Paavakkai Pitlai/Paagarkkai Pitlai - No Onion and Garlic Version

Today is the 2nd Tuesday and some of you know that we group of friends share Tamilnadu recipes for the event Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday.
Paavakai Pitlai is a Typical South Indian curry especially made in Tamil Cusine which is served along with rice.
This pitlai can be mixed along with white rice or an accompaniment and its slightly thicker than sambar made with freshly ground spices.Off to the recipe...........................................

Basic Information

Preparation Time ~ 10 minutes
Cooking Time ~ 25 minutes
Serves ~ 2

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Bitter gourd/Paavakkai(sliced)	2(medium size)
Tomato(finely chopped)	1(medium size)
Tamarind/puli	big gooseberry size
Toor Dhal/thuvaram paruppu	1/4 cup
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Oil	1 tbs
Curry leaves/karuvepillai	few leaves

To roast and Grind

Ingredient	Quantity
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	1 tbs
Channa dhal	1tbs
Red cilly/varamilagai	3-4
Coconut(grated)	2 tbs

For the tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2tsp
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	1/8tsp
Urad dhal/uluthamparuppu	1/2tsp

Method

Pressure cook the toor dhal with enough water for 3-4 whistles.Meanwhile dry roast the coriander seeds,channal dhal and red chilly to a golden color.Finally add the coconut and fry it for a minute,put off the flame.After cooling grind it to a coarse powder and extract the tamarind set it aside.

Heat a pan with oil and do the tempering,add the sliced bitter gourd and curry leaves, fry it in a medium flame till it becomes tender.Add the chopped tomato and cook it.Now add the tamarind extract along with 1/2 cup of water and cook it covered in a medium flame.

Add in the cooked toor dhal and mix it well.Add in the salt and turmeric powder,cook it for couple of minutes.Finally add the freshly ground spice powder and cook it for one boil.Put off the flame.

Serve it with rice.

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

• If you want to add onion,add around 3-4 tbs of finely chopped onion after the tempering.
• A small piece of jaggery or a tsp of brown sugar can be added after adding the spice powder but I didn't.

This recipe is off to Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday event.