Pavakkai pitla is one of the curries my father loves a lot. Grandma used to make it often whenever she got some pavakkai or bitter gourd. This is a part of traditional Tamil Brahmin cuisine. While growing up I hated bitter gourd, as it name suggests they are bitter to taste. As a grown up however I became a fan of bitter gourd, when I ever see them in the market, I will buy them. There are two varieties of bitter gourd, one is Indian one and other is Chinese one. I don’t like the Chinese one. I love the Indian one. You can make chips, juice or a tasty curry with them. Read more about Bitter gourd/ from here.
Pavakka/ Bitter gourd has immense health benefits; it help to cure toxemia, it contain a hypoglycemic compound which helpful in lowering sugar levels in blood and urine in diabetes mellitus. Due to its high beta carotene content it helps in improving eyesight and eye problems etc read more from here.
My hubby loves bitter gourd chips when it is baked with chili powder and salt. Grandma was one of the great cook I have seen in my life. Even if she made just a curry with raw onion and red chili and salt with little bit coconut oil, it tasted great and you could eat a bowl full of rice with that or even a dozen dosa( pancake) . Appa always used to tell my mom that you have to learn cooking from my mother, poor mom she tried to cooks grandma’s recipes, and even though it was good she got complaints that it was not as great as grandma’s. Grandma makes even bitter gourd a delectable dish. However I was not able to learn from her, but I learnt this recipe from Raji Akka when I visited India last time. She is a good cook and taught me this curry by cooking it for me. It contains toor dal, tamarind and bit of jaggery for slight sweetness. Here is the recipe.
What you need
Bitter gourd/Pavakka: 3 no (Washed, seeded, chopped into cubes)
Toor dal : ⅓ cup
Tamarind: small ping pong ball sized
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Oil: 1 ½ tablespoon
For seasoning
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Asafetoida: ¼ teaspoon
Oil : 2 teaspoon
Curry leaves: 1 sprig( about 10 no)
For roasting and grinding
Oil : 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut: 4 tablespoon
Red chili : 3 no
Pepper cons: ¼ teaspoon
Chana dal: 2 teaspoon
Urad dal: 1 teaspoon
Coriander: 2 teaspoon
Rice: ¼ teaspoon
How I made
Soak the toor dal for 30 minutes. Wash and pressure cook the dal with 1 ½ cup water for 3 visiles. Set aside.
In sauce pan heat 1 ½ tablespoon of oil and fry the pavakka or bitter gourd pieces for 5 minutes.To this add ½ cup of water , salt and turmeric. Let it cook for another 10 minutes.
In the mean time in a small skillet heat one teaspoon of oil and roast chana dal, coriander seeds, urad dal, pepper corns , Red chili until raw smell is removed and nice aroma is released this takes about 2 minutes and set aside. I prefer to roast them one by one. In the same pan add coconut and fry until they turn slight brown in color. Keep aside. Once everything is cooled grind everything into a coarse fine paste. And set aside.
Heat tamarind with ½ of cup of water in microwave at high for 15 seconds and extract juice and set aside.
Once the bitter gourd pieces are cooked then add tamarind juice and jaggery bring it to a boil. To this add ground paste and mashed cooked toor dal and again boil for 2 minutes or until spices are distributed uniformly.
In mean time heat a small skillet and add oil and mustard, asafetodia, curry leaves and when mustard seeds start spluttering remove from the heat and add it to bitter gourd curry.
Enjoy with hot rice.
Pavakkai Pitali/ Bitter gourd in tamarind coconut gravy
Delicious Tamil brahmin recipe made with Indian bitter gourd in tamarind coconut paste goes well with a bowl of rice. Healthy and easy one.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- Bitter gourd/Pavakka: 3 no Washed, seeded, chopped into cubes
- Toor dal : ⅓ cup
- Tamarind: small ping pong ball sized
- Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
- Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
- Oil: 1 ½ tablespoon
- For seasoning
- Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
- Asafetoida: ¼ teaspoon
- Oil : 2 teaspoon
- Curry leaves: 1 sprig about 10 no
- For roasting and grinding
- Oil : 1 teaspoon
- Grated coconut: 4 tablespoon
- Red chili : 3 no
- Pepper cons: ¼ teaspoon
- Chana dal: 2 teaspoon
- Urad dal: 1 teaspoon
- Coriander: 2 teaspoon
- Rice: ¼ teaspoon
Instructions
- Soak the toor dal for 30 minutes. Wash and pressure cook the dal with 1 ½ cup water for 3 visiles. Set aside.
- In sauce pan heat 1 ½ tablespoon of oil and fry the pavakka or bitter gourd pieces for 5 minutes.To this add ½ cup of water , salt and turmeric. Let it cook for another 10 minutes.
- In the mean time in a small skillet heat one teaspoon of oil and roast chana dal, coriander seeds, urad dal, pepper corns , Red chili until raw smell is removed and nice aroma is released this takes about 2 minutes and set aside. I prefer to roast them one by one. In the same pan add coconut and fry until they turn slight brown in color. Keep aside. Once everything is cooled grind everything into a coarse fine paste. And set aside.
- Heat tamarind with ½ of cup of water in microwave at high for 15 seconds and extract juice and set aside.
- Once the bitter gourd pieces are cooked then add tamarind juice and jaggery bring it to a boil. To this add ground paste and mashed cooked toor dal and again boil for 2 minutes or until spices are distributed uniformly.
- In mean time heat a small skillet and add oil and mustard, asafetodia, curry leaves and when mustard seeds start spluttering remove from the heat and add it to bitter gourd curry.
- Enjoy with hot rice.
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This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Food to Fitness says
This looks great. Thanks for the recipe.
subbarayan.K.R says
Your description is great. Pavakka pitley is a regular dish in my house.The description is exactly the same. Thanks.
uncle-subbarayan
Sangeetha says
haven't tried bitter gourd this way, sounds interesting n delicious...will try it soon...
PranisKitchen says
my hus favorite vegie so any dish with this veg i always love to prepare this curry looks delicious..
Swathi says
Sumi,
Glad you liked this curry. Thanks for sharing me the result.
sumi says
I tried it today it turned out great . Thanks a ton for the recipe i just loved it
GayathriRaj says
Hey i think this is the perfect one for rice.....good combination....i rarely does such varieties with bitter gourd...and now i got a new recipe with it...thnku so much for it...
Swathi says
Abhi,
I fry everything individually because i can control the degree of the frying in each ingredients otherwise urad dal will become brown early than chana dal etc.
Panchpakwan says
Very unique and delicious curry..
Anncoo says
This is new to me. Never tried bitter gourd in curry before. Looks delicious 🙂
SpicyTasty says
Swathi, the gravy looks delicious!!Thanks for sharing.
Neha says
good one swathi..gravy color has come out nice
Abhilash Pillai says
aah! thats a good recipe Swathi. I do not like bitter guard but my mother often insists me to eat it. As you said about your grandmother; my mothetr is also the best cook in this world for me.
She likes bitter guard recipes a lot and I would sugest this recipe for her.
This recipe is something similar to the one we call as "inji teeyal". It has some differences like the masalas and all but the method is the same.
The picture of the recipe looks thick and delicious, if I do not think of bitter guard in it. 😉
One question: "Why do you think that frying all the ingredients one by one is preferred"? Any logic behind this?
Kiran says
Never had bittergourd with chanadal.Looks very delicious.Will try this soon.
Ameya says
That gravy looks delicious. Im sure it can be used with many other vegetables as well.
Sukanya Ramkumar says
Nice way to eat bitter gaurd. Nice recipe. Looks so good. YUM!
Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) says
yummy n mouthwatering....simply superb...drooooling here..hats off to ur grandmoms creativity....
Cinnamon-Girl says
Grandma's are the best cooks, aren't they? I miss my Grandma a lot. I bet this is really delicious! The coconut gravy sounds irresistible.
Sook says
Oh that coconut gravy looks delicious! And I love those little bowls where you serve curry in. Whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, I always want to get one of those for myself! 🙂
kitchen queen says
lovely and delicious pitlai my hot favourite.
Vrinda says
our family fav..looks yumm
Sandhya Hariharan says
Isnt it Pavaka Pitla?? We call is Pavaka Sambar too..
Well described and potrayed!
Pari says
Nice one. Will try to make this.
Priya says
Pitlai,the name itself makes me hungry, love it that much..beautiful dish Swathi..
Satya says
its my hubby's favorite veggie ,never tried this way ..looks wonderful ,will try this soon
Guna's kitchen says
loved the way you explain with pics........ gravy luks so delicious and thick
Hamaree Rasoi says
There are very few preparation in which i like bitter gourd. But certainly looks like an interesting method to enjoy....
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
PALATABLE says
Ya..I too hated bitter gourd but your preparation looks tasty and now I love them even more..
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Jay says
This is just great and a wonderful entry for the event dear...! Keep on rocking...!
Sushma Mallya says
My mom makes this one,but little different from your version...but loved this delicious gravy as well...
Priti says
How much I love this..got the same in my blog but little diff recipe
Premalatha Aravindhan says
pavakai pitlai sounds too gud...very delicious.
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
that sounds wonderful !!!
srividhya Ravikumar says
Real yuumy pitla.. similar to my mom's recipe swathi.. thanks for sharing..
M D says
I am a huge fan of bitter gourd made this way. It make me nostalgic and reminds me of mom and home.
aipi says
Have never made bitter gourds this way ... but they are my favorite. I like the combination of tamarind and jaggery , will try this for sure!! btw nice entry for the event 🙂
RV says
wow, such a yummy looking curry.. Am drooling here and would love to have it with piping hot rice and ghee....
-RV (www.foodfor7stagesoflife.com)