Tangy & Spicy bitter gourd chutney with Indian spices. And it is an excellent side for many recipes. Store and enjoy it for 2- 3 weeks!
Whenever I leave from India, my mother used to make some homemade recipes that I can preserve for a month or two. She used to make some coriander thokku, curry leaves thokku, tomato thokku, pulikachal, pickles and so on. So I thought of preparing some now. I tasted this thokku in Grand sweets and I totally fell in love with the taste. You can just mix with plain rice. Or have it with rotis, curd rice. You can also use them as a dip for bajjis or vada or other appetizers.
I really love using my freezer to preserve food. I love these homemade chutney or sauce and they are always a great savior when it comes to weekdays. I am alright cooking on weekends, but on a weekday I get so tired that most of the days I tend to make recipes under 30 minutes, finish and sleep. You can also use these for travel as it will not get spoiled easily for a long travel. And adding sugar or jaggery enhances the flavor and helps in balancing out the acidity.
Bitter gourd is one of the healthy veggie that most kids fend off because of it bitterness. But by the method I prepare, you will not taste the bitterness at all. It is really good for health and has natural power to kill worms and germs present in the stomach and intestine. It is very good for diabetic patient’s .People having a low sugar level should try to avoid this veggie.
Other favorite Thokku recipe: Spicy tomato onion thokku
Other Favorite Pavakkai recipe: Pavakkai Chips/ Bitter gourd chips, Pavakkai stir fry/Bitter Gourd fry.
- Bitter Gourd – 2
- Yogurt – 1 tbsp
- Sesame Oil – 2 – 3 tbsp
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Fenugreek Seeds – ½ tsp
- Whole Red Chillies - 2
- Curry leaves – 1 Sprig
- Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
- Chilli powder – 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
- Tamarind – 1 lemon Size
- Salt – to taste
- Grated Jaggery – 1 tbsp
- Hing – a pinch
- Wash bitter gourd and thinly slice them into circles. Discard any seeds. Soak the bitter gourd in curd, turmeric and 1 tbsp of salt for 20 minutes.
- Soak the tamarind in 1.5 cups of water and extract the juice.
- Dry roast the mustard seeds with fenugreek seeds for 30 seconds in medium-low flame. Blend or use a mortar pestle to grind them into powder.
- Now take a pan with 2 tbsp of oil in medium flame, add the red chillies,curry leaves and hing. When red chillies changes color, now squeeze out the juice from the marination of bitter gourd with your hands and add them into the pan. Saute for 20 seconds.
- Then add sambar powder, chilli powder, slat and the sauté them in oil keeping the flame in medium.
- When the bittergourd stir fried with the spices, add the tamarind extract and fenugreek mustard seeds powder. Mix well and close it with the lid. Keep the flame low and allow the whole mixture to get thicken and become like a thick thokku. It might take 20-25 minutes. It will be only ¼ th of the whole quantity you saw before 20 minutes. t will start to ooze out oil in the sides at a stage and will become a thick paste.
- Add grated jaggery and mix well. Switch off the flame.
- Cool it completely, store it in air tight container by topping 1 tbsp of oil at the end. The oil is added for the shelf life. Store it in an air tight container for 2- 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Oil topped at the end is for shelf life. If you are going to finish it in 2 days, you need not add the oil.
