Gongura Pachadi / Gongura Pachidi / Gongura Thogayal - Andhra Style

Gongura ( Red Sorrel Leaves), a leafy green vegetable is very famous in Andhra cuisine. Its called as "Pulicha Keerai" in tamil. Red stemmed gongura is more sour than the green stemmed variety. Gongura is very rich in Iron, vitamins, folic acid and antioxidants that are required for nutrition. Gongura is widely used in many Andhra dishes. This version of the Gongura Pachidi was learnt in Bangalore couple of years ago from my daughter's nanny. It was very delicious and it had a nice punch in its taste and went along well with steamed white rice. I have been doing this pachidi ever since I learnt this from the nanny. This version also reminds me of the Gongura Pachidi that are served in many Andhra Restaurants in their special Andhra Thali Meals.

Try mixing few spoonful of this Pachidi in hot rice with few drops of ghee and enjoy with a side of fried Appalam.

Ingredients

Gongura Leaves - 1 Bunch

Red Onion - 2 Medium

Garlic Pods - 15.

Dry Red Chillies - 10

Coriander Seeds - 3 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Gingelly Oil \ Nalla Yennai - 1 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Procedure

• Wash and drain the Gongura leaves and keep them ready. Keep the garlic pods, red onion pieces ready for the process.
• On medium heat, add little oil into the kadai. Add dry red chillies,cumin seeds and coriander seeds first.  Roast them to golden brown and transfer it to the mixer grinder and grind them to a powder along with Hing / Asafoetida.
• Add red onion pieces and garlic pods to the remaining oil and fry them till they become translucent. Then, transfer the contents to the mixer grinder and grind them coarsely.
• Then, on the same kadai, add the washed gongura leaves with the remaining oil and fry the gongura leaves till they become soggy and mashy..After they get cooked, transfer them to the mixer grinder and grind them for just a round or two. That's it.  Add required amount of salt to the Pachidi and mix well.
• Gongura Pachidi is now ready to serve with hot white rice.

Variations

You can add more oil to the Gongura Pachidi if you want to keep it for more days.

You can add the shredded raw red onion pieces to the Gongura Pachidi. Some people like the taste of the crunchy raw red onion pieces in the gongura pachidi.
You can adjust the number of red chillies as per your taste buds.

Tips

While adding the red onion pieces for frying, keep aside 3 tbsp of the shredded red onion pieces. This could be added to the grounded gongura pachidi either directly or added to the tempered oil later.Don't grind the pachidi too pasty. It should be grinded coarsely with all the onions, garlic, gongura leaves to retain a special punch and texture in it.