Gongura Mamsam | Gongura Mutton | Goat Meat Curry with Red Sorrel Leaves

Gongura Mamsam | Gongura Mutton | Goat Meat Curry with Red Sorrel Leaves is a specialty from Andhra Cuisine. Its tangy taste infused from the gongura leaves is finger licking good with any rice or roti.  Andhra meal, veg or non-veg, will never be complete without a dish made using these gongura leaves.

Few days back  I came to know that  a Pot-Luck  Lunch was to be arranged in my husband’s office and I was clueless on the dish till yesterday until I saw my “keerai kaara amma” (Greens vendor) with loads of these fresh leaves.  I bought a bunch, having this spicy, tangy curry in mind. But I had second thoughts about this because last year for the same pot-luck lunch, I made “Murgh Methi” which is again a non-veg item, Chicken with methi leaves (greens).  I just got a little fear in my mind, everyone will brand me as my son does J. He says everyday on seeing something green in his plate “Don’t you know anything other than green colour in food, like brown, red or something?”  That’s true…I’m addicted to greens, whenever I see greens fresh, I have an impulse to buy all of them. Some people club all the different greens as one but I enjoy the distinct flavour of each one. 

About these gongura leaves, it’s unique in everything, flavour, taste, final appearance of the dish, etc. There are two varieties of gongura, red stemmed & green stemmed. The red stemmed leaves are more sour than the green stemmed. These leaves are rich in iron, folate, calcium & essential vitamins. I’ve already posted the recipe for Gongura Rice which is really tasty on par with our Pulihore | Puliyotharai | Tamarind Rice.

For Pot-Luck lunch, I prepared Gongura mamsam out of 1 ½ Kg mutton, as semi thick gravy to suit for both plain & flavoured rice as well as rotis. I’ve simplified the procedure to make it as quick as possible since the traditional Andhra recipe calls for many steps. But I’m sure that I got the real, authentic taste of Gongura mutton.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

• Mutton (Boneless) – 1 ½ Kg
• Gongura leaves –  2 cups
• Ginger garlic paste – 4 tbsp
• Green chillies (slitted) – 4 Nos.
• Onion (finely chopped) – 2 cups
• Tomato (finely chopped) – 1 cup
• Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 3 tbsp
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
• Pepper powder – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 4 tbsp + 1 tsp
• Bay leaf – 2 Nos
• Cinnamon 2" piece – 2 Nos
• Fennel seeds  – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - few

Method:

1. Wash mutton thoroughly,  dice into required size, drizzle some turmeric powder, mix well and keep aside.
2. Pluck only the gongura leaves from the stalks, wash very well in water and keep  aside.
3. Cut onion, tomato, green chilli as mentioned above and keep aside.
4. In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with the items given “For seasoning”.
5. Then add ginger-garlic paste & sauté in simmer till it becomes brown but not burning the paste.
6. Add onion and sauté till it becomes golden brown in colour.
7. Add tomato and sauté till it becomes mushy.
8. Add all the spice powders and salt, except garam masala & pepper powder and sauté well till the oil oozes out.
9. Add the mutton pieces,  sauté till the masala gets coated with the mutton pices evenly and the colour of mutton changes a bit.
10. Add 1 cup of water, close the lid and pressure cook the mutton for 5  whistles in simmer. Switch off.
11. In the mean time, place a kadai, heat 1 tsp oil. To this add the washed gongura & sauté until the leaves  wilt. Within few seconds, the leaves turn into brown colour. Allow to cool.
12. In a blender, add the wilted greens and pulse it coarsely, just 1 or 2 times & keep aside.
13. Once the pressure gets released from the pressure cooker, open the lid, add the coarsely ground gongura, pepper powder & garam masala powder. Mix well and bring it to a boil.
14. Check for spice & salt at this stage and if you want, you can add more now.
15. Once the gravy gets the required consistency, switch off.

Your spicy, tangy, creamy Gongura Mamsam is ready to serve!

Note:

• The quantity of spice powders & green chillies in this recipe purely depends on the sourness of gongura leaves. 
• Don’t grind the cooked gongura into a fine paste.
• Mutton cooking time varies with the quality of mutton.

Tags: Gongura Mamsam recipe, Andhra Style Gongura mutton, Mutton with red sorrel leaves, Mutton curry with gongura leaves, Goat meat and gongura leaves curry, Mutton curry for rotis, Mutton Gongura curry for variety rice, spicy mutton gongura curry, creamy mutton curry with sorrel leaves, Andhra special mutton recipe, How to cook gongura mutton at home?, Recipe for cooking goat meat with sorrel leaves, Goat meat with greens recipe, Goat meat with sour leaves recipe, Mutton recipes

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Gongura Rice | Gongura Pulihora | Red Sorrel Leaves Rice | Pulicha Keerai Sadam

Gongura Rice | Gongura Pulihora | Red Sorrel Leaves Rice | Pulicha Keerai Sadam is a specialty from Andhra Cuisine. Pulicha keerai in Tamil is  known as Red sorrel leaves in English & Gongura in Telugu. Yesterday when I went to Pazhamudircholai, the greens were not fresh except this gongura. I heard that these leaves are rich in iron. It is not commonly available in Southern Tamil Nadu, but in Chennai, these greens are available in plenty and fresh. We can make gongura thokku, gongura pickle, etc. Today I made gongura  rice using these leaves.

