Bharwa Karela (Stuffed Bitter Gourd)

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.