18 June, 2007

Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya

Brinjal, often described as ‘the king of vegetables’ … You either love it or hate it! Luckily I fall into the Brinjal lover category and so does my Appa. When we were kids, sometimes after school hours my sister and I would go to my dad’s clinic for routine dental check up and wait in his office till he finished his work. We both would sit in his office which had a glass partition and watch Appa treating his patients in fascination. We both never got tired of waiting for him to finish his work as the clinic was always filled with people and lots of small kids to play with. My sister and myself were quite used to the attention received by his assistants and patients and we enjoyed when we were called as Putani (small) Doctors. Appa being a generous soul would never take money for treatment from poor people or charge very less when they insisted on pay. Some of his patients were farmers and they would come with a big cane basket filled with fresh vegetables and fruits from their farm which would last for weeks.
So whenever my Appa got chance to buy vegetables he would jump at the chance and enjoy it. When most of the customers tried to negotiate the price with the vendor, Appa would stand quietly in one corner and watch them in amusement. Bargaining is something which my dad never liked and for this reason every vegetable vendor loved selling vegetables to him. Without wasting too much of time in picking the vegetables or negotiating the prices, he would come home with bag full of selected vegetables of his choice. It was a tough time for Amma as she had to throw half the rotten vegetables which those smart vegetables vendors used to sneak without my dad’s knowledge. Every time Amma would beg Dad to not to buy vegetables and waste half of money on rotten vegetables and he would smile charmingly and continue to shop for vegetables. I am not sure if he enjoyed buying the vegetables or enjoyed watching my mom grumbling for getting vegetables without checking properly. I remember the day when he got a dozen of tomatoes when the tomato prices were rocketing and only three were good enough for cooking.
One vegetable he would always pick was Brinjal/Eggplant. My Amma used to cook different delicious eggplant dishes using different varieties of eggplants. Back in my native, we get a special type of eggplant which is famously known as Udupi Gulla Badane or Matti Gulla which is excellent for Sambar, Majjige Huli (buttermilk and coconut based) and sweet and tangy Gojju. Gulla Badane is round shaped, light green coloured Brinjal and Amma used to cook sweet and sour Badane Palya which I remember relishing with steam cooked rice and chilled yogurt. This thinly sliced eggplant delicately cooked in a tangy tamarind puree and sweet jaggery and lightly spiced up with aromatic sambar powder to give it extra flavour and aroma is a favourite dish in our family. Unlike other usual Palyas where we just stir fry vegetables, this Badane Palya is packed with three different flavours. The finished product is a silky smooth eggplant which tickles your taste bud and makes very satisfying meal all together. This is my contribution to this month's JFI-Eggplant guest hosted by Sangeeta of Ghar Ka Khana.

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Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya


Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya
Prep Time: 10-15 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients:
1 big Eggplant
1-2 Green Chillies
1 small lime sized Tamarind
3-4 tbsp Jaggery
1 tbsp Sambar/Rasam Powder(Acc to taste)
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste

For Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
½ tbsp Channa Dal
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1-2 Dry Red Chilli
A pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Few Fresh Curry Leaves

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Badane Palya

Method:
Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes and squeeze out the pulp.
In a mean while cut the eggplant in the middle vertically and cut each halve into long, thin, vertical stripes. Chop these strips into 2 inch pieces and keep them immersed in cold water till needed. Soaking eggplants in cold water will help in stopping the eggplant pieces turning dark in colour.
Heat a tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add all the ingredients listed for tempering.
When mustard stars to pop and sputter add the tamarind puree, jaggery, slit green chillies and another cup of water.
Bring this mixture to boil and then add sliced eggplant pieces and mix them well.
Cover and cook for 5 minutes and sauté them in between.
Now add sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste and mix them well.
Cook this uncovered in medium to low flame for another 5-7 minutes till all the water is evaporated and the eggplant is cooked well.
Serve this sweet and sour Badane Palya hot with steamed rice and chilled yogurt.

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Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya

Tip:
Mix this sweet 'n sour Badane Palya with the left over rice and make a delicious plate of Brinjal Rice in a minute.


Did You Know?
The eggplant is part of the "nightshade" family which includes tomatoes, potatoes and sweet peppers.
The eggplant actually becomes bitter as it ages so use it promptly. The older the eggplant, the tougher the skin.
Eggplant is actually a fruit but is cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
Women in the Orient used to use the peel of the eggplant as dye to stain their teeth gray because that was the rage.
(Source: www.deliciousorganics.com)


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Badane Palya

62 comments:

  1. Hi supriya,
    great one ,name sounds new to me and the presentation is good!!!

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  2. Hi Sups! Howdy? I remember Gulla!:)) Here in US,I think they are called Thai Eggplants,green and white stripes,round ones.But they are very soft when cooked and lot of seeds inside,so I don't buy them.
    Badanekai palya looks delicious.Very easy recipe.I will try in 2 weeks.
    JFI is coming on Wednesday.Believe me,I don't want to cook another Eggplant for few weeks!!;P
    Hope you had a good weekend.We went bowling and shopping for dad on Sunday!:))

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  3. Hey Sia....

