Bittergourd/Pavakka Kichadi

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I always get confused between kichadi and pachadi. The only difference I could find is that, for kichadi, you have to fry the veggies and for pachadi, you have to cook them adding water. If any of you know other reasons for calling them by different names do let us know.  These are all simple dishes that goes on our tables everyday and since we have been on a effort to cover exhaustive everyday meals at home here is another one.



Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd- 1
Green chillies- 1 or 2
Coconut Grated- 3Tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Yogurt- 1/4 cup
Oil-for frying

For seasoning:

Coconut oil- 1Tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Red chillies -2
Curry leaves- a sprig

Method:

1.Chop the bittergourd and green chillies thin and fine.
2.Heat oil for frying and fry the bitter gourd and chillies till they become crisp, but not overdone.Keep this aside
3.Grind the coconut and cumin together to a fine paste.Crush the mustard seeds.
4.Heat oil in a pan and do the seasoning.Add the coconut mixture and crushed mustards and saute till all the water is absorbed.
5.Take the fried bittergourd in a mixing bowl and crush them a bit.To this add the sauteed coconut mix and yogurt and mix well.



Notes:

I used Japanese Bitter melon for this. As I have mentioned in the Bitter gourd fry post, it's less bitter than the dark green variety.There were many requests for a picture of that and here it is :-)