Paavakkai Puli Curry/Bitter gourd in tamarind sauce

Puli curry or puli kottu is a traditional South Indian delicacy which is served as an accompaniment or can be mixed with white rice.Vegetables such as okra,bitter gourd,brinjal and yellow pumkin are used to make the puli curry.
It can be made with freshly ground masala or sambhar powder and today I made this one with sambhar powder,bitter gourd and black chick peas.Now to the recipe..............

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Bittergourd/pakarkkai	2nos.(long variety)
Sambhar powder	2tsp
Shallots/chinna vengayam	10nos.
Tomato	1no.(medium size)
Tamarind	gooseberry size
Coconut(grated)	2tbs
Black chick peas/karuppu kondai kadalai	3/4cup(cooked)
Salt	to taste
Oil	1tbs
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1tsp
Curry leaves/karivepillai	1sprig

Method

              Slice the bitter gourd and shallots thinly,chop the tomato and soak the tamarind in a cup of water.Grind the coconut and sambhar powder to a fine paste,set it aside
Heat a pan with oil,throw in the mustard seeds and curry leaves,saute the shallots to transparent with a pinch of salt.Now add in the sliced bitter gourd and fry it till it changes the color,add the tomato and cook it.

At this stage add the ground paste,tamarind water,salt and cook it in a medium flame till the raw smell goes off.

Finally add the cooked chickpeas and allow o boil it for a minute.Garnish it with coriander leaves.

 Serve it with steamed rice with a dash of ghee.

Enjoy.......................

• Instead of cooked chick peas,peanuts can also be used.
• The consistency can be adjusted according to personal preference and becomes thick on cooling.
• For the fresh spice powder,dry roast 1tbs of coriander seeds,3 red chillies,2tsp of channa dhal and grind it with grated coconut. 
• Sliced garlic can also be used along with shallots.

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