    Tamarind, Eggplant & Sambhar powder?? Now thats a combination I like! I used to hate eggplant with a passion when I was a kid, not now though, I could eat it every week!
    Hope you're feeling better, buddy!
    :)
    trupti

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  4. I just love this palya!!!! So simple, yet so tasty!!! and btw, I must say that your pics are one of the best I've seen.... Great going! :)

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  5. many ppl use sambar and rasam powder in subzis. I wonder how it tastes. your palya looks awesome though. I am a great fan of eggplants.

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  6. Hi Sia,
    Badanekaye palya looks awesome.... simple and delicious recipe, presentation is great too....

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  7. yummy badane palya chalo kaandthu. hope you are doing fine now.

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  8. Supriya, your badane palya is making me very hungry!! I just love eggplant and I can see why this would be a favorite! Lovely photos as usual, and lovely story about your dad and the veggies, too :)

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  9. Sia, the name sounded all greek and latin to me :)) I can relate to the 'attention' u re referring here...Whenever I used to go to the college where my father used to teach, I used to get this 'attention' from his students..."oh..sir's daughter.." did enjoy that honestly :D your dish is something new to me, hmm..my hubby will not come anywhere near this...he belongs to the haters group :)

    Shn

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  10. Hi Sups, oops Putani :))) Brinjal palya is looking Graaand. Sweet and sour must be be really tasty.
    I made your mango rice recipe. It was very tasty. The left over rice tasted even better the next day. Thanx for the recipe :)

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  11. Awwww what a nice story sup, your dad sounds like an amazing person...
    And the dish.... I never knew brinjal could look so good! :D

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  12. So your dad's a dentist too!!! :)

    Unfortunately I come in the hate category of this fruit/vegetable :( but slowly trying to adapt my taste buds to it. :) I think I must try this sweet and sour version next time :)

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  13. It looks yummy. I love Brinjals in any form. The sweet and sour is interesting supriya. Viji

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  14. I am one of those who love eggplant, and that's why I will surely try out your delicious recipe! Love your photo, very scrumptious!

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  15. Hi Sia.. It looks delish. I guess u need to teach me tricks on photography too huh ?? Looks very appetizing. Always enjoy visiting ur blog.

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  16. @priar,
    badane is the kannada word for eggplant:) no wonder the name is new to u;) thank u dear.

    @ashakka,
    ok...so gulla is thai eggplants. i have not seen them here. hope to find it someday. gulla badane+nugge samabr is delicious for idli. i agree that they r soft and have lots of seeds:) i loved eating those seeds.
    so tomorrow its gonna be badane mela in FH? yayyyyy.... can't wait to see how u have dressed them up for the ramp show;)
    so arvind got nicley pampered by u all? he he...thats good. we went to meet our frieds and had good time:)

    @trupti,
    he he... i hated almost all the vegetables when i was kid:) not anymore. i can eat almost all the veggies and enjoy eating them;)
    thanks sweetie:) i am feeling lots better now. so back in my office and doing my fav work, bloghopping;)

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  17. @ramya,
    yes. it bursts with all the falvours and i just love to mix it with curd rice and eat:) thank u for ur kind words ramya. i am blushing here:)

    @sharmi,
    as most of the north indian food have garam masala, in south, especially in my native we use sambar/rasam powder in stir fries:) well, stop wondering and try it sometime lady:) just to give u some idea it tastes sweet, tangy and spicy. hpe that helps;)

    @madhu,
    a warm welcome to spice corner and thank u for ur compliments:) by the way, do u have ur blog?

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  18. @roopa,
    thanks lady and i am feeling much better now. back in my office:)

    @linda,
    thank u dear:) u always encourage me with ur kind words:) u do get that green eggplant right? try using them to make this palya or u can use the normal purple eggplant like i did:)

    @shn,
    LOL... many indian languages are greek n latin to me, too;) oh wow!! ur dad used to teach u in collage? thats really wonderful. i had many friends whose mom or dad used to teach us in school and collage and i really felt J;)
    and my hubby too falls into other catagory. not coz he hates it but he is allergic to eggplants. so i cook brinjals once in blue moon day:)

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  19. great post!
    i love badnekai palya, yenngai and badnekai rasavangi.

    badnekai palya goes well with dose, chapathi, akki rotti. but nothing to beat the anna-saaru-badnekai palya combi.

