One more delicacy from Ananthapuram's cuisine

Ye all might have known about different pullagoora (Pulla+koora= pullagoora, gasadadavadesa sandhi.. hahaha LOL) from different regions.  Not to belittle any other dish from this region but this one definitely stands out among all other pullagooras. And to cut the story short it is Bendakaya Pullagoora. If made with tender okra/bendakaya this one can make one's day  slipperily happy. Slippery because thats how the final outcome will be. And combine it with sangati it will be all the more slippery. So slippery that you dont have to chew on.
True to its name, pullagoora is sour, but it doesnot stop there it is sour/spicy. So here is the simple procedure for the tasty dish.
Ingredients
bendakaya/okra   1/2kilo
Green chillies  (Thai variety will be good)
Lime sized tamarind
2 medium sized tomatoes
Salt

For the seasoning
Mustard seeds
Curry Leaves
1Onion medium diced
Dried red chillies


Wash the Okra, wipe them off with a dry cloth. Then cut them into medium sized pieces. Dice the tomatoes too medium sized. Soak the tamarind in just a little bit of water. Add a tea spoon of oil into a deep vessel, and when the oil is hot enough add the bendakaya/okra pieces and saute for about 1 minute just to get the slipperyness off a bit. Follow with Green chillies. Then add tomatoes add some salt and cook on slow heat covered with a lid.  After about 10 minutes add the soaked tamarind and let it cook until everything is soft and mashable. Once everything in the vessel is cooked all the way, mash the ingredients in it  with a pappu gitta.
Then season with the mustard seeds, curryleaves, dried red chillies and then finally onions.
Top it with  chopped cilantro and voila my yummy bendakaya pullakoora will be ready.
Eat it with hot rice or mudda/sangati for lunch you could just take a long afternoon nap right at the table. No I am not kidding especially when you eat it with Ragi mudda, there is no way you could just be active after having this heavy lunch. And yes I had this oh so yummy lunch when my dear friend Sa visited me last weekend. And she had a bonus too that afternoon, peanut chutney urf Oorimindi which is the staple as well as comfort food for us.  And last but not least we had perugu/curd with the sangati which is just the best way to feel drowsy after lunch.

Apart from other important things that I realized the importance of, living in the US made me realize how precious was my mom's cooking, especially dishes that we as kids took granted for. Cooking dishes like pullagoora just bring back all those fond memories of childhood.
Here are some pictures taken last week end before lunch!