Pineapple Gojju

I am back from my work trip. My kids are just fine, so no worry there. I would be lying if I said I didn't have good time away from the family. It was a nice break even though one of my friends teases that I missed my kitchen the most. Coming to today's post, I was talking to my friend about my blog. She pointed out that I don't have day to day stuff on this blog. I agree totally. Unless there is some twist into a daily food recipe, I don't usually post it. Well, until today. I have decided to post lot of Indian dishes' recipes that I cook regularly at home. Am I trying to make a journal for my kids or trying to come out of 'baking blog' title? I have no clue. Yet..

We went to 'Shri Krishna Vrundavana' in NJ this weekend. It is a nice place where I could hear 90 % of the crowd speaking Kannada and it was nice. They serve food for people there. This is entirely Indian style where you sit on the floor in a row and they come and serve. It has been many years since I ate sitting like that and it was fun. It was a typical Madhwa food which had Pineapple Gojju included in the menu. I loved it. This was a little different kind with lot of masala and I wanted to try to figure out what it was. I could taste and smell a lot of cumin and coriander with little hint of fenugreek and of course, there was coconut unmistakably. That was good enough for me to figure it out and I had pineapple sitting on the counter too. What else do I need?

Ingredients:

• Pineapple - 1 Whole cleaned, cored and cut into chunks. You could use canned pineapple. Use two cans reserving the juice.
• Tamarind - 1 Big lemon size ball soaked in water and juice extracted. (This need not be a very thick extract)
• Jaggery - 1 lemon size or more to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 - 3 TBSP
• Red Chilli - 1 broken
• Curry leaves - a few
• Hing - a pea size
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1 big pinch

For the Masala:

• Chana dal or kadale bele - 1/4 cup
• Urad dal or Uddina bele - 2 TBSP
• Coriander / Daniya - 1/4 cup
• Red chillies - 8 - 10
• Cumin/ Jeerige - 1 TBSP
• Fenugreek / Menthya - 1/2 TBSP
• White sesame seeds/ Bili Ellu - 1/2 TBSP
• Coconut - Grated about 1/2 cup

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast chana dal, urad dal, coriander, red chillies, cumin, fenugreek till golden. Keep stirring so that all get roasted well. Towards the end, add sesame seeds and turn off the heat. Heat of the pan is enough to toast the sesame seeds. Keep tossing couple of times. Set aside. When cool, powder in a blender/mixie. Add coconut and continue. Add enough water to make a somewhat smooth paste. In a sauce pan, add oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken chilli, curry leaves, hing. When they are done, add pineapple. Stir and add turmeric, some salt. Add some water and let it come to a rolling boil. Add the ground masala paste, tamarind juice, jaggery and bring it to a boil stirring occasionally. Adjust the seasonings. Serve with rice.

Note:
Amount of tamarind, jaggery given might have to be varied depending on the sourness of the pineapple. Mine was not very sour at all so I had to add more tamarind.

Enjoy!!