    cheers
    rk

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  20. @archu,
    he he he... dont start with Putani now;) i no more look like putani now;)
    glad to know u enjoyed mango rice. did u make cucumber-mint raita to go with it? and lady, i too love it the next day:)

    @sig,
    yup, my daddy is the stongest;) he is a wonderful person and fun to be with:) i dont remember the day i spent without we both pulling one another's leg:) love him a lots.
    he he he... really? i never knew u would like the look of this dish;)

    @coffee,
    ur dad is also a dentist???
    as a kid i liked brinjal more than potato:) so u can figure out how much i love this dish:)

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  21. @viji,
    u r my kind of gal:) i too am a big fan of brinjal in any avtar, except for raw ofcourse;)

    @anh,
    a warm welcome to spice corner anh:) do let me know if u try it out:) by the way, i just checked ur blog and glad that u stopped by and left a comment. or else i would have missed one of the gorgeous food blog. will come back n go through it in leisure:)

    @meena,
    thanks dear:) LOL...i am a total novice when it comes to photography but would love to share whatever i know:)

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  22. Sia Badane Palya! love how it sounds. I am sure it tastes great, I am partial to Egg plants.

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  23. That was such a sweet story, I got really involved in it. can very well imagine you two jumping around at your Appa's office :)

    I am not a big Brinjal fan but this looks good and since D loves it I do make it off and on

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  24. @bellur,
    aha!!! ennegai and jolada rotti...slurrp... just the name itself is enough to make me nostalgic and desire to eat them:)
    and as u said it, badane palya, anna, saaru...simplicity at its best! do i need to say anything else? :)

    @ISG,
    he he... i too love the name badane. its cute rt? :)

    @sandeepa,
    sometimes i wonder why we grow up so fast? childhood days were so much fun and merry:) miss those days...
    here i have to cook brinjal all for myself as K is allergic to it:) but i dont complain much;)

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  25. Same is case at my place.. dad never bargains and mom does a lot :D
    Nice recipe.. And gr8 snaps.. Dunno much variations with eggpalnt.. would love to try it.. my entry for JFI might come tonight or tomoro :)

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  26. Hi Sups,

    I really enhoyed reading your writeup in your dad...its was really interesting..i was visualizingeverything....Palya simple and delicious....

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  27. Nice story!! All dads like to buy veggies without checking I think :) About the dish, looks nice but I fall into the haters club!!

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  28. Again another great recipe!.... Love it....Nice picture......

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  29. Wow!!
    Looks awesome, I make this very often, hubby is not a fan of badane kayi, but I love it.

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  30. U r right abt people either loving or hating baingan! My hubby loves it, and I hate it!!! Will try this for him! Thanx!

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  31. hey, sounds like such a simple yummy dish, the imli-jaggery mix does wonders, love it :) i use imli paste here :( and we had 2 huge imli trees back home with the imli being distributed everywhere!!!

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  32. The badanekayi palya looks delicious! Your dad must be awesome! I admire his altruistic approach to his work. Congrats on the century, Sup! I've not been blogging lately but will be sure to resume with gusto (I think) coz my folks and my sis are visiting us next week and there will be a lot more enthu to cook then! :)

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  33. We also make similar way but not with brinjals. My mom makes it with karela and bhendi we call it pulla bellam kura (tamarind and jaggery curry . Nice entry.

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  34. Hi Sia - that's such a cute story. I am also in the brinjal lover category and I love your recipe.

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  35. Hi Supriya, hope you are feeling better. What a lovely name, though from the name I thought it would have something to do with "badam".
    Looks really yummy and as usual, love your photographs!
    Take care.

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  36. Hi Supriya,
    ME and especially 'N' Loves badne palya a lot.Try adding tomatoes in the bigining with all mustard and dhal ,they enhance the flavour .I just love your pics.And the the write ups are mindblowing really good.keep up the enthu dear.

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  37. @aarti,
    LOL...looks like its same in every family;) will look forward to ur JFI entry:)

    @usha,
    thanks dear:) appa is very jovial and fun loving person with gr8 sense of humour. whenever i cook brinjal, i miss him more coz we both used to fight as who will get better share;)

    @jyothsna,
    he he he... looks like my dad has good number of company in this case;)

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  38. @sukanya,
    thank u lady:)

    @deepa,
    same here:)

    @mansi,
    i know that u fall into brinjal haters group:) do try this for ur hubby. hope he likes it:)

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  39. @richa,
    look out for imli in any indian grocery richa. i am sure u will find them. if using impli paste, then about 1/2 tbsp of paste will do.
    we have huge imli tree in our estate and i liked to eat raw, green imli with salt:)

    @vani,
    thanks sweetheart. i know how busy u must be. good to know that ur family will be visiting u soon. i am sure u will get sometime to blog then and with ur family around we will get to see more recipes for sure:)

