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    Home » Vegetarian Side Dishes » Pavakkai Pitlai | Bitter gourd Pitlai

    Pavakkai Pitlai | Bitter gourd Pitlai

    Published: Jan 3, 2016 · Modified: Oct 5, 2020 by Srivalli · 11 Comments

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    For the second day of Regional Cuisine, I have a traditional dish from Tamil Nadu. Its called the Pitlai. Its a side dish served along with Rice and slightly thicker than Sambar. This is one of those dishes one won't find served in restaurant. Or atleast I haven't tasted.
    I have eaten this in my friends place and have always wanted to make it myself. While this pitlai gets prepared with few traditional vegetables, Bitter gourd or Pavakkai is the most famous vegetable used. Since I was cooking for a Sunday meal, I wanted it to be something that Hubby Dear likes. He likes bitter gourd and I felt I need to introduce a new dish to him.
    We all loved it and the dish is pretty quick to make as well. The meal was quite simple with this served with rice and pappad along with Valakkai podi mas. There is nothing more satisfactory than a vegetarian meal that's full of goodness of freshly ground masala. I adapted this from Viji of Vcuisine.
    If you haven't tried this yet, I strongly recommend you do! And of course it looks like a bittergourd day for my blogs, for I shared a Pavakkai Pakoda as well!

    Pavakkai Pitlai
    Ingredients Needed:
    Bitter gourd - 1 cup / 2 medium
    Raw ground nuts - fistful 
    Toor dal - 1/4 cup
    Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
    Curry leaves few
    Hing powder a pinch
    Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
    Salt to taste
    To fry in 1 tsp ghee/oil and grind it with minimum water
    Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
    Channa Dal - 2 tsp
    Gram dal - 1 tsp
    Urad dhal 1 tsp
    Red chili 4 to 5 
    Black pepper - 1 tsp
    Fresh coconut - 2 tbsp
    Hing powder 1/4 tsp
    Curry leaves few
    To temper
    Oil -  1 tsp
    Mustard seeds and hing powder a pinch
    Red chili 1
    Urad dhal 1 tsp
    Curry leaves few
    How to make the Pitlai
    Wash and slice the bittergourd into 2 inch pieces. Soak with 1/2tsp salt for 10 - 20 mins. Squeeze the pieces well to ensure all the water is removed, roast in a tsp of oil till it changes colour. Keep it aside.
    Soak the ground nuts for 10 mins. 
    Pressure cook the dal along with the groundnut and keep it aside. 
    For the masala powder, roast all the ingredients in oil and allow to cool. Grind to a smooth paste. 
    Extract juice from tamarind.
    In a kadai, bring the tamarind water to boil, add turmeric powder, hing and salt. Then add the fried bitter gourd and bring to boil. Now add the masala paste and adjust the consistency by adding water. 
    Finally add jaggery if adding and then temper as given.
    Serve with hot steamed rice and ghee. Papads make a great add on to this.

    Notes:
    Pitlai will be slightly thicker than sambar and other gravies. 

    Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

    Recipe

    Print Pin

    Pavakkai Pitlai | Bitter gourd Pitlai

    Cuisine Tamil Nadu
    Dish Type Gravy Side Dishes
    Author Srivalli
    Tried this recipe?Mention @spicingyourlife_ or tag #spicingyourlife_!
    « Ponnanganni Keerai Paruppu Poriyal
    Vazhakkai Podimas Recipe | Valakkai Podimas »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Priya Suresh says

      January 03, 2016 at 8:10 pm

      Such a delicious pitlai, its been a while i prepared this dish..inviting.

      Reply
    2. vaishali sabnani says

      January 04, 2016 at 12:56 am

      Wow ! What an interesting curry ! Something totally unheard, , the tamarind , peanuts , all sound tempting .

      Reply
    3. Gayathri Kumar says

      January 05, 2016 at 5:10 am

      I have heard of pitlai but haven't tried it personally. With the freshly ground masala, the pitlai looks divine..

      Reply
    4. Kalyani says

      January 06, 2016 at 7:01 am

      my husband's fav veggie, although I dont cook it often 🙂 we make pitlai similarly without groundnuts though.. this version looks delicious 🙂

      Reply
    5. Pavani N says

      January 07, 2016 at 1:52 am

      That is one super delicious bitter gourd curry. I'm going to try it very soon.

      Reply
    6. Sapana Behl says

      January 07, 2016 at 4:00 am

      Very interesting curry.Sounds unique but tasty.

      Reply
    7. Nalini's Kitchen says

      January 07, 2016 at 10:49 pm

      Another interesting dish with bittergourd looks yummy.

      Reply
    8. Sandhya Ramakrishnan says

      January 08, 2016 at 12:28 am

      Anytime I buy pavakkai, I save a bit to make this pitlai. We add boiled channa (kondakadalai) instead of peanuts to the pitlai.

      Reply
    9. Harini-Jaya R says

      January 08, 2016 at 1:48 pm

      Sounds like an awesome dish, Valli.

      Reply
    10. veena krishnakumar says

      January 28, 2016 at 3:11 pm

      I make pitlai but addition of peanuts is new to me. will try this too

      Reply
    11. Agila says

      March 17, 2016 at 4:05 pm

      I tried it out....taste is awesome...so happy

      Reply

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