Perale Palya.
My mom’s current fancy is to watch the cooking shows on the TV and sihi-kahi Chandru is her favourite. Some time back I reckon he came up with something called ‘parale palya’ of course to suit the youngsters he called it sabzi, or maybe it is a psychological thing with us Udupi people that anything without coconut is a sabzi.
Perale is the kannada/Tulu name for Psidium Guavaja. Its Sanskrit name being Amrood I think it is also called Guava. It is indigenous to Central America. The Asian variety being pink in the centre soft and seedy.
Nutritionally it is very rich in Vitamin C and fibre. Something like
Fat 1%
Cholesterol 0%
Sodium 0%
Potassium 11%
Dietary fibre 20%
Sugar 20%
Vitamin C and Calcium is a good 380%
Ingredients
3 – 3 ½ cups deseeded and diced Guava.
2 tomatoes
2 onions
6 pods of garlic skinned.
1” ginger skinned.
2 green chillies.
1 ½ tsp. Cumin powder
1 ½ tsp. Coriander powder
1 tbsp. Besan.
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. Ghee
1 – 1 ½ tsp. Of cumin seeds.
Coriander leaves finely chopped for dressing.
Method:
- Dry roast the besan.
- Blend the tomatoes, onion, garlic, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste.
- In a wok heat 1 tbps. Of ghee,
- Add the cumin seeds to this when the cumin seeds begin to spurt add the ground tomato-onion mixture.
- Add in the coriander – cumin powders and salt.
- Finally add in the Guava make sure that the masala coats the Guava, close the wok with a lid and allow the mixture to cook for 15- 20 minutes. I use a pressure pan and turn off the stove when after the first whistle.
- Now add the roasted besan and dress it with coriander.
Of course Sihi-Kahi Chandru recommends it with either rice or roti. But my mother liked it like an even snack. With no accompanying staple. The flavour was tangy, spicy with just a hint of sweet. Since it was cooked she could eat it comfortably.
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