When I first tasted Gojju made by my friend I just knew I had to have the recipe and remake it at home. Somehow I never made a note of the recipe and I completely forgot about this dish until I saw it at Suma’s Veggie Platter. The recipe brought back some good memories of lunch sharing with my friend and the wonderful time we had together as colleagues. We usually enjoy pineapple slices sprinkled with salt & pepper and have previously experimented different recipes with pineapple . I love the sweetness pineapple infuses in a dish and I needed to see how my family reacts to this particular recipe which they’ve never tasted before.

Gojju has its origin from Karnataka, India. The gravy is very easy to make and I personally found the taste to resonate with Thalaga Kuzhambu that we Tamilians make. I served this sweet, spicy, tangy gravy with Naan and I’m sure they’ll go very well with roti n rice. My kids do not like anything that’s vaguely associated with rice and I don’t seem to comprehend the reasoning behind it. I was just waiting for the usual moaning in the dinner table but to my pleasant surprise all I could hear was the food was delicious and lip smacking. This recipe did make my dinner go easy on me, try out to see if it worked for you!

Dry roast channa dal, urad dal, coriander seeds, red chillies, fenugreek seeds, almonds separately in a pan. Grind them together along with dry coconut powder into a fine powder. Keep aside. In a separate pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add channa dal, split red chillies, asafetida, and fry till the dal turns golden brown.

Add pineapple,little water and cook for few minutes. Add ground powder, turmeric powder, tamarind juice, jaggery, and salt.

Add about 2 cups of water. Boil the gojju till it thickens. Serve hot with roti, naan, or rice. Enjoy!!!

Pineapple Gojju [A typical Kannada Dish]

Ingredients

- Pineapple Chunks — 1 cup (fresh or canned)
- Jaggery Powder — 2 Tbsp
- Tamarind Juice — 1 Tbsp (either taken from pulp or from tamarind extract)
- Turmeric Powder — 1/4 tsp
- Oil — 1 Tbsp
- Channa Dal — 2 tsp
- Mustard Seeds — 1 tsp
- Asafetida — pinch
- Red Chillies — 1 (broken into bits)

For Gojju Powder

Dry Coconut Powder (Copra) — 4 Tbsp
Channa Dal — 2 Tbsp
Urad Dal — 1 Tbsp
Coriander Seeds — 1 tsp
Almonds — 2 Tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds — 5 seeds
Red Chillies — 6 (The chillies I have just gives out color and is not hot, so adjust the quantity of chillies to your taste)

Instructions

1. Dry roast channa dal, urad dal, red chillies, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, almonds one after another separately in a pan. Let it cool and then grind the roasted ingredients along with dry coconut powder into a fine powder. Keep it aside.

For making Gojju

In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add channa dal, red chilli bits, asafetida and fry till the dal turns golden brown. Add pineapple chunks and 1/4 cup water. Let it cook for few minutes (about 5 minutes).
Once the pineapples are cooked, add gojju powder, tamarind juice, turmeric powder, salt, jaggery powder and mix well. Add about 2 cups of water and cook till the gojju thickens. Adjust the flavoring if needed. Serve hot with roti, rice, or naan. Enjoy!!!