Pavakkai Kozhambu /Bittergourd in Tamarind Sauce

~~~~~~~~~~ కాకర కాయ ~~~~~~~~~~
The day since my mom started giving bittergourd fry for us i developed a sweet and bittery love on this greenish vegetable.Bittergourd tastes great with hot rice and curd rice.Eventhough this gourd is bitter but not from heart and it is very good for health indeed.I always love the bittergourd fry,stuffed bittergourd ,pickle,chips which tastes heavenly when my mom makes.Once i tasted Bittergourd Kozhambu in SaravanaBhavan,Chennai.Later i came to know that even my nannamma (dads mom )used to make this with kakarakaya/bittergourd (home grown) and with another veggies like plantain,okra,brinjal,ustikayalu in thick tamarind sauce (chintapandu pulusu in telugu)aka kozhambu (in Tamil).My husband says no to bittergourd but I started adding it to making kozhambu which is his favourite side dish for rice.He liked the taste the way i make.I have satisfaction that in someway iam giving the healthy veggie in our food instead of ommiting it.

Ingredients:
Bittergourd - 2 no
Onion - 1 no medium size ,chopped
Ginger - ½ " size,crushed
Garlic pods - 3 no,crushed
Tamarind puree - ½ cup
Red chilli powder - ½ tspn
Pepper - ¼ tspn
Sugar - ½ tspn (Jaggery tastes good)
Red chillies - 2 no
Mustard seeds,Menthi seeds,curry leaves for seasoning
Sambar powder - 2 tspn
Sesame oil - ½ tspn
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Preperation:
Make puree with tamarind by soaking in hot water.Keep it aside.Add oil to the pan and once it is hot add seasoning ingredients musatrd,methi/fenugreek seeds,red chillies,curry leaves one by one.Let them splutterand add chopped onions and saute well.Add crushed ginger,garlic and fry for a while until raw smell goes.Add cut bittergourd pieces and fry until light golden brown color.Add tamarind puree,turmeric,sambar pwd,water,pepper pwd ,salt and cook until gravy becomes slightly thick.Add sugar,sesame oil /Ghee (optional)and adjust if salt and red chilli pwd according to taste.Serve with hot rice with a dollop of ghee . We had spicy,tangy,bittery bittergourd kozhambu rice with homemade parsnip chips.
sundakkai vatral kozhambu .
Info about Bittergourd .
This recipe goes to Vegetable Of the Week -Bittergourd hosted by lovely Pooja.