My most beloved Indian ingredient is without a doubt the sour leaves of gongura (also known as sorrel or roselle leaves). So today I bring to you another gongura recipe called Ambadi. This is none other than gongura pickle, which should be eaten with rice.
Ingredients
· Gongura leaves – Bunch
· Tamarind paste – 2 TBS (diluted with some water)
· Curry leaves – 10 leaves
· Mustard seeds – 2 TSP
· Cumin seeds – 2 TSP
· Coriander powder – 1 TBS
· Fenugreek powder – 1 TSP
· Red chilli powder – ½ TSP (depending on how strong the chilli powder is)
· Hing - Pinch
· Turmeric – ½ TSP
· Salt – 1 TSP
· Garlic – Half a head
Instructions
1. Add about 4-5 tablespoons of oil into a pan, and add the fresh gongura leaves into the pan. Allow the leaves to cook for around 5 minutes, until the moisture has evaporated, and the mushy texture has gone.
2. In another small pan, add 3 tablespoons of oil. Then add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and wait until they splutter. Add ¼ head of garlic and sauté. Once cooked, add turmeric, hing and curry leaves. Be careful when adding the curry leaves, as it will cause the oil to splutter a lot.
3. Into this mixture, add fenugreek powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder and mix together.
4. In a bowl, add tamarind paste and diced garlic (the other ¼) together, add a little water and mix together.
5. Add this tamarind mixture into the gongura leaves.
6. Then also add the oil tempering into the gongura leaves, so that all the three separate mixtures are now in one single vessel.
7. Make sure to mix together nicely and then your pickle is all ready!
8. Done
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| Cooking of the gongura leaves |
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| After just a few minutes they will shrink to 1/5 of their original size |
This gongura pickle is especially popular in the Andhra Pradesh state of India, and makes for a wonderful accompaniment to plain white rice. This also goes well with a thali preparation.
This is an especially sour pickle (due to both the tamarind and gongura), so only a small amount is needed when eating.
The pickle can be kept in the fridge for up to three months without spoiling.
Truly one of my most adored Indian foods, make it and enjoy it!