Amla Pachadi(Usirikaya pachadi)

The Indian gooseberry Common names of this tree include amalaka in Sanskrit, amla (आँवला) in Hindi, amlaki (আমলকী) in Bengali, Nellikkai (நெல்லிக்காய்) in Kannada and Tamil, ఉసిరి in Telugu, amala in Nepali language, 'ma kham bom' in Thai, and 'mak kham bom' in Lao.

The fruit is nearly spherical, light greenish yellow, quite smooth and hard on appearance, with 6 vertical stripes or furrows.

Ripening in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing to upper branches bearing the fruits. The taste of Indian gooseberry is sour, bitter and astringent, and is quite fibrous. In India, it is common to eat gooseberries steeped in salt water and turmeric to make the sour fruits palatable.

Amla is a natural, efficacious, an antioxidant with the richest natural source of Vitamin C. It is used in Ayurveda as a cardiotonic, aphrodisiac, antipyretic, antidiabetic, cerebral and gastrointestinal tonic.Amla is referred to in ancient text as the best medicine to prevent aging.

Overall benefits of amla in the body:

Enhances food absorption
Enhances fertility and memory
One of the best herbs for diabetes
Powerful skin and hair rejuvenator
Eye and liver toner
Restores stomach and intestinal digestive enzymes
Supports heart and lungs
Reduces body heat or weight naturally




I miss eating amla here in the US...but one day when i was going through the frozen food section of the grocery store...n found a packet of frozen amla,Immediately my hand picked the packet...initially i thought of making dal with it....

But i was going through http://www.gayatrivantillu.com/ i found a video on usirikaya pachadi...n i thought wow...that sounds good..But hers was a version useing fresh amla n so the pickle stays for longer period...

But i made mine frozen Amla so it stays for a week in the fridge...so here is a modified version of her recipe



Ingredients

8 frozen or fresh amla
12 red chilllies
8 green chillies
2 tsps mustard seeds
1 tsp methi seeds
1 tsp jeera
pinch of hing
few curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric
salt

Method:

Cut the amla along the veins into small pc's remove n discard the seeds.

Now put the pcs into a blender with some salt n turmeric n blend to a coarse paste ,do not add any water,it looks like grated amla.

Now in a pan heat few tbsps of oil.

To this add the mustard seeds,methi seeds,jeera,hing,also add the green chillis n red chillies n curry leaves.Let it cool for sometime

Once cool grind it into a fine powder.

Now add this powder to the ground amla n mix thouroughly.

Test for salt n spice level.

Next heat one tsp oil and add this mixture to it(by doing this any excess water will evaporate)if u desire more spice u can add some chilli pwd now.

Remove n serve hot with ghee n hot rice.

Note: Since i used frozen amla i made some changes to gayatris recipe...but this is her original recipe video
http://www.gayatrivantillu.com/usirikayapachhadi