Here's a simple side dish of Pavakka (bitter gourd). It's a traditional Kerala dish which is a part of Onam Sadya.
You can see other sadya recipes here.
Here is the recipe…
Ingredients
- 1 medium Pavakka (bitter gourd)
- 3-4 Green chilly
- 1/2 cup Grated coconut
- 1/4 tsp Mustard
- 1/2 – 1 cup Yogurt
- 1/2 tsp Mustard
- 2-3 Small onion/ Pearl onion
- 2 Whole red chilly
- Curryleaves
- Salt
- Coconut oil
Instructions
- Crush 1/4 tsp mustard seeds. Grind the coconut into a smooth paste adding a little water and add the crushed mustard seeds to this.
- Cut pavakka into thin slices. Heat oil in a pan and fry the pavakka pieces till it becomes golden brown color, make sure that it doesn't get burnt. Keep the fried pavakka aside. Add curry leaves and green chilly to the same oil and fry it for 1-2 minutes & remove from fire. Combine the fried pavakka pieces, curry leaves & green chilly & add salt to it. Add coconut paste to the pavakka pieces+curryleaves+green chilly. Add yogurt to this & mix well.
- Heat oil in a pan & splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, whole red chilly & sliced small onion. Fry it till the onion becomes golden brown and pour this over the pavakka mix.
Tried this recipe? Let others know by…mentioning @mariasmenu or tagging #mariasmenu
I made this the other day following your recipe, and it came out really well… exactly how my mom makes it. Thanks a bunch!
Thank you so much Ida :) Really happy to know that it came out well.
Cheers
Maria
Maria, im going to try this on weekend… i hv got some deadly bitter “paavakka”… hope it will come out well. else i might hv to eat the entire thing all by myself ;)
and reg Anie’s comment, Maria what u said is absolutely right… u can’t make everyone happy…. for all level 1 cooks like me need blog like urs and not recipes of master chefs…
Hi Deepthi,
Hope pavakka kichadi turned out well for you. Did it turn out bitter?
Nice to know that you find the recipes here useful dear, thank you so much :)
Cheers
Maria
Just saw this first comment how mean …so discouraging..how can she say like that.crap person must say she needs treatment maria..ur dishes are just awesome i myself tried a lot from urs..truly tasty.keep this going dear.ur doing a great job. :)
Hi Smitha,
Thank you so much dear for your support and encouraging words, I appreciate it very much :)
I guess I cant make everybody happy, so let it be…
Cheers
Maria
Hi Ritu,
Thanks a lot dear :) Great to know that you are a regular visitor here.
I’ve seen some people soaking the sliced pavakka in slat water and squeezing out the water after sometime, to reduce the bitterness. May be you can try that.
Cheers
Maria
hi ,
this doesn’t even look like kichadi.if we make kichadi in a traditional way it wil be a very light brown colour .your kichadi look like thayir sadham , no offense.and one more thing ur website take very long time to load the page .some of your recipes are good but not all for i am from a traditional christian family in kerala and am familiar with most of the chicken recipes you upload . one more thing snaps which u upload for most of your recipes look like some British guy made those.
thank you
hi ,
this doesn’t even look like kichadi.if we make kichadi in a traditional way it wil be a very light brown colour .your kichadi look like thayir sadham , no offense.and one more thing ur website take very long time to load the page .some of your recipes are good but not all for i am from a traditional christian family in kerala and am familiar with most of the chicken recipes you upload . one more thing snaps which u upload for most of your recipes look like some British guy made those.
thank you
Sad Anie! You must be a really sad person!!!
Its not fair to give such demotivating comments. The site is really excellent. The site owner can bbetter delete such comments.
Hi Kavithaa,
Thank you very much for your encouraging words and support, appreciate it very much :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
In three days i have turned a big fan of you. I tried moor kulambu, peas masala, panner butter masala, potato masala, banana fitters from your site in a short 3 days everything came out well. unfortunately this pavakka kichadi didnt turn out good but i converted it into moor kulambu by adding water, jeera powder and turmeric to the final product which i made and kept in stove constantly stiring for 5 minutes. Believe me it was awesome. I have bookmarked many other recipies to make too. Excellent portal. Hats off to you…
I will be a regular visitor to ur blog from now on.
I feel happy for finding this site.
kavitha
Hi Kavitha,
I’m glad that I got a wonderful reader like you :) Thanks a bunch dear for trying out all those recipes. But what happened to the kichadi? anyways, good to know that you were able to save it.
Please keep trying the recipes when time permits and have fun cooking :)
Cheers
Maria
nice try anie,’xpert cook’s like u may not find this blog good.but some backbenchers like me need support and Maria is such a big help for us….
cheers maria
Thanks a bunch Liya for your support and encouraging words :)
Thanks a bunch Liya for your support and encouraging words :)
i,ve tried ur dishes and it came out well..for the beginers like me your site is so help full,,thanks a lot and may God bless you..
Thanks Nimmy :) Great to know that you find the site helpful.
Best wishes to you too…
I made this for Onam Sadya we hosted for our family friends, this Kichadi was a real hit as everyone liked the dish & asked for the recipe, the recipe is a simple one but its a sure mouth watering one… Thanks Maria for a nice recipe
Hi Latha,
Thanks for the comment :) Glad to know that you had a great Onam with your family n friends.
Its one of my fav recipes too…
Cheers
Maria
Agnes & Elsa,
thank you dearies :)
Hi Maria
I tried pavakka kichadi…was soo soo good…. now i can add one more dish to my list :D .. my husband also loved it…. thank you so much…..
Hi maria..i have tried few of your recipes..especially fish…just love them…saw this recipe.and tried it today..came out well and it tasted the way my mom makes….I happened to see some comments above..so thought of sharing the picture of the curry to show that it turns a slight brown colour as per the discussion…anyways whatever said and done..if one follows the intstructions given..the curry just tastes like authentic pavakha pachadi..
Hi Aparna,
Thank you so much for your comment :) Happy to hear that you like the recipes tried from here.
I’m glad that it reminded you of your mom’s cooking. Thanks for sharing the pic too, appreciate it very much!
Cheers
Maria
i tried pvakka kichadi.it turnedout real good .my friend also had some,she loved it.
Hi
Same way I tried 15 days back!! What a
co incidence! I did not put coconut but!!
It came out very tasty!!
Lovely photo!
Yummy. I never liked pavakkas before.But now its changed
Hi Misha
Thanks for dropping in.
Happy to know that you liked this :)
Cheers
Maria
I was looking for vellarikya pachadi recipe when I came across this.
kichadi huh….tho the recipe sounds same as pachadi…I guess in diff parts of town its pronounced different:-)
Hi Nancy
Thanks for dropping in.
I guess there is some diff between pachadi n kichadi. In pachadi vegetables are cooked by adding water and in Kichadi vegetables are fried (source: google search :) ). Rest everything else is same :)
Btw, your blog is very interesting. I’ve bookmarked :)
Cheers
Maria
I was going through your blog. It’s really nice.
As per my understanding the pachadi and kichadi are different in the use of “mustard”. It’s grinded in “pachadi” along with the coconut but not in “kichadi”.
Thank you for your kind words & for explaining the difference between the two :)
Cheers
Maria
Does being mean is being smart Anie! Maria, u r doing a great job and keep writing cos you have readers. Last night tried ur manga chammandi and it was a quick hit – will try some other recipes too.
Thanks Anu dear for your support & encouraging words, appreciate it very much. Nice to know that manga chammanthi turned out well :)
Cheers
Maria