Chef : Suvidha
Karela is a vegetable not
many like, even I didn't like it too, but this particular recipe will
have everyone licking their fingers and wiping the plates clean. This is a
traditional Bharwa karela recipe from
Bihar .I
learnt it from my close friend’s mom. They follow this same recipe from
generations in their household. Addition of Amchur powder and fennel seeds make
it different and special .Try this and you will surely love this.
Ingredients:
4 Karela / Bitter gourd
4-5 onions ground to paste
without adding water
1 tea spoon Fennel seeds /
Sauf
2 tablespoon Dhania powder
1 tablespoon Jeera powder
1 tablespoon Amchur powder
2 tablespoon Chilli powder (depends
on how spicy you want your dish to be)
Half tablespoon Turmeric powder
Salt as per your taste
Oil, (mustard oil gives
completely different flavor)
Method:
Peel the karela. Slit the karela from middle and scoop out the inner
filling (seeds etc). Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons salt on them and let it soak
for an hour in a plate, to reduce the bitterness. If you are in hurry
then boil them in slightly salted water for 3-4 minutes, drain and squeeze.
Place a pan on the gas and pour oil and add fennel seeds, and then add
Onion paste and sauté till its light brown. (You can also add scooped inner
filling and outer peel of the karela)
Add turmeric powder, dhania powder, jeera powder, chilli powder, amchur
powder, salt and fry for another 10-12mins until the oil leaves the side of the
pan.
Once the mixture cools down, stuff it in slit karela, to avoid the
mixture to come out you may tie thread around it.
Take a shallow frying pan. Heat 1 cup of mustard oil and place the
stuffed karela in it and let it cook. After every 5 minutes keep turning them
lightly so that they get cooked evenly. Cook on medium flame. It takes about 20 minutes to cook.
Tastes great with parathas
or rotis. You can also serve with dal and rice.