    @padmaja,
    we follow almost similar recipe for karela and bhindi too. will post the recipe someday. mean while do post ur recipe girl:)

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  40. @mallika,
    thanks dear:) whenever i post brinjal recipe, i get straight forward replies;) either they love it or hate it:) glad to know that u belong to my club:)

    @sj,
    thanks girl. i am feeling much better n back in office:)
    LOL...i know badane almost sounds like badam:)

    @soumya,
    good to see u sweetie:) i will surely add tomatoes next time. i can almost taste it now:)

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  41. Sia,me too missed your post..how came with 40 already..!!..Yipee,me too drafted the almost same recipe of brinjals..hmmph.but its my own version..not regional..sweet n spicy brinjals....coming up..:)

    I did a small mistake while posting the koshmbir,sia,just clicked to publish in a hurry not refreshing it to mondays date..so it went back to stick to saturday(drafted date)in mathy kands food blog desam as well...so you might have missed.that way :)

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  42. Hi Supriya,
    I love this curry. Weekly once I prepare this curry. Neat and nice presentation. Thanks for sharing.

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  43. hey Supriya..that palya indeed looks delicious..the write up was quite interesting..

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  44. @bharathy,
    dont worry...it happens to me most of the times:) so u have sweet and spicy brinjal for me? cool:)

    @MT,
    do u cook it in a same way MT? i dont get a chance to cook it weekly as my hubby is allergic to brinjals. so cook it once in a while when i crave for it badly:)

    @deena,
    thanks sweetie:)

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  45. Sia, look at this dish! Even I who am not a big lover of eggplant want to try it just from looking at your pic. And I like the idea of the dish being sweet and sour. Great pics and recipe.

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  46. What lovely picture! really tempting to eat rice with it..

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  47. Lovely pics - I love the seedy bits jumping out of them! I like eggplant, but hate it when after all the careful selection I've done, my knife still cuts a worm in half!

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  48. i absolutely loved the photo.. u made eggplant look so sexy!nice recipe too.. never used sambar powder with eggplant!

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  49. I love your palya, looks so good. Eggplant one of my fav. Gonna try this :)

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  50. great post as always, you are a great story teller ben...I am not a great eggplant fan I have to admit but your dish looks great...thanks for sharing

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  51. Hi Sia,
    Great photo with new and nice recipe....Your every post is yummy my dear....Thanks for sharing.:)
    Good Day.:)

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  52. I love eggplant .....This is really good one ....My mom also prepares it almost the same fashion as your's

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  53. @cynth,
    ah!!! at least u dont fall into eggplant haters community;) thanks sweetie for ur lovely words:)

    @seena,
    aha!!! u know how to eat this;) yeah, i love to eat it with rice n yogurt:)

    @sra,
    yuuuuck... i know that. u will find all courful worms in eggplant and cauliflowers:)

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  54. @mallugirl,
    sexy eggplant? he he... thanks for ur compliments girl:) sambar powder and eggplants go very well. u can skip jaggary if u dont like it sweet and make it sour n spicy:)

    @jasu,
    thanks sweetie:) do let me know if u try this.

    @dilip bhai,
    thank u for ur sweet words bhai:) just saw ur bake-o-phobia post and i am still smiling thing abt it:)

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  55. @kajal,
    i am glad to know u liked it dear:) it is indeed yummy if u like sweet n sour taste:)

    @deepa,
    thank u dear and do post ur mom's recipe also.

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  56. hi ur curry looks amazing...the pics r too good

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  57. @shanti,
    thank you dear and a warm welcome to spice corner:)

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  58. Hi Sia,
    Badane palya looks awesome! I usually make badanekai gojju; this I think tastes similar? Photos thumba chennagidhe! :)
    - Roopa

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  59. My whole family is a dentist..... my dad my bro and me of course :)

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  60. @roopa,
    yes roopa. badane gojju has similar ingredients but usually brinjal is roasted as we do for baingan barta and is mashed. if u have different recipe plz do post it:) i will post the gojju recipe sometime soon:)

    @coffee,
    oh u too?...i am the only one in my family who escaped from becoming a doctor:) my sis, dad, uncles, cousins, aunts all r doctors:)

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  61. Supriya,
    I was searching for a recipe of a sour and sweet eggplant dish, I ate at a restaurant It was called 'rasvangi'. When ever I went thru fellow blogger's rasavangi recipes, I knew that it was not what I am looking for. I think your recipe looks simlar one. Thx for sharing this one.

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  62. @suma,
    sorry for the late reply:) i am not sure if it is rasvangi. as far as i know its a telugu dish and bit spicy(i might be wrong) nevertheless, this palya tastes equally tasty with sweet and sour and spiciness in it. if u try this one do let me know what u think of it:)

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