How to make gongura pachadi, the fiery, sour Andhra chutney of cooked roselle leaves, chillies and garlic, and where to find gongura in the US.
Gongura is the sharp, sorrel-like leaf of the roselle plant, and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it is close to a food of identity. Pachadi means chutney, and gongura pachadi, mixed into hot rice with a spoon of ghee, is comfort food for millions of Telugu families.
At Biryani Pot it goes into curries and biryanis. At home, the pachadi is where to start.
Where to find gongura in the US
Look for bunches of fresh gongura (sometimes labelled roselle leaves or red sorrel) at Indian grocers, especially those serving South Indian communities. Frozen gongura and ready-made pachadi are common. Fresh French sorrel from a farmers’ market is a reasonable substitute: it is less sour, so add a little tamarind.
Keeping it
Covered with a film of oil, pachadi keeps for two weeks in the fridge.
Read the story of gongura in the Telugu kitchen.
Recipe
Gongura pachadi, the Andhra sour-leaf chutney
Ingredients
Pachadi
- 4 packed cups (about 4 oz / 115 g) gongura leaves, stems removed (or fresh sorrel)
- 3 tbsp sesame or peanut oil, divided
- 8–10 dried red chillies (fewer for less heat)
- 1 tsp coriander seeds and ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- 6 cloves garlic
- ¾ tsp salt
Tadka
- 1 tbsp oil, ½ tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 2 dried chillies, a pinch of asafoetida, 8 curry leaves
Method
- Cook the leaves. Wash and dry the leaves well. Cook in 1 tbsp oil over medium heat, stirring, until they collapse into a dark, jammy mass, about 8 minutes. Cool.
- Roast the spices. In 1 tbsp oil, fry the dried chillies, coriander and fenugreek until the fenugreek turns reddish-brown. Do not let it go dark; it turns bitter.
- Grind. Grind the spices with the garlic and salt to a coarse powder, then add the cooked leaves and pulse to a coarse paste. Do not add water.
- Temper. Heat the remaining oil with the tadka ingredients until the seeds pop, then stir it into the pachadi.
Home-style recipe from the Biryani Pot Indian Bar & Grill Journal. It is not our restaurant's own recipe; for that, visit us.