I had always been interested in cooking. But I always liked to cook something special...as in, I like to make chocolates, paal payasam, pavakkai stuffed with paneer.....etc. The traditional sambar- rasam cooking never interested me.But of late, I have been realizing the importance of this traditional cooking!
I learnt from Amma to make Pitla ( I see it as a variant of sambar)! I was surprised that my first experiment was almost perfect. Here is the glimpse of the pitla I made.
Here is the recipe. Try if interested.
A)On a kadai, add a table spoon of oil, add 1 table spoon of kadalai paruppu (Bengal Gram/ Channa dal) and 1/2 table spoon of ulutham paruppu (Black gram, Urad dal)and saute till golden brown. Add a handful of Dania seeds and saute till golden brown. Add 7-8 red chillies (or as required) and saute till the red chillies fry a little. Add 1/2 tsp of pepper corns (Milagu) and add 6-7 tablespoons of grated coconut
(half of a coconut will make it tastier) and saute till golden brown. Let this mixture cool and grind it to paste along with a very little amount of jaggery (just about half a teaspoon) and set aside.
B)Take tamarind (about lemon sized) and prepare extract in water and set aside.
C)Take a small cup of Thuvaram paruppu (Thoor dal) and pressure cook it in a cooker and set aside.
D)Take a kadai, add a table spoon of oil, add the cut Brinjal (1/2 tp 3/4 Kgs), add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder, and required amount of salt. and saute for few minutes until the brinjal becomes softer. Add the tamarind extract (from B) and leave it on low flame until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off (This step took a long time, actually!). Then add the paste (from A) to the above and allow it to boil for few minutes. Then add the Dal (from C) and allow the whole mix to boil for few minutes...Pitla is ready! Switch off the flame.
Add cut corainder leaves (kothamalli thazhai) and curry leaves to the above. Add perungayam (Heeng/ Asoefitida) over the pitla.
E)in a separate smaller kadai, add a teaspoon of ghee for mustard seasoning. Pour this over the pitla such that it touches the Asoefitida (perungayam) sprinkled on the pitla.
Hot, tasty, fragrant Pitla ready! Aaha!
