soak toor dal for 1 hour in hot water
  • Soakthe tamarind in warm water for 10 -15 minutes and extract the pulp. Pressure cook the toor dal and channa, and keep it aside. (To save time I generally cook both together)
  • Dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds and channa dal till they turn golden brown color, and switch off. After it comes to room temperature, add coconut and grind everything to a paste by adding water and keep it aside
  • Add turmeric powder and small pieces of tamarind (Adding both removes the bitterness) to bitter gourd and cook it (I microwaved for 5 minutes). After it comes to room temperature squeeze it well and rinse twice
  • Add oil to the pan, when the Oil is hot add mustard seed and fenugreek. let it splutter. Add the cooked bitter gourd and saute for 3-4 mins. Add tamarind extract, Sambar powder, hing, turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for 10 - 12 minutes till the raw smell goes off tamarind
  • Add the cooked toor dal and channa, cook for another 10 - 12 mins till you get the aroma. Add grounded paste and jaggery; cook for 7-8 minutes. switch off garnish with coriander leaves
Subscribe to my YouTube channelCheck out Traditionally Modern Food!

Notes

  1. Bitter gourd can be cooked in the pitalai pan instead of microwaving separately
  2. Curry powder can be grind with coconut and made into a paste instead of making fresh paste for pitalai
  3. Channa and toor dal can also be cooked together
  4. Recently I started cooking this in instant pot. Cook toor dal and channa together in manual mode, high temperature for 25 minutes. After the pressure relases naturally follow all other steps in sauté mode
  5.  Adjust the chickpea according to your taste
  6. Kala channa can be used instead of chickpea
Tried this recipe?Mention @traditionallymodernfood or tag #traditionallymodernfood!

IMG_3468

Filed Under: Kuzhambu | Kulambu, Tamarind based Kuzhambu varieties Tagged With: a, arachuvitta, bitter gourd, channa, coconut, garlic, i, kothu kadalai, no, Onion, pakarka, pavakka, pavakkai, pitala, pitla, pitlai, Recipe, s, Sambar, sambhar, Tmf, traditional, vidya

« Honey Glazed Almonds
Kathirikai sadam | Brinjal Rice | Vangi Bath »

Categories

Comments

  1. food passion and love says

    July 3, 2014 at 18:44

    Looks delicious!I didnt know such a dish could be made outa bitter gourd!!

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 3, 2014 at 20:41

      Thanks Shannu:) try them sometime

      Reply
      • food passion and love says

        July 4, 2014 at 03:27

        Yes I will!

        Reply
  2. apuginthekitchen says

    July 3, 2014 at 19:11

    ‘ve never had bitter gourd but I do love bitter greens like rappini, mustard greens etc.. I bet I would like it. Amazing what a tsp of jaggery does, guess it’s like that song from about the spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down.

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 3, 2014 at 20:41

      Try them Suzanne, if you like bitterness I am sure you will like bitter gourd. Jaggery is palm sugar, you can use brown sugar instead

      Reply
  3. Ami@NaiveCookCooks says

    July 3, 2014 at 22:04

    I love eating bitter gourd but never had it this way!! Going to try it soon!

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 3, 2014 at 22:12

      Do try Ami, if you like bitter gourd I sure you wil enjoy this recipe

      Reply
  4. Blake Devereaux says

    July 3, 2014 at 23:31

    Interesting recipe

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 14, 2014 at 23:44

      Thanku:)

      Reply
  5. Jeanne Melanson says

    July 3, 2014 at 23:32

    Oh my, I’ve never even heard of bitter gourd. I didn’t know you could eat gourds! If I could find all of these ingredients, I would try this, but I’ll never find them in the rural area that I live in. Too bad. Thank you for sharing, though. I will add this to my Pinterest “Indian Food” board. Peace!

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 3, 2014 at 23:33

      Thanks for your lovely comment Jeanne:)

      Reply
  6. Lori says

    July 3, 2014 at 23:43

    You always remind me that there is a world of food out there that I know nothing about! Love it!

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 3, 2014 at 23:52

      Thanks for the lovely comment dear Lori:) I am learning a lot from you

      Reply
      • Lori says

        July 3, 2014 at 23:54

        Awe, thank you Vidya!!

        Reply
        • Traditionally Modern Food says

          July 3, 2014 at 23:57

          🙂

          Reply
  7. philosophoenix says

    July 3, 2014 at 23:58

    Thank you for including this wonderful recipe. Just the pictures would have been fabulous, but now I can make it for myself.

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 07:39

      Thanks for your lovely comment:)

      Reply
  8. lapetitepaniere says

    July 4, 2014 at 03:01

    Lovely dish Vidya 🙂

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 07:30

      Thanks Linda:)

      Reply
  9. Chitra Jagadish says

    July 4, 2014 at 08:47

    I love to learn differnt varieties using bittergourd as its healthy and this one looks perfect. wil try asap and let you know…this is must try for me…

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 10:32

      Happy to know that you liked it:) Do try and let me know

      Reply
  10. Corina says

    July 4, 2014 at 08:48

    I’ve never tried bitter gourd but I love the tamarind in this dish and it sounds really tasty.

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 10:31

      Thanks Corina:) ya tamrind gives nice flavor to the dish

      Reply
  11. Loretta says

    July 4, 2014 at 14:21

    This looks wonderful, I can actually taste all the different flavors just reading through the ingredients. Love jaggrey 🙂

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 14:30

      Thanks Loretta:) jaggery is my favorite too

      Reply
  12. Fabgrandma says

    July 4, 2014 at 16:09

    I am not familiar with Bitter Gourd, so I have no idea what this would taste like.

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 23:25

      It tastes delicious:) can’t feel the bitterness in taste

      Reply
  13. swathiiyer says

    July 4, 2014 at 23:00

    Delicious I too love pavakkai pitala, very nice

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 4, 2014 at 23:24

      Thanks Swathi:) happy to know that you too like pitalai

      Reply
  14. Chitra Jagadish says

    July 19, 2014 at 16:53

    Vidya prepared this for lunch today oh my it was delicious…thanx a ton for this wonderful recipe vidya. …

    Reply
    • Traditionally Modern Food says

      July 20, 2014 at 13:48

      Very happy to hear Chitra:)thanks for trying

      Reply
      • Chitra Jagadish says

        July 20, 2014 at 15:55

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Aviya | Traditionally Modern Food says:
    March 13, 2015 at 17:00

    […] Pavakkai Pitalai […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Get Recipes to your inbox

Click to follow my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Search for a recipe

About Me!!

Hi, I am Vidya Srinivasan. Thanks for visiting my page. I am a traditionalist when it comes to cooking but I love adding modern twists. Read More…

Let’s Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Follow Vidya's board Traditionally Modern Food on Pinterest.

Traditionally Modern Food

Traditionally Modern Food

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Popular Post

Chocolate chip cookie | chocolate chip  biscuit
Baked Carrot Fries
Ribbon pakoda | ribbon murukku
Vellai Poosanikai Kootu | White Pumpkin Kootu
Thengai Podi | Coconut podi recipe
Bread Pizza - microwave
Paruppu Thogayal | Paruppu Thuvaiyal
Rasam powder recipe  | Rasam podi
Marundhu Kuzhambu | Omam Kuzhambu
Paruppu Rasam | Rasam recipe

Archives

Copyright © 2021 · Traditionally Modern Food · ·