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Pavakkai pitlai | Pakarkaai Pitlai

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Pavakkai pitlai , paavakkai pitlai, pitlai recipe, pagarkkai pitlai, Sambar, sambhar, Sambar recipe, Sambar with coconut, arachuvitta sambar recipe with step-by-step pictures, and video recipe. Check out the Pavakkai pitlai recipe and if you like the video pls SUBSCRIBE to my channel.  

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

Pavakkai Pitlai is yet another recipe from my Amma’s cookbook. As a child, I always hated Bitter gourd, though it’s a healthy vegetable. If I see Bitter gourd in the 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 in some tasty South Indian kuzhambu varieties in TMF,

Kuzhambu varieties  with tamarind

Kuzhambu varieties without tamarind 

sambar powder recipe

Pavakkai gojju

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 mixture
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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 - 1/4 tsp
  • Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
  • Chickpea/Channa - 1/3 cup Soak Channa overnight/ in hot water for 4 hours
  • sambar powder - 1/2 tbsp
  • Curry Leaves - Few
  • Coriander leaves -few
  • Tamarind - small Lemon size
  • Jaggery - 2 tbsp
  • Asofedtida - generous pinch
  • Salt - as needed

For Grinding:

  • Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup tightly pressed
  • Red Chillies - 2 Adjust according to your spice level
  • Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Channa dal - 1/2 tbsp

To temper:

  • Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp
  • Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Fenugreek - 1/8 tsp

Instructions

  • Firstly soak channa dal overnight
  • Soak toor dal for 1 hour in hot water
  • Pressure cook chickpea and toor dal in two cooker separators for 3-4 whistles
  • Parallelly pressure cook bitter gourd with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder for 2 whistles
  • Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the pulp
  • Dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds, and channa dal till they turn aromatic and golden brown turn off the stove
  • Add coconut and mix well. Let everything comes to room temperature ground with little water
  • After it comes to room temperature add coconut and grind everything to a fine paste by adding water and keep it aside
  • Add oil to the pan, when the oil is hot add mustard seed and fenugreek. let it splutter
  • Squeeze the bitter gourd and save the water aside add the cooked bitter gourd and saute for 3-4 mins or until the bitter gourd turns brown
  • Add tamarind extract, Sambar powder, hing, a pinch of turmeric powder, and salt and allow the kuzhambu to boil for 15 minutes or till the raw smell goes off the tamarind
  • Furthermore, add the ground paste and little mixie water and boil for 5 minutes
  • Add the cooked toor dal and channa, cook for another 5 mins, mix well in between
  • Finally add hing, jaggery, and coriander leaves; cook for 5 minutes, turn off the stove

Video

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Notes

  1. Bitter gourd can be cooked in the pan instead of pressure cooking. you can also microwave bitter gourd
  2. Curry powder can be ground 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 the instant pot. Cook toor dal and channa together in manual mode, high temperature for 25 minutes. After the pressure releases 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
  7. Adjust the water according to your desired consistency
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Ingredients:

Bitter gourd – 1

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Toor Dal – 1/2 cup

Chickpea/Channa – 1/3 cup (Soak Channa overnight/ in hot water for 4 hours)

sambar powder – 1/2 tbsp

Curry Leaves – Few

Coriander leaves -few

Tamarind – small Lemon size

Jaggery – 2 tbsp

Asofedtida – generous pinch

Salt – as needed

For Grinding:

Grated Coconut – 1/4 cup, tightly pressed

Red Chillies – 2 ( Adjust according to your spice level)

Coriander Seeds – 1 tbsp

Channa dal – 1/2 tbsp

To temper:

Coconut Oil – 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek – 1/8 tsp

How to make pavakkai pitlai with step by step pictures:

  • Firstly soak channa dal overnight 

  • Soak toor dal for 1 hour in hot water

  • Pressure cook chickpea and toor dal in two cooker separators for 3-4 whistles
  • Parallelly  pressure cook bitter gourd with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder  for 2 whistles

  • Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the pulp
  • Dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds, and channa dal till they turn aromatic and golden brown turn off the stove 

  • Add coconut and mix well. Let everything comes to room temperature ground with little water
  • After it comes to room temperature add coconut and grind everything to a fine paste by adding water and keep it aside
  • Add oil to the pan, when the oil is hot add mustard seed and fenugreek. let it splutter

  • Squeeze the bitter gourd and save the water aside add the cooked bitter gourd and saute for 3-4 mins or until the bitter gourd turns brown

  • Add tamarind extract, Sambar powder, hing, a pinch of turmeric powder, and salt and allow the kuzhambu to boil for 15 minutes or till the raw smell goes off the tamarind

  • Furthermore, add the ground paste and little mixie water and boil for 5 minutes

  • Add the cooked toor dal and channa, cook for another 5 mins, mix well in between

  • Finally add hing, jaggery, and coriander leaves; cook for 5 minutes, turn off the stove

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Comments

  2. apuginthekitchen says

    ‘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

  5. Jeanne Melanson says

    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

  9. Chitra Jagadish says

    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

  11. Loretta says

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

    Reply

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