Bitter Gourd ~Flavours of Nepal

I am guilty of not sending my entries to events.

 Not attending to my e mails regularly in short I am not organised.

About the first thing I did this month was getting this veggie ready and today I am posting it in great hurry on the last day. Thank God it is a leap year.

This is my entry to Nupur’s Flavours of Nepal.

I love karela/bitter gourd/bitter melon/hagalkai/karla. So what best can I cook when I found this site when I Google for the recipes.

The original recipe is here and here is mine.

Stuffed Karela

I love Karela or Bitter gourd. In fact it is my favourite vegetable. So when Vatsala here decided to hold an event “Lets Get Stuffed” I could not help stuffing myself. For my husband the man who suffers most of my experiments steered clear off the table. J Don’t blame him he just tolerates the bitter gourd!! : 0

This recipe is by no means original so if you have any suggestions please send me a line.

I am sure it will taste very nice if you can get the small bitter gourds since my “sabji walla “gets only these huge ones I used them! But mind you they are bitterer than the smaller ones.

I had some of the ground paste left over from the paneer bhindi masala which I had frozen which I used to make this veggie and hence it was super quick.

Ingredients:

2 bitter gourd/ karela

2 big potatoes, boiled

½ cup Left over masala paste  

Salt

Oil

Method:

1.       Make a slit in the bitter gourd and scoop out all the seeds. You can use a teaspoon if needed.

2.       Rub salt in the bitter gourd sprinkle salt on the gourd and the seeds.

3.       Let the gourd rest covered for at least 12 hours.

4.        Mash the potatoes add a pinch of salt and mix with the fried paste.

5.        Soak the bitter gourd in water for about 10 minutes then squeeze the water out.

6.       Next since I am not a fan of deep frying I transferred the bitter gourd in a microwave proof dish with just sufficient water to cover the gourd and micro for 2 minutes or till the colour of the gourd changes. Again squeeze out the water carefully. This is optional step.

7.       Stuff the gourd with the fried paste and potatoes mixture and fry in a kadhai/wok using oil as required.

8.       Here I served it in a bed of cabbage and some tomatoes.

 Sending this to Vatsala's Event.

Karati Che Kismore

Karati Che Kismore

One of my favourite foods right from childhood has been bitter gourd. That’s right bitter gourd or karela as in Hindi, karla in Marathi and hagalkai in Kannada and Karati in Konkani.

 In fact I remember begging my Mama for his Neem paste when I was 4 or 5 years old. It used to be bitter and he was sure I was buttering him up for a ride on his bike. He applied the paste warned me to use it not just spit it out etc and watched with wide eyes as I did the needful.

Both my SIL bet with me to eat 1 slice of bitter gourd, raw. They did not know then that, “Cadbury ke liye kuch bhi karega”!

So I was thrilled when my elder daughter started eating the stuff. Besides my FIL is diabetic so this is made quite often.

This is a traditional Goan recipe and is called Karati che Kissmore. Kissmores are made out of dried prawns, papad and of course Karati.

There are no fixed proportions so I am just mentioning the ingredients.

Ingredients:

 Bitter gourd

Salt

Oil

 Onion

Coconut, freshly grated

Chilli powder

Haldi/turmeric powder

Chopped green chillies

Lemon juice

Sugar (optional)

Method:

1.       Wash and cut the bitter gourd into fine pieces .Add salt and let it marinate over night.

2.       In the morning add water to the bitter gourd and salt mix and squeeze out the liquid. It should be quite dry.

3.       In kadhai heat oil, add a little, say a tblspn of the squeezed bitter gourd and fry till crisp. Move to the side in the kadhai, add the next batch. The general idea it to fry the bitter gourd in minimum oil till crisp and brownish black.

4.       When all the bitter gourd is fried, add the onion stir, add the coconut and fry till the onion is well cooked.

5.       Add the haldi/turmeric, chilli powder, green chillies and mix well. Switch off the gas and squeeze the lime, sugar. Stir for some time or alternatively make a thin layer of the mixture in the hot kadhai. Let it cool. PLEASE DO NOT ADD SALT.

6.       Just before serving add the coriander.