Gongura Pachadi | Gongura Pickle & Chutney
Updated: June 6, 2024, By Swasthi
This Gongura Pachadi is tangy, hot, spicy and tastes exactly the way it should. Steaming hot rice and ghee mixed with this Gongura Chutney, is a pure delight and comfort food for the Telugu speaking people. In this post I share 2 recipes to make this. The first one is a traditional pachadi that you can store for a few weeks in the refrigerator. The second one makes for a delicious side but it is best served within 2 days.
About Gongura Pachadi
Gongura Pachadi is a tangy and spicy side dish or chutney variety made with red sorrel leaves (roselle), dried red chilies, garlic and cumin seeds. It is a staple in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where these leaves are grown in abundance.
Roselle Leaves are also known as red sorrel leaves and goes by different names in the regional Indian cuisines. In Telugu they are known as gongura or puntikura, in Kannada they are pundi soppu, in Tamil they are pulicha keerai, in Marathi they are Ambaadi and in Hindi they are pitwaa. There are different kinds of red sorrel leaves, I am showing 2 kinds here.
These leaves taste sour and super good in any preparations. Gongura pappu, Gongura pickle and Gongura chicken are some of the Andhra and Telangana dishes made with these leaves. You will find plenty of dishes on the menus of Andhra restaurants.
These leaves are cooked with prawns and lamb too. Another popular version of the pickle is made with shade dried and wilted leaves. They are sautéed and pickled to preserve for a year.
Gongura is a winter speciality and is believed to possess body warming properties. So my Mom always made these pachadi varieties during the winters. I know this pachadi is made in numerous ways. Here I am sharing my Mom’s recipes.
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Photo Guide
Step by step Photo Instructions (Recipe 1)
1. To make this gongura pachadi, I cleaned and plucked the leaves first. Then measured them tightly to fill a 3 liters pot. This is just for you to know the amount of leaves I use for this recipe. Rinse them thoroughly few times in clean water. Drain to a colander, shake off to get rid of excess moisture and spread them on a clean cotton cloth. The leaves must wilt slightly on their own and no moisture should be left. It just took me 5 to 6 hours on a hot day.
2. Heat ¼ cup oil in a pan.
3. Add the leaves to the hot pan.
4. Fry until the leaves cook and wilt completely. Keep them aside to cool completely.
5. To the same pan, add more oil and fry 8 to 10 dried red chilies as needed until crisp. Switch off and add 1 tablespoon cumin/ jeera. Increase or decrease the amount of chilies to your taste and preference.
6. When they cool down add them to a grinder along with 4 cloves of garlic and salt. Make sure your garlic is not moist. If you want, saute it for a minute in the same pan. Blend as smooth as possible.
7. Add the leaves and pulse to get a coarse texture.
Temper
8. Traditionally pachadi is made coarse. Taste test to adjust salt and spice at this stage. If it is not spicy enough, fry more red chilies & blend. Then mix with gongura pickle. Heat the same pan with 1 tablespoon oil, add a sprig of curry leaves, 2 broken dried red chilies, 1 tsp each chana dal and urad dal. When the dal turns golden, add ¼ teaspoon of hing. Stir in the pachadi. Saute for 2 to 3 mins until aromatic. Turn off and cool down.
Transfer to a clean air tight glass jar and store in the refrigerator for a month. Use clean dry spoons to scoop out the pickle.
Recipe 2 – Gongura Chutney
This chutney is tempered with vadiyalu or majjiga mirapakayalu. People also temper this with shrimps / prawns (crispy deep fried or pan fried). I have shared the recipe in the recipe card below.
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Recipe Card
Gongura Pachadi (Gongura Pickle)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups red sorrel leaves or gongura tightly packed
- 1 large onion (cut to quarters)
- 3 to 4 Green Chilies
- Salt to taste
To Temper
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- ¼ teaspoon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon cumin or jeera
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 dried red chili
- 4 to 8 Majjiga Mirapakayalu (curd chilies)
- Vadiyalu as needed (can use minapa (urad dal) or pesara (moong dal) vadiyalu)
Instructions
- Pick the leaves from the stalks and Wash them 3 to 4 times in a large pot. Drain them aside for at least 10 mins in a colander.
