Gongura pickle

We had these tenants of ours who were from Andhra. They were recently married, and the wife was quite a young girl, who was just out of college. She'd come home for spending some time talking to mom to kill her boredom in a new place. And mom give her company for sometime, while we would be curiously listening to the conversation!

One of the usual topics would be food, and she'd often say she had prepared something with gongura. We were quite unaware of this gongura then. And she'd explain that it is a very famous variety of greens and used widely in Andhra cuisine. And she'd sometimes give us a tangy spicy pickle like thing to taste, in a small bowl in return to something that mom would have sent to her. And it would taste awesome with hot rice and a spoonful of ghee/oil. The next encounter with this gongura pickle was at Andhra style restaurants, where Dee loves the pappu (dal) and this gongura pickle.

So when the vegetable vendor come with fresh bunches of maroon stalked green gongura, i was tempted to buy it, even without any idea of how to use it. And i soon figured out umpteen different recipes from various sources! Then decided to refine it to my taste and make it to suit our tastebuds. And it did come ou good, and a huge bunch of leaves yielded me only a small bowlful of the pickle, and what i thought i'll have to preserve for weeks, didn't last for more than three days! Everyone - including little niece Hima had an extra round of gongura pickle rice for every meal, till it lasted!

Gongura pickle

Preparation time : 10 min Cooking time : 15 min Makes : 1 cup of pickle Ingredients: Gongura leaves - 5-6 cups, washed and picked Oil - 2 tbsp Salt - 1 tsp For spice powder:Dry red chilies - 15-20 depending on taste Mustard seeds - 3 tsp Fenugreek seeds - 3 tsp For tempering: Oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Asafetida - 1 pinch Method: Spice powder• Heat a skillet and roast all the ingredients • Cool slightly and grind it to a powder Gongura pickle• Wash the gongura, separate the leaves from stalk • In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the gongura leaves • The volume of the greens reduces drastically • Sauté it for a while till the water content evaporates • Keep stirring, to avoid sticking to the pan, add more oil if needed • Once done, the oil starts separating out from the pickle • Add the spice powder prepared and mix thoroughly for a couple of minutes, with the heat on • Heat oil in a small skillet, add mustard and allow to splutter, add asafetida and mix it to the pickle • Serve with rice and ghee/oil, curd rice, dosa, etc Tips n Tricks: • The gongura reduces in volume drastically - so use more if you want to prepare more Variations: • Sautéed onions can also be added