Karela recipe .. KARELA! a vegetable most kids hate to eat…

As a kid, I never liked Karela / Bitter Gourd.
My son doesn’t like it either because of the bitter taste.
But as I grew somehow I started to like it. I explored many recipes to cook bitter gourd which were awesome.

Karela Recipe

There are many recipes of karela / bitter gourd which makes it delicious to eat. Though it’s bitter there is a large section of foodies love it not only because of its health benefits but also for the taste.
There are many recipes of bitter gourd fried, stuffed, curried and many more.
This recipe is a Mangalorean Konkani recipe, where the bitter gourd is cooked with hog plums. The jaggery added to this dish gives a mild sweet taste.

The blend of bitterness of bitter gourd, the sweetness of jaggery and sour tangy taste of the hog plums makes this dish truly delicious. The best thing is as this dish is reheated, next day becomes more and more delicious.

I definitely assure you will love this recipe.

The Bitter gourd has tremendous health benefits.

It’s an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C also magnesium, folate, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and contains high dietary fibre. It is excellent for blood sugar for diabetics. It’s rich in iron and contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana.

Also, read about

Vegetarian, Mangalore southekai recipe / Mogem Losun Miri

Vegetarian, Koorka / Chinese potato curry

Karela Recipe – Bitter Gourd with Hog Plums / Karathe Ambade

Recipe by Rovena FernandesCourse: Latest, Mangalorean Vegetarian, vegetarianCuisine: MangaloreanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

This Karela recipe / Bitter gourd recipe is a Mangalorean cuisine with a blend of sweet and bitter taste where the hog plums adds mild tangy flavor.

Ingredients

1kg Bitter Gourd
12 Dry chillies
1 Tspn Mustard
8 to 10 Peppercorns
1/2 lemon size Tamarind
1 pod garlic
1″ Ginger
4 Onions
6 Green chillies
5 Hog plums (ambade)
4-5 Tbsp Jaggery ( you may require more depending on the sweetness of the jaggery and bitterness of the Bitter Gourd)
3 Tsp Vinegar
Oil for seasