Pulli curry- Tangy curry with ridge gourd and brinjal

The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them-                                                   Ralph Waldo Emerson

I feel somewhat the same when I see vegetables. I just love shopping veggies and there are some special days when I crave for something veg. I have a similar obsession for tangy curries. And when it's about cooking tangy, I can only visualize green vegetables with lots of tamarind. I have recently been fantasizing this tangy curry which on certain days turns out really good at my hostel back in insti. It's basically a tamarind and tomato gravy with some mushy vegetable. So when I was home last month I decided to experiment it on my own. I did not refer any recipe and made this out of my guess work. It turned out well and surprisingly it was appreciated by my cousin brother who lived with us for a short period. I used ridge gourd and brinjal ( Aubergine/Eggplant) though one of them would suffice. 

You can also use bitter gourd or snake gourd to make this curry. I tried to make it in Andhra style with some lentils fried and ground chilli paste, I don't know how close I came to the Andhra cuisine but this is what I expect to taste in a typical Andhra meal which is tangyyyy and spicyyyyyyy.

Ingredients for Pulli curry

Brinjal- 2 green long ones ( can be substituted with the purple ones)

Ridge gourd- 1

Toor dal- a pinch

Urad dal- a pinch

Cumin seeds- a pinch

Fenugreek seeds - a pinch

Chilli powder- 2 tbsp ( reduce the quantity depending on your heat level)

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida- a pinch

Kashmiri chilli powder- 2 tbsp- for red colour

Tamarind- (size of a ping pong ball ) soaked in water

Salt- to taste

Onion-1 sliced

Green chillies- 3 slit

Curry leaves- a handful

Tomatoes- 3 diced

Oil- 2 tbsp ( I used coconut oil)

Coconut grated- 1/4 cup

Directions

I used an earthen pot, you can use a non stick pan too. Heat some oil in the pot and add the fenugreek seeds. After it splutters add the cumin seeds followed by toor and urad dals.

 When the dals turn red add the sliced onions, green chillies and curry leaves.when the onions turn brown add the spice powders and saute for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and salt and once the tomatoes are mashed sufficiently add the tamarind pulp. Let this gravy simmer before adding the chopped vegetables. 

And now let the vegetables cook in slow fire. Meanwhile grind the coconut to a fine paste adding very little water. Once the vegetables are cooked add the coconut to the curry and let it simmer for a while. 

If you hate coconut you can avoid this part. Do not over cook now and take the pot of the fire. You can temper the curry with some mustard, chopped shallots and curry leaves in the end if you like, I never did this because I was famished by the end of the cooking. I had some dry fish to get along with this piping curry served with rice.