Thursday, August 29, 2013

Pavakkai Podi / Bitter gourd Spice Powder for Rice

I am not generally an elaborate meal kind of person. A simple rice dish with a thovayal/rasam and a vegetable curry would be suffice. I will have a happy belly. This podi is one such recipe, from grandma which is a great make-ahead condiment and comes in handy for a quick, hot yet homemade meal. It can me made on a free weekend and stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks. It only really takes about 15 minutes of the stove time and you are good to go.
Ingredients:
Makes about 1/2 cup of podi
Bitter gourd / Pavakkai - 2 medium sized
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Dry Red chillies - 3
Garlic - 1 big clove
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash and pat fry the bitter gourd. Cut into half and core the center. Slice thin and cut into quarter. Add salt and let it set for about 30 minutes. Blend the coconut, chillies and garlic until ground well. Do not add any water while grinding. Drain the bittergourd pieces and squeeze the excess juice really well. Heat oil in a pan and fry in medium-high heat. When it turns light golden color, reduce the heat to medium and add the spice mix powder. Continue to fry until it takes a dry texture. Take care not to burn. Allow to cool and store in a dry glass container. To serve, mix couple of teaspoons of this powder with hot steaming rice and gingelly oil. Mmm... Heaven in a morsel...
Notes: This podi would not need any salt other than the one which was used for macerating. 
Linking this up to South Indian Cooking by Anu and Eat seasonal Food-Fresh by Jagruti.

7 comments:

  1. very interesting and flavorful podi dear :) super tempting !! :)

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  2. Interesting recipe with bitter gourd! shall try it next time. Looks yummy!

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  3. Bittergourd podi is in my to do list since a long, now waiting to make some soon..loving this healthy podi.

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  4. delicious and interesting recipe.

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  5. very healthy and very flavorful podi!! Thanks for linking it to my event!! Looking for more yummy recipes!!

    Sowmya

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  6. Hello! This is a nice blog site to read. Please do visit this site related to your topic. Thanks (o'_'o)

    http://shitifujon.blogspot.com/2013/09/wild-bitter-gourd-in-kalinga.html

    ReplyDelete

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