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November 8, 2008

Pitle


Breakfast. Hurried or leisurely. Tasty or tasteless. Rich or healthy. Variety or monotony. However you perceive breakfast, there is no denying that it is the most important meal of the day. On days when I find butter too heavy and jam too sweet, when I find I have little time to chop onions to make poha and when upma seems uninteresting (that can happen, you know!), I turn to this comforting dish that Amma saved for those leisurely breakfasts and hurried dinners. As with upma, I know that this dish has lovers and haters, I am yet to meet someone who is indifferent to my favourite bread spread: Pitle.


1/4 cup Gram Flour (Besan)

1 tsp Chilli Paste

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

1-2 tsp Tamarind Paste

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

2 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Salt to taste


In a mixing bowl, place the gram flour, coriander leaves, chilli paste, turmeric powder, salt and tamarind paste. Add 1/2 to 2/3 cup of water and whisk together until there are no lumps in the mixture.


In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the asafoetida and the curry leaves. Add the gram flour mixture and cook on a low flame while stirring continuously. The pitle is ready when it becomes thick and takes on the consistency of flowing custard.


This makes a great bread spread (especially if you, like me, don't care as much for sweet breakfasts). This tastes great with hot chapatis and, at my place, is a favourite with this and this. And this is a specialty of the konkani/marathi world, not to be confused with the Tamilian Pitlay!



Day 8 of the marathon. Check out these links to see what my co-runners have come up with. DK , Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.

13 comments:

amna said...

my mom in law was telling me about this recipe only today. her version was more sambar-like, quite different from yours. wonder why.. is this a different version by any chance? or maybe a different kind of pitle from what she said.

CurryLeaf said...

My version of Pitle is Samabar like as Nags said.May be both are different.Will give it a try .Cheers

Padmajha said...

When it comes to quick fixes,i know where to look for..Lovely recipes you have here:)

Srivalli said...

that looks good..though I have never cooked it..

Unknown said...

Havent heard of this..Looks nice Raaga..

Divya Kudua said...

Never heard of this before..looks nice and am sure would taste great with bread..;-)

Pavani said...

name sound new to me but it looks yummy....tempting to have with roti

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I have never heard of this. When I saw the picture, I thought it was some type of parippu.
Which part of India is this traditional to?

Raaga said...

@Nags & Curry Leaf: As I've mentioned, this is very different from the Pitlay of TN. That is made with stuff like pavakkai. :-)This is a more Konkani/Marathi dish

@PJ: Thanks :-)

Raaga said...

@Valli: When you're out of time, you should try this :-)

@Divya & Divya: Try it with toast sometime :-)

Raaga said...

@Pavani: This is great with hot chapathis :-)

@Aparna: It is right where you're now I guess :-)

Bhawana said...

its very new to me :). made of besan so must be delicious.

Kitchen Chronicles said...

Looks good and easy to make. New to me.