Karela fry

Marinated karela and peel.

This is an attempt at converting Karela non-believers.
Karela is a vegetable I have always been fond of. Also, one of those dishes which few get right. Unfortunately, I have never eaten a good karela dish anywhere outside of home. For me, it is always too bitter to be called food.

Also, this is one dish which most people I've met run away from. But the fact is, if you make it right, it is pure magic. Need I mention it is great for your health too? Read the health benefits here.

When I hear friends tell me they hate a particular vegetable, I take it upon me to ensure their opinion stands changed. So far, I've done it with tinda, ghiya, baingan and kaddu.

So well, here's the recipe I've always been familiar with - the way we make it back home.

This is how it looked after cooking.

Serves 4
Ingredients:

• Karela/Bittergourd - 500gms.
• Onions - 4 no. (large), Sliced
• Milk - 200ml.
• Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp. (or as per your taste)
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.
• Coriander powder - 11/2 tsp.
• Salt to taste
• Oil - To shallow fry.
• A pinch of love :)
• Patience

Method:

1. Peel and slit the karelas lengthwise. Do not slice or chop. If the karela is too big, however, you may want to cut it into halves. Do not throw away the peel.
2. In a large dish/plate, marinate the karelas and the peel with 2 tbsp. salt. Keep aside overnight, or for at least 6 hours if you don't have more time. This step is essential to making sure that the karela is drained of most of its bitterness.
3. Taking one piece at a time, squeeze out all the juice/water from the karelas and the peel. 
4. Wash the karela and the peel using fresh water, and squeeze to drain it all out too. Repeat this step 2-3 times.
5. Heat oil in a wok/kadhaai. Add karela (not the peel yet), and cook covered on medium flame. Toss every couple of minutes to cook evenly. They're done when they're a beautiful golden-brown color.
6. Remove the karela pieces from the kadhaai, don't put off the heat yet. 
7. Now, add the peel to the same oil and fry covered on medium heat until oil seperates, and they stop crackling.
8. Put the karelas back in. Add milk.Bring the milk to a boil and turn down the heat. Cook covered on low heat until the milk gets completely absorbed. You should not see any remains of the milk except for a creamy layer on the karela pieces. A large extent of the bitterness goes away with the marination. After this stage, the bitterness of the karelas will disappear. Only a mild lingering bitter charm would remain. You don't want to try to get rid of that.
9. Turn up the heat and add sliced onions. Mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Make sure you haven't sliced the onions too fine.
10. Turn down the heat and cover the wok. When the onions have turned translucent, add the spices and salt. Even though you've already used a large quantity of salt during marination, that has all been washed and squeezed away with the bitterness. Add salt as per taste.
11. Cover and cook for about 10 mins. Do not forget to check and stir every couple minutes. Your karela is ready to be served. 
12. Eat!

Tip:

This dish does not need any garnishing or fancy spices. Serve hot with chapatis and curd. A bowl of daal on the side would be great too! I suggest toor/arhar or moong varieties. If you have a karela recipe that works for you, I would love to know!

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Masala Bread Crumble, Vegetable Burger and Pulao recipe coming up soon. All of these were on the menu during last week. I'll also post a restaurant review of "The Chocolate Room", which I visited during the weekend.

Happy Cooking!

Love,

Nidhi