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice – 2 cups
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Salt to taste

To roast & Grind:

• Gingelly oil -1 tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Red chillies – 6  Nos.
• Shallots – 5 Nos.
• Gongura | Red sorrel leaves – 2 cups

For seasoning:

• Gingelly oil – 2 tbsp
• Mustard – 1 tsp
• Bengal gram | Kadalai Paruppu – 1 tbsp
• Red chillies – 2 Nos.
• Curry leaves – few
• Asafoetida | Hing – ¼ tsp
• Roasted ground nut – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Cook rice until soft and spread in a wide bowl  and allow to cool with little oil sprinkled over.
2. Pluck the gongura leaves alone, wash them thoroughly  in water, drain  and keep aside.
3. In a kadai, add a tbsp of oil and roast fenugreek seeds & red chillies. Drain from oil and transfer into a plate.
4. In the same kadai,, add shallots and fry till they become brownish in colour. To this add gongura leaves and sauté till the leaves get wilted and the raw smell leaves out. The leaves colour gets changed from green  to brown. Allow it to cool.
5. Grind  roasted fenugreek seeds and red chillies along with salt to a coarse powder. To this add the shallots and gongura and grind to a fine paste by adding little water, if needed.
6. In a non stick pan, heat oil and season with the items given for seasoning. Then add turmeric powder and gogura paste. Sauté  till oil oozes out from the paste & switch off.  It will take hardly 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Add  the required quantity of gongura paste to the cooked, cooled rice and gently mix the rice using a  spatula without breaking/mashing the rice.  Check for the salt, if required, add straight to the rice and mix well.

Yummy Gongura Pulihora is ready to serve. This rice can be prepared with leftover rice also. This can be enjoyed with any thogayal, pappad/vadam or raita or fry.

Note:

• The tanginess  of these leaves would be mild, so if you want more tangy, you can add either lemon juice or tamarind.
• The paste can be refrigerated and used for 15 days.

Tags: Gongura rice recipe, Gongura recipes, Andhra Special rice recipe, Gongura Pulihora recipe, How to make gongura pulihore, Left over recipes, Left over rice recipes, variety rice, Easy lunch box recipes, Recipes with gongura, Keerai recipes, Greens  recipes, South Indian Rice Variety, Andhra Recipes, Red Sorrel leaves rice recipe, Pulichakeerai Sadam, Pulicha keerai Saadham

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Murgh Methi | Chicken & Fenugreek Leaves Gravy

Today , a Pot-Luck  Lunch was organized at my husband’s office and I wanted to make a dish which I had not posted in my blog so far. The challenge was to make a dish that takes less time to cook and at the same time, be yummy enough to tickle everyone’s taste buds. The less time constraint was because I had to rush up to my office after finishing up work at home. So I decided to prepare Methi Murgh | Murgh Methi.

Methi Murgh is an interesting dish from Hyderabadi cuisine. It is a creamy chicken curry combined with the flavours of methi | fenugreek leaves | வெந்தய கீரை . I need not talk about the goodness of fenugreek leaves, which I’m sure you’re aware of already. This curry is a perfect party dish and goes well with plain rice, flavoured rice, roti |naan etc.

Here is the recipe of Methi Murgh!

Ingredients:

• Chicken – 1 Kg
• Methi leaves ( Baby) –  1 bunch
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Onion (finely chopped) – 3 Nos
• Tomato (finely chopped) – 3 Nos
• Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 3 tbsp
• Roasted cumin powder – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
• Curd – 3 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash chicken thoroughly and dice into required size, drizzle some turmeric powder, mix well and keep aside.
2. Cut the leaves portion alone using kitchen scissors without unbundling the bunch and place it in a bowl full of water. After some time, the leaves will float on water and the impurities will get settled down. Collect only the leaves, discard the bottom  and  repeat the same 2 to 3 times till you get only the leaves.  Keep it aside.
3. Grind tomatoes in a mixer grinder and keep it aside.
4. In a non-stick pan or heavy bottomed kadai, pour oil and season with jeera.
5. Add finely chopped onions and  sauté till the onions become brownish in colour.
6. Then add ginger-garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off.
7. Add tomato puree and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes goes off and blend well with onions.
8. Add all the masala powders except garam masala powder and sauté well till the oil leaves out.
9. Now add chicken pieces, sauté for 3 minutes, pour 2 cups of water and cook it covered stirring in between.
10. When the chicken pieces are ¾th done, add curd, methi leaves and mix everything well. Cook on low flame with lid.  Check for spice & salt at this stage and if you want, you can add more now.
11. After 5 minutes, open the lid and check for the curry consistency. Allow it to become thick & glossy. Before switching off, add garam masala powder, gently mix everything and allow it to stand for 5 minutes with the lid closed.

Your delicious, creamy Murgh Methi is ready to serve!

Note:

• I have used baby(freshly sprouted) methi leaves and hence I have added straight away. But if you use fully grown leaves, sauté the cleaned leaves in a tsp of oil before adding to the gravy.
• Cashew nut paste can be added at the last step to thicken the gravy.

Tags: Methi Murgh recipe, Hyderabadi  Style Murgh Methi, Chicken with fenugreek leaves, Chicken curry with methi leaves, Chicken and baby Methi leaves curry, Chicken curry for rotis, chicken methi curry for variety rice, spicy chicken methi curry, creamy chicken curry with fenugreek leaves, Hyderabadi special chicken recipe

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