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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Karela Fry (Hot/Swt/Sour) also known as bitter gourd

Karela has always been a hated veggie of mine. Until I tried my husbands karela fry.... his dad is diabetic so karela is a regular on their house menu. The only way I ever ate it was at Anand Restaurant in AbuDhabi, UAE. Wow that brings back so many memories. They had a Karela fry with potatoes & a tinge of jaggery which was out of this world!.. AAND hot phulkas...
I wanted to try my own version of the veggie, trying to recapture that taste. Hopefully I've suceeded.. we actually fought over who would get the last bite:)...

Ingredients:

  1. 6 to 8 karelas or bitter gourds  - medium sized make sure that they are dark green.
  2. Onions - 2 also medium sized
  3. Ginger - Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp or less acc to taste.
  4. Red Chilli Pwd - 1/2 to 1 tsp again acc to taste(if u like it hotter u could add more)
  5. Turmeric Pwd - 1/2 tsp
  6. Coriander Pwd - 1/2 tsp
  7. Garlic Pwd - 1/2 tsp (optional)
  8. Tamarind paste - 1tsp dissolved in a few tablespoons of water
  9. Jaggery - 2 to 3 tablespoons crumbled
  10. Tarka : Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal .(equal quantities - totalling about 1 tbsp)
  11. Salt - to taste
  12. Oil - I use Canola oil to deep fry or shallow fry since the smoking point of the oil is very high as opposed to olive oil which I also use for cooking
Method:

  • Slit the karelas in half & remove the seeds. Wash & slice into thin rounds (somewhere between potato chip & potato bajji). Soak in Salted water for 1/2 an hour. Wash the Karelas & squeeze them to get rid of excess liquid.
  • Heat some oil in a deep bottomed pan or kadhai & deep fry the karelas. Remove when golden brown with a slotted spoon & place on a paper towel to drain off the excess oil.
  • Put some oil in a pan & add the tarka ingredients... when the mustard starts to sputter add onions & fry till golden brown... you can allow some of the onions to get caramelized ... adds to the flavor of the dish.
  • Add Ginger garlic paste & all the powders. Fry for a few seconds & add a tbsp of water to cook the masalas thoroughly. Now add the tamarind paste & let it fry for a min & add the fried karelas to the pan. Give it a good mix & let it fry for 5 to 10 mins on a medium high flame.
  • Lastly add the jaggery  & let it melt into the karela. Mix & enjoy with hot rotis.... also tastes good with dal & rice.

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