Karele Ki Sabzi/Bitter Gourd Stir Fry

In my family, my parents, brother, Fenny (25.02.2002 – 15.06.2010) and I all LOVE bitter gourd. My mom makes karele ki sabzi at least once a month and the sabzi disappears in no time. When I met Marley, I knew I had met a fellow foodie but you have no idea about the deep sigh of relief I let out when he said he hates Karela! All I could think was, “The entire kadai of sabzi is MINE!”

My dad of course can’t imagine people not liking Karela. So, he introduced Marley to Karela chips (Coated with besan-chilli batter and deep fried.) Marley loved them. We now have to share our Karela chips. Then my mom made a typical Mangalorean Karela dish – Karathe Nonche, where you deep fry finely chopped karela and just before serving pour it into coconut gravy. Marley loved that too. A part of me is really glad that he has developed a liking for karela but somewhere deep down I feel a little possessive of my dear Karela.

Now that you have read this tiny tribute to this dear green curly skinned vegetable, I will proceed with the recipe. Oh wait there is this really cute Japanese manga called, Hotaru no hikari, where the protagonist loves Goya (Karela) and hides this fact from her boyfriend and eats in secret because he absolutely detests it. This story line was actually an entire episode and I could relate to all of it. I am telling you people I was born in the wrong Sea city. When I grow up, I want to become Japanese.

Ingredients:

500gms Bitter gourd/karela

5medium sized onions

1tbsp Tamarind paste

1.5 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

Salt to taste.

Method:

1.    Cut the ends of the bitter gourd and then slice them in half and remove the seeds. Proceed to make thin semicircle slices of these halves and transfer them to a wide mouthed bowl.

2.   Once you are done chopping add 2tsp salt and mix salt well with the karela and let it sweat in the bowl for 45 -60 minutes.

3.    1 hour later, use your hands to wring the juice out of the karela so you are left with relatively dry karela pieces.

4.     In a pan heat oil on medium flame and add the onions. Sauté them till light brown. Now add the chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix well.

5.     Let it cook for about a minute, then add tamarind paste and mix well.

6.     Now add the Karela and give it a good stir.

7.   Put the lid and let it cook on medium flame for 5 minutes. At this point add a little water (50 -100ml) to prevent the vegetable from sticking to the pan also to prevent the sabzi from being too dry.

8.   If the vegetables have soaked the water quickly, add 50 – 100 ml of water again, add salt as per taste, mix well and cook on medium flame with lid on, stirring only occasionally for about 20 to 25 minutes.

9.   Once the gourd changes colour, you’ll know it is done. Take the pan of the heat.

Notes:

·        Sweating the karela removes the excessive bitterness.

·        Onions negate the bitterness of the gourd hence you don’t need to add jaggery. If you yet find it bitter add a small cube of jaggery. Though, I wouldn’t really recommend it.