South Indian cooking has a lot of specialties. Being the land of spices, it has shown the world delicious dishes. I have seen foreigners appreciating the varieties of dishes which the South Indians have for their meals.

Bitter gourd pachadi

Bitter gourd pachadi is a side dish used with rice and other items. It is quite healthy and adds taste to meals. A simple and easy recipe using the bitter gourd is given below. It is a special variety of Kerala, a South Indian state.

Recipe of bitter gourd pachadi

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd             1

Curry leaves            4-5

Mustard seed           1 teaspoon

Coconut oil              1 teaspoon

Gingili oil                ¼ cup

Green chili              6

Grated coconut        half of a coconut

Turmeric powder     1 teaspoon

Salt                         as per need

Jaggery(sugar)        50 gram

Asafetida powder   1 teaspoon 

Tamarind                as per need

Preparation method:

Cut the bitter gourd in the round shape and remove the seeds. The round pieces should be as thin as possible but should not be broken. Cut the green chili in long shape. Put tamarind in a small vessel and mix it water so that you get the mixture juice. Heat some gingili oil in a pan. Add the bitter gourd pieces and green chili piece and stir the pieces. Add gingili oil little by little and stir the pieces in the pan. Add also the tamarind mixture, salt, asafetida, sugar and the turmeric powder. Wait till the mixture boil. When it boils, heat 2 tablespoon of gingili oil in a separate pan, add mustard and let splutter. Now the bitter gourd pachadi is ready for serving.