I am a huge fan of pickles. On any given day, you’ll find me having atleast a small serving of pickle rice for lunch. I love the fiery sour taste of pickle that blends so beautifully with the blandness of plain rice separated and mashed lightly with some sesame oil. My fridge is usually home to many varieties of pickles – Avakkai, Vegetable Pickle, Tomato Pickle, Gooseberry (Nellikai) Pickle, Shallots Pickle, Gongura – anything works with me except lemon.
As a child I remember staying over with my aunt at her amma’s place in Hyderabad after she had just delivered my cousin. I was only 6 at that time, but I remember each meal being a feast with several pachadis and pickles. I reserved the best of my attention to the quintessential Gongura pickle.
Amma packed a bowlful of Gongura pickle on my recent visit to Bangalore. Gongura is a sour green plant that is commonly used in Andhra Pradesh in many dishes. The taste of Gongura is exquisite – a certain kind of sourness that one cannot explain in words and can only be experienced. Gongura pickle’s lovely flavour comes entirely from the inherent taste of the leaves themselves and not from any kind of spices. There are many ways in which people prepare the Gongura pickle – by grinding or by chopping the leaves. At home we prefer the latter. The leaves like most greens are a rich source of iron.
Makes – 1 cup of Gongura Pickle
Ingredients
- Gongura (red stemmed) – 3 cups
- Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Hing (Asafoetida powder) – 1/4 tsp
- Salt – 2 tbsp (adjust to taste)
- Red Chilli Powder – 3 tbsp
- Olive Oil/ Sesame Oil – 3 tbsp
Method
- Remove Gongura Leaves from the stem. Wash well and spread on a cloth to dry. Finely chop the Gongura leaves.
- Heat Olive Oil and saute Gongura Leaves with turmeric and hing on a low to medium flame, stirring continously until the leaves are well cooked and water content of the leaves is diminished. After the gongura is thoroughly cooked it will be reduced to about 1/3rd of the original quantity.
- Add salt and chilli powder and saute on a low flame for 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer to an air tight moisture free container, cool completely and refrigerate. Keeps well for 3 months (if you don’t gobble it up, that is).
Gongura Pickle – for the Recipe Marathon
Fellow recipe marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii
Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Raaga, Lakshmi Venkatesh, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika,Pavani, Roochi, Karuna
I love this pickle. Actually i am new to this one.
I had them in my visit to Indian in one of my friedns house and i loved them.
Now looking to the picture, my mouth is wattering.
Recipe is new to me.Fiery and sour pickle
I love pickles too, have tasted store brought gonguru pickle, home made are always the best.
this looks really spicy and nice. nice and easy recipe
I’m yet to make my own pickle at home. Would it be really difficult to make a mango one?
Contrary to popular perception, pickles are actually easy to make – some of them are perhaps a bit time consuming – but not difficult at all. I have just started making pickles.There are hardly any ingredients or complicated steps. If we can bake, why not pickle! – lakshmi
Had heard so much about gongura pickle,but I never tried it..once had it at a friends place with curd rice and I just fell in love with it,felt sad at thinking what I’ve been missing all along..I want to try this,but I am really bad at identifying greens while buying them.. 😦
I too had seen this only in pickle form until recently. I will post the pictures of the leaves very soon. 🙂 lathamma.
Lakshmi…gongura pickle looks yummy..i’ve been looking for this recipe for sometime now..will definately try it and let you know 🙂
hello lakshmi,
I just saw ur blog last week ,and immediately made it my home page .Just love all ur recipes .Can I pls add u in my blog .just one doubt is gongura also called’pulicha keerai’ .thanks .
glad you like our blog. yes, gongura is pulicha keerai. if you meant adding us to your blogroll, you may go ahead and do that – thanks – lakshmi
hmmm I love it, but we dont get gongura here:( Can you send me some!!
do we get gongura leaves in usa stores??
[…] eaten gongura (red sorrel) in a pickle many years ago on an assignment in rural Andhra Pradesh. I adore tart stuff and the lemony flavour […]
Hi,
Made this recipe this weekend at home. The aroma and the look of the pickle was too good but it turned out to be very salty and very spicy.
I was soo confused about the Gongura quantity. You have given the recipe for 3 cups, but have not mentioned wheather the cups should be lightly packed/ tightly packed. with Gongura leaves.This makes a hell a lot of difference..I took it as lightly packed and made this dish but it was very very salty and very very spicy..
Any suggestions for this??
Thanks,
Sangeetha
To eat it the authentic Andhra way, mix gongura with steaming rice, add ghee, and then garnish with raw finely chopped onions. That will enhance the taste.
hi lakshmi
came here for raagi dosa recipe…. saw gongura pickle post,its taditional recipe at my home…(fresh tadka will be good) i am from andhra,my amma is an expert cook… she is from coastal andhra and hence she prepares traditional andhra recipes alott..
gongura pickle is also my fav… we also prepare gongura roti pachadi(stone grinded) specially with green chillies and finally add onions (stays for 1-3 days). another pickle version stays for a yr..
also she prepares pandu mirapakaya gongura pickle(fresh ripe red chillies grinded with gongura)and also we cook gongura pappu(toor dal with gongura),
my mom specially prepares chana dal with gongura ,it will be so tempting to eat with hot rice and ghee.. the sourness of red sorell leaves(gongura) gives it a unigue flavour and taste.. my mom plants gongura always at home..
sangeetha … don’t panic next time if it’s salty n spicy .. just fry some more gongura leaves and add to the pickle..it will get balanced..
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