Gongura

At a market in Guntur

Gongura (Telugu: గోంగూర Kannada: ಪುಂಡಿ ಪಲ್ಲೆ Marathi: अंबाडी) is a plant, either Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) or Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), grown for its edible leaves in India.

Gongura pacchadi is quintessentially Telugu cuisine along with pacchadi (chutney or relish). Telugu people, mainly from the states of Andhra Pradesh, India, locally called as ఆంధ్రమాత "Andhra Matha" in Telugu due to significance in their day to day diet. While it has many culinary uses, the most popular is the pickled version. Although Gongura is widely consumed all over Andhra Pradesh, Gongura is more popular in hotels, restaurants, eateries and food joints. It is also grown in Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh (north east region of India) and also some parts of Chittagong Hill Tracts region in Bangladesh (which is mainly a tribal people region). It is a very popular green vegetable in Chakma community and it is known as "Aamelli". Gongura is a very rich source of iron, vitamins, folic acid and anti-oxidants essential for human nutrition.[1] Similarly, Gongura is popular in Tamil Nadu as well, and is called pulichakeerai (புளிச்சைக் கீரை) in Tamil. It is popular in North and Central Karnataka cuisines as "Pundi Palle", and is regularly eaten with Jollad (Jowar) rotti. The famous combination with pulichakeerai is Ragi Kali/Ragi Mudde, which once used to be a regular food for the people in villages (since these items are easily available in agricultural forms). In Marathi, it is called Ambaadi (अंबाडी). And is specially prepared to a stew and served to goddess Mahalakshmi/Gauri during the annual festival of Mahalakshmi which falls on three days in between the ten days Ganesha Chaturthi festival in Maharashtra. It is known as Pitwaa in Hindi, Taka bhendi or Khata Palanga in Oriya, Kotrum in Jharkhand Mestapat in Bengali, Amaari in Chhattisgarhi, Pandi/Pundi in Kannada, Anthur in Mizo, Sougri in Manipuri, Sankokda in Punjabi, Aamelli in Chakma, Kenaf Leaves in English, and Chin Baung in Chinese. It is a summer crop, and the hotter the place, the more sour the leaf gets.

Sold on a street in Andhra Pradesh

Gongura comes in two varieties, green stemmed leaf and red stemmed. The red stemmed variety is more sour than the green stemmed variety. Gongura is popular in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Manipur, Tripura and also Mizoram. A baby gongura leaf is a full leaf. As the leaf grows older, the leaf splits into four or more parts.

Drying gongura for pickle

Other well known recipes made with Gongura as the main ingredient are Gongura pappu (lentils), Gongura mamsam (goat/mutton) and Gongura royyalu (shrimp). In recent times, Gongura Chicken is also being served in restaurants. Gongura and calabash is extremely popular with the Telugu community in South Africa. It is also eaten by Acholi people in northern Uganda, where it is known as malakwang.

Apart from the curries there are many varieties of pickles made with gongura such as:

For medicinal uses further information can be found at roselle (plant)#Medicinal uses.

  1. ↑ Indian Home Cooking, S. Saran and S. Lyness, 2004

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External links

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