Gongura (Dekenee Hemp) Pulusu - గోంగూర పులుసు - Andhra Recipes Telugu Vantalu - గాయత్రి వంటిల్లు

Preparations:

Pluck the leaves of Gongura and wash them. Chop the leaves finely.

Microwave cooking: Take them into a microwave safe bowl and add around 20mlwater. Microwave on high power for 5 minutes stirring once (if required) in between.

Pressure Cooking: One can cook this Gongura in Pressure cooker also. Wash and clean the green chilies. Make slits longitudinally on the green chilies and keep them aside. Take Bengal gram in a bowl, wash and add water to it and keep it aside. Clean and peel the bottle gourd. Cut the bottle gourd into medium size pieces and take them into a bowl. Add water to the bottle gourd pieces. Now take a pressure cooker and place the Bengal gram bowl, bottle gourd bowl and gongura bowl in it, close the lid and keep it on the flame. Just before the pressure develops in the pressure cooker and it is about to whistle make the flame low and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, make the flame high and before it whistles switch it off and give a standing time till all the pressure is released. During the standing time, with the pressure inside the pressure cooker, the ingredients get cooked even after we remove it from flame. When cool remove the bowls from the cooker and keep them aside. Strain the excess water from the bottle gourd pieces, the cooked Bengal gram and keep it aside. Such excess water is also known stylishly as Vegetable Stock. Store it for further use.

Method:

Take a pan (I prefer iron pan) and heat it. Add the cooked Gongura to the pan. Add vegetable stock to it and if required add some more water. Add the slit green chilies and brew covered on slow flame for 10 to 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the bottle gourd pieces and the cooked Bengal gram. Mix well. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Mix well and allow it to boil for few seconds. During this entire process the "PASARU" smell goes off and the crossing of sourness from the Gongura and hotness from the Chilies takes place. The neutral in taste Bottle gourd absorbs both.

Now season the Pulusu. Heat a pan and add oil to it. When oil is hot add fenugreek seeds, black gram and fry. When the seeds are golden brown in color add the mustard seeds and fry till they splutter. When done, add this seasoning to the boiling Pulusu. Switch off the flame and cover the pan immediately. After 2 minutes open and mix the Pulusu. Transfer this to a serving bowl. Serve with hot plain rice and "MUDDA PAPPU" with a tinge of Ghee!!!.

Points To Remember:

Take care while cooking Bengal gram in a pressure cooker and ensure it doesn't get over cooked. There is a chance of it getting over cooked in pressure cookers. It is advisable to cook the Bengal gram separately so that we can see and feel it in the dish without loosing its identity. It should be just cooked. Neither over cooked nor under cooked. Then only one can enjoy the Bengal gram in the dish.

Wash and peel the Bottle gourd. Do not throw away the peel. Chop that peel into small pieces and store in a container. Keep this container in fridge. Whenever you are preparing any gravy dish, add this peel while grinding the masala. For all vegetables, essential vitamins lie just beneath the peel. So by throwing away the peel one will be throwing away all these vitamins. So try not to remove the skin of the vegetable wherever possible. When it is absolutely necessary to remove the skins, use them innovatively in gravy masalas to provide better health to your family. The skin not only provides vitamins but is also rich in fiber. So use it in masala grinding and no one will come to know that you have used the peel of a vegetable until and unless you yourself disclose it.

Here in this recipe I have shown two ways of cooking Gongura. Some times when we cook this gongura in pressure cooker, it emanates a particular smell (In telugu we call it PASARU VASANA). Generally when we cook greens in microwave there won’t be any such smell. For those who don’t have a microwave oven, I advise them to cook this gongura directly on stove by adding a dash of turmeric. As this is a leafy vegetable it gets cooked in just a few minutes. If you have a pressure cooker, you can cook it in that too.

Prepare this dish 2 hours ahead. When it rests for 2 hours the taste enhances due to crossing of tastes (ruchulu). The bottle gourd pieces absorb the sour juice of Gongura and tastes good.

One can use Sambar Onions (Small Onions), instead of bottle gourd. It gives an entirely new taste and aroma to the dish.

Ladies during menstruation lose lot of iron. Leafy vegetables are rich in iron. It is advisable to take iron rich foods at least one week before and after menstruation cycle.

I prefer to use iron pan regularly to nourish the iron requirements of my family.

Try for yourself and feed your family members this tasty traditional dish.

Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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