Gongura Pachadi ( Pulicha Keerai)

Gongura, also called pulicha keerai in TN, is one of the most popular leaf vegetable of our neighboring state AP. Though this is available in abundance in Chennai markets, I have never seen or heard of tamilians give this a try, atleast in the circles i know?! However, we would always long to eat it and visit all the andhra bhavans for some pappu podi and gongura lunch....ooohhh, what a taste! Infact, only recently i realised that gongura and pulicha keerai are one and the same! Well, I hope they are..:-)!

While we had been to meet a friend in Long Island a month back, I chanced upon this flavourful leaves in the Indian grocery store there and picked it up instantly. Referred to so many sites and spoke to two of my telegu friends in my apt and finally customised the recipe to suit my taste buds! It came out so good and I still have it stocked in my fridge, perfectly fine and tasty...

Ingredients:

- a bunch of gongura about 500 gms

- 2 tbsp coriander seeds

- 1/2 tsp methi seeds

- 8 to 10 dry red chillies ( add more for extra spice)

- 1/2 medium onion finely chopped

- 6 cloves garlic finely chopped

- Salt to taste

- 4 tbsp sesame oil/olive oil

For seasoning:

- 1 sprig fresh curry leaves

- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

- 1/2 tsp urad dhal

- 1/2 tsp channa dhal

Prep time: Overnight Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Peal the gongura leaves off its stem and wash them a couple of times.

- Spread the leaves over on a big cloth and let them dry overnight.

- The gongura is ready to be cooked the next day morning.

- In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the leaves and fry them till they change colour and lose all the moisture. The above process helps to improve the shelf life of the pachadi/pickle

- Remove the leaves from pan and keep aside for cooling.

- In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil and fry the coriander seeds, red chillies and finally add the methi seeds.

- On cooling grind the coriander, chilli, salt and methi seeds coarsely without adding water. Later, add the gongura leaves to the same and grind into a coarse paste.

- In the pan, heat the remaining oil. Add the ingredients under seasoning once oil is heated.

- As the mustard starts to splutter, add theonions and garlic and fry them until they turn translucent.

- To this add the gongura paste and fry for 3 mins.

Tasty gongura is ready to be served with rice, dosa or idli! This can be refrigerated for 4-6 weeks!