Bittergourd/Parikkai Palya

I have grown up eating all kind of veggies. There is no veggie that I completely avoid, i.e to say the veggies that I is cooked in my house. My appa was very particular about that. He did not want to hear us saying "I don't like this". Later on, knowing about the goodness of bitter gourd/parikkai, I see to that its included in our diet often. I am used to pitlai and dry subzis of this veggie. When Sia announced RCI, I was going through the bookmarked recipes from Sia for the on going RCI- Udupi/Mangalore at her blog and decided to try this. It turned out be very tasty and was enjoyed by all. Its very easy to make.





You need

Bittergourd/Parikkai/Pavakka - 2 medium sized
Tamarind - small lime sized
Jaggery - 2 tblspn
Turmeric - 1/4 tspn

Dry Roast and powder
Sesame seeds - 1 1/2 tblspn
Urad dal - 1/2 tblspn
Coriander seeds - 1 tblspn
Cumin seeds - 1 tspn
Red chilly - 4 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

To temper
Oil - 1 tblpsn
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Hing - few shakes
Curry leaves -few


Roast the spices together and coconut separately. Cool and grind the spices and coconut together with out water.

Wash and chop the bitter gourd into bite sized pieces. I used a variety which is light green in color and less bitter. So I chopped and used it right away. Else follow Sia's tips to lessen the bitterness. Mix the bitter gourd, salt, tamarind extract, turmeric and 1/2 cup of water and MW for 10 minutes. Check if it is cooked well. Else keep for another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the powdered coconut-spice mix and cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes till it is dry. Season with the tempering ingredients and serve with hot rice or rotis. Its spicy and has a slight sweet tinge from the coconut and jaggery. Tamarind and jaggery helps to mellow down the bitterness to some extent.