Onion Gojju / Erragadda Pachipulusu

Today's recipe is a tangy, sweet stew sans beans from my grandmother's kitchen. Though the name says pachi pulusu (which means raw stew literally), there is nothing raw about it. Sauteed onions are cooked in a tangy - sweet - spicy sauce and it goes well with rice / rotis / dosas. A recipe my mother / I rely on when the refrigerator is empty or when something needs to be cooked real quickly.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
2 onions
1/4 cup tamarind pulp/juice (The quantity depends on how much sour the tamarind is and how thick the extracted tamarind pulp is.)
2 Tbsp jaggery powder
2 tsp salt or as needed
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp chili powder or as needed
2 cups water
2 Tbsp rice flour
For tadka: 1 tsp chanadal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 -2 green chilies - slit lengthwise, few curry leaves

The cooking part:
1. Heat oil in a sauté pan and add the mustard seeds and chanadal. When the chanadal starts to turn reddish and the mustard seeds start to pop, add the green chilies and curry leaves. Sauté for a few seconds and then add turmeric powder and the onion.
2. Fry the onions on low - medium flame till they turn translucent. 
3. Meanwhile, add a few Tbsp of water to the rice flour and make a paste and keep it aside.
4. Then add the tamarind juice, jaggery powder, chili powder, salt,  asafoetida powder, rice flour paste and about 2 cups of water to the sautéed onion. Mix everything and bring the mixture to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. There must be a balance between the dominant flavors of the dish. Highlighting any one flavor ruins the dish.
5. Turn down the stove and simmer for a couple of minutes more.

This goes to
Niloufer's Twenty - 20 Event.
Sunita's Think Spice - Tamarind hosted by PJ this month.

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