- To a large bowl, add leaves, onions, green chilies and 3 tbsp water. Boil all these till the leaves are fully cooked.
- When the leaves are tender, open the lid and either drain the excess liquid or evaporate it by cooking further.
- Cool completely and grind with salt to a slightly coarse chutney.
Temper Gongura Pachadi
- On a medium flame, heat oil in a pan. Deep fry majjiga mirchi until crisp and remove to a plate. Keep aside. Deep fry vadiyalu and remove to a plate. Keep aside.
- Remove excess oil and keep only a tsp of oil in the pan. Add red chilies, mustard, cumin and garlic. Once they splutter. Turn off the heat. Mix chutney with all the fried and tempered ingredients.
- Serve gongura pachadi with hot rice and a spoon of ghee.
Notes
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
Iโm Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโs Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Hi Swasthi
I noticed in some recipes use coarsely crushed coriander seeds (dhaniyalu) also. Is it worthwhile adding these seeds to the pickle or will they spoil the taste of the pickle? Any thoughts on this? Thanks
Hi Rom garu,
I have eaten that though not tried it myself. It tastes good but that version also has other spices like methi seeds etc.
Swasthi, thanks very much for your response.
Nice n easy recipe, will make it
Thank you! Yes give it a try
Hi Swasthi
As always, thanks for wonderful recipes.
I put in more red chillies and the pickle is spicy.. any tips to reduce the spice level pls..
Hi Veda
Saute another batch of gongura and add it. My mom also adds some sesame seeds powder to this. May be you want to try it. Toast some sesame seeds on a low flame until they crackle. Cool, powder and mix it. You can also add little jaggery but not sure about the shelf life. Hope this helps.
Hi… I have tried ur recipe first one… Taste is delicious… Can I keep it in deep freeze for one month
Hi Srivani
I haven’t tried freezing it. The taste may change, not sure.
OK thanks for your reply
Your great .its very helpful for begininers in cooking.very tasty
We all want to see your pic
Hi Gowthami
Thank you! haha! will share it sometime.
๐
Hello Swasthi! Love these recipes! How long do each of them last?
Hello Tara,
The first one can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 weeks. To increase the shelf life you have to dry the leaves in shade completely. The second one should be finished the same day.
thanks swathi garu.mee receipes naku chala use avuthunayi.
Welcome Bharathi Devi
Glad to know you like the recipes
All recipes are good.what I was looking for was chutneys without coconut.i got the same.wil surely try.thank
Welcome Kalpita
Yes do try them
Chaala bagundi
Thank you
Hi
I found them at my supermart after reading about the health benefits of sorrel leaves.
I cook the chopped wilted leaves with some pounded red chillie and red onions then seasoned with salt and some sugar.
The tart taste of dish is very appetising! Since I cannot eat rice, I ate them with bread instead – yummy. I am also learning to make the paratha.
Tq for your other gongura recipes. I am looking forward to cooking the gongura chicken fry and pappu recipes next to eat with paratha/capathi.
Regards
Rose
Hello Rose
Glad to know you have tried sorrel leaves. Yes the health benefits are immense. Do try the other recipes as well. You can also try shrimp with gongura, the same way as gongura chicken fry. Thanks for the feedback.
What a taste of this paccadi
swathi garu me blog chala bagundhi.
Hello Swarna garu
Thank you
healthy and delicious recipe… bookmarked..
Superb clicks n just love the recipe
Didn't know adding majjiga mirchi and minapa vadiyalu to any dish like this….quite new one ๐
very new recipe to me…looks so flavourful…
This is new to me. Looks delicious and inviting.
This pachadi is new to me ๐ Sounds flavorful Swasthi!!
That's a healthy & flavored chutney… Loved the mix of ingredients that went into the making ๐
This is my favorite Swasthi,Yours have turned out very well
Another yummy chutney!
The leaves are new to me, maybe I have never noticed it before. Will try to look for it in the market.<br /><br />Its about simplicity but I sure love the fragrance of curry leaves and that bit of chili.