My Bittergourd Curry (Pavakka/kayapakka curry)
A simple finger-licking curry made of the not so famous Bitter gourd and the much celebrated Mango (Tangy/sour/raw).
Ingredients
- Red lentils/ toor dal-1/2 cup
- Bitter Gourd chopped- 2 cups
- Raw Mango chopped-1 Cup
- Chili powder-2 teaspoon
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon
- Salt
- Thick Coconut milk-1 cup
- Oil-1 tablespoon
- Shallots- 2-3 finely chopped
- Mustard seeds-1 teaspoon
- Dried red chili-2 broken
- Curry leaves- a few or a handful
Instructions
- Pressure cook toor dal along with bitter gourd, mango,chili powder, turmeric and salt.
- Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash it with the back of a ladle/spoon.
- Add coconut milk and heat it through but do not boil.
- In a pan, heat oil.
- Add in the shallots, mustard seeds, broken chilies and curry leaves.
- Stir fry until shallots turn slightly brown and crisp.
- Pour this into the cooked curry.
- Enjoy with a plate of rice along with a protein of your choice.
- Do not forget to comment about how you liked it.
Notes
Do not leave out shallots.
Adjust the mangoes according to its tanginess. If not too tangy, then increase it. The trick here is not to overwhelm the bitter gourd but to balance it.
The chili powder can be increased or decreased as per your taste and the heat of the chilies.
Final curry should have a balance of bitter, tangy, heat/spicy and salty.
I have tried it both with Indian and Chinese bitter gourd. Both turns out really good. Here I have used the Chinese variety.
If you are using canned coconut milk, 1/2 of it will be enough if creamy or an entire can if light.
Instead of coconut milk you can add about half cup shredded coconut ground into a paste.
As I said, take care not to over shadow the star ingredient.
Adjust the mangoes according to its tanginess. If not too tangy, then increase it. The trick here is not to overwhelm the bitter gourd but to balance it.
The chili powder can be increased or decreased as per your taste and the heat of the chilies.
Final curry should have a balance of bitter, tangy, heat/spicy and salty.
I have tried it both with Indian and Chinese bitter gourd. Both turns out really good. Here I have used the Chinese variety.
If you are using canned coconut milk, 1/2 of it will be enough if creamy or an entire can if light.
Instead of coconut milk you can add about half cup shredded coconut ground into a paste.
As I said, take care not to over shadow the star ingredient.