Andhra-style gongura pachadi recipe - How to make gongura pachadi

Gongura pachadi, a spicy Andhra-style pachadi made with Gongura leaves (also known as sorrel leaves in English and pulicha keerai in Tamil).

In my 2.5 years in Hyderabad, if there's one thing I had acquired a taste for, it's Gongura (called pulicha keerai in Tamil, sorrel leaves in English). It's a predominantly used green vegetable in Andhra cuisine and frequently found its way a lot into the catered food at work.

Although I have seen fresh Gongura leaves many times in Little India, I pretended not to because I didn't want to admit I have never cooked with it. There, I said it! I do love a good thokku or pachadi and make this tomato thokku quite often since it has a good shelf life. Another good pickle worth trying is this sweet mango pickle that goes really well with rotis and dosas.

So back to gongura pachadi, even a girl like me can't find more excuses with a brilliant book like Cooking with Pedatha on her bookshelf, so one day I slaved on for 2 hours and ended up with (way too little) of this amazing Gongura Pachadi. High-five Pedatha!

Gongura Pachadi

Ingredients:
8 cups tightly packed gongura leaves / pulicha keerai / sorrel leaves (discard thick stems and retain the tender ones)
¾ cup gingelly / sesame oil
Salt to taste
For 1st tempering:
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
8 dry red chillies
4 green chillies
A few curry leaves
½ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon hing powder / asafoetida powder / perungaayam
The 2nd tempering:
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 red chillies
¼ tsp hing powder / asafoetida powder / perungaayam
8 flakes of garlic

Instructions:

1. Heat ½ cup oil and add the gongura leaves. Cook well for about 30 mins until the leaves shrink to almost nothing and all the water has evaporated. The leaves will have a cooked/fried consistency.

2. In another pan, heat 2 tablespoon oil for 1st tempering. Add mustard seeds and when they pop, add the fenugreek seeds. Remove from fire and let the fenugreek brown. Then add the red chillies and as they turn shiny, add the remaining ingredients for the 1st tempering.

3. Grind the above mixture into a course paste with salt without water. Then add the cooked gongura and grind some more, but not into a fine paste.

4. Heat remaining oil for 2nd tempering and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the fenugreek seeds and lower flame. When they turn brown, add the garlic and red chillies. As the chillies turn shiny, add the asafoetida. Garnish the ground pachadi with this tempering and mix well.

Serve with warm steamed rice and melted ghee. I prepared an all-Andhra-dishes lunch  recently and this Gongura Pachadi was part of that. Other recipes following soon.

Oh and by the way, let me know when you are back from heaven after eating this!

For Gongura Pachadi recipe in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, etc, please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.