Pavakka Theeyal (Bitter Gourd and shallots cooked in spicy roasted coconut gravy)

Theeyal is one of the tastiest dishes in the Kerala cuisine. Though Theeyal is mainly prepared with Shallots (cheriya ulli - small onions), its also prepared with other  vegetables such as Bitter gourd (Pavakka), Yam (chena), drumstick (muringyakkaya) etc.

Here we prepare this yummy dish with Bitter Gourd (Pavakka).

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd - 250 gms

Shallots (small onions) - 25 nos

Tamarind - 2 lemon size

Turmeric-  1/2 teaspoon

Chilly powder - 1 teaspoon

Grated coconut- 1/2 

Coriander powder - 2 teaspoons

Curry leaves - 6-8 leaves

Green chily- 3 nos

Dried red Chillies - 4-5 nos

Mustard seeds - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Process:

Chop the bitter gourd into small pieces as shown and clean and cut the shallots into small pieces. 

Take a pan and put 3-4 tablespoons of coconut oil and put the chopped bitter Gourd and shallots into the pan and saute it till it becomes light brown. Add little salt so that the sauteing becomes faster. It takes approx. 10 min. Keep it aside.

Sauteed Pavakka Ulli mix

Take the tamarind and prepare tamarind pulp. Keep aside.

Take a pan and pour one tablespoon of oil and put the grated coconut into it.  Roast the grated coconut in a  medium flame. Stir continuously till it becomes brownish  in colour. 

 When the coconut becomes completely  brownish, add the coriander powder into it and mix thoroughly and allow it also to get roasted for a minute.

Roasted coconut-coriander powder
mix

Take a mixie jar and put this roasted coconut-coriander mix, 2 green chillies and 20 ml water into it and grind it well to make it a paste. 

Add this paste into the sauteed bitter gourd-shallots mixture that we had prepared earlier. Mix it well and put turmeric powder, chilly powder, salt into it. Heat the mix in a low flame.  Then pour the tamarind pulp into this mixture. Continue to heat it and allow it to boil in a low flame for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.

Tempering:

Take a small frying pan and pour 2 teaspoons oil into it. Once the oil is hot put one teaspoon of mustard. Once the mustard splutters, add dry red chillies into it and mix it with the mustard for it to get fried. Add the curry leaves.  

Ensure the tempering is done only in low flame to avoid mustard, red chilly etc getting burnt.

PAVAKKA THEEYAL IS READY.

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