I don’t know if you recall reading in my blog about how I’m not a huge fan of karela (bitter gourd), but of course over the past 4 years or so, I have developed a liking for it, provided it’s cooked my way and must ensure the bitterness is minimal…. ha ha!

I tried to find ways to buy the right bitter gourd without too much bitterness or how to remove the bitterness when cooking. And what I came across was to sprinkle salt, tamarind juice or lemon juice on the karela and leave it aside for half an hour and squeeze the excess juice out. It really works! Of course, if you don’t mind the bitterness, then you can ignore this step 😊

Ingredients

• Bitter Gourd – 5 medium,
• Onion – 1, chopped
• Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder – 2 tsp
• Amchur (dry mango powder) – 3 tsp
• Crushed black pepper – 3 tsp
• Salt
• Oil

Method

• Cut the karela in its circular form and de-seed the karela.
• Add all the masala powders and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a wok and once the oil is hot, saute the chopped onions.
• Squeeze out the excess juice from the karela and add the karela to the onions when its brown and stir well.
• Keep the flame on high to fry the karela.
• Do keep an eye on the karela and keep stirring regularly as you don’t want to burn them.
• Once it’s really fried to your liking, remove from stove.
• Goes well with plain rice and rasam.

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