Sour Sesame Seed Dish

This is another dish that is common to Kerala. What gives it a very distinct flavor(and color too) is the black sesame seeds. It is commonly served as a side-dish with Green Coconut curries. Reason for this combination is simple — the Green Coconut curry has a plain taste and typically goes well with a dish that has a sour taste. And this dish tends to be a little sour due to the tamarind.

Ingredients

  1. Red chillies – 2
  2. Black Sesame seeds – 5 table spoons
  3. Menthium – 1  teaspoon
  4. Raw rice – 2 teaspoons
  5. Turmeric – half a teaspoon
  6. Asafodita – a pinch
  7. Tamarind – the size of a ball 3cm in diameter
  8. Salt
  9. Oil
  10. Curry leaves – to garnish
  11. Sugar – half a teaspoon
  12. Bitter gourd – 1 or 2, depending on its size
  13. Curry leaves to garnish

Steps

The dish is prepared in three stages.

1. Tamarind Water

  1. Soak the tamarind in a little water
  2. Set it aside for the tamarind to turn soft.

2. Sesame Seed Mixture

  1. Roast the red chillies.
  2. When the chillies become slightly brown and stiff add the following:
    1. Sesame seeds
    2. Menthiyum
    3. Raw rice
  3. Roast these till the rice turns slightly yellowish. Note it shouldn’t turn brown, just yellowish. The purpose is to remove the moisture from these ingredients.
  4. Take it off heat and let it cool down to slightly warm.
  5. While it’s still warm grind all these together into a fine powder in a blender.
  6. Set this aside. We will add it to the vegetable base we’ll be preparing in the next step.

3. Vegetable Base

  1. Cut the bitter gourd into small chunky pieces.
  2. Shallow fry the cut bitter gourd pieces in oil in high flame until it softens and the vegetable looses its fresh color.
  3. Lower the flame and add the following:
    1. Turmeric
    2. Asafodita
    3. Tamarind water from stage 1
    4. Salt
  4. Turn the flame high again and let it cook until the vegetable is almost cooked. More importantly the water should boil so that the tamarind will lose its bitterness and only its sour taste will remain. At this stage the bitter gourd would have absorbed some of the sourness of the tamarind as well.
  5. Add the mixture from stage 2 to this which will make the gravy thick. At this stage, you might need to add some water depending on the thickness of the dish that you desire. Let it all cook in low flame for a short while.
  6. Add the sugar, mix well and take it off heat.
  7. Garnish with the curry leaves.

Notes

  • One can increase the amount of sugar added in the end to yield a sweet & sour dish.
  • Brown sugar, instead of bleached white sugar, gives the dish a better taste.

Traditional South Indian Name

This dish is traditionally known as Pulikuthi Curry in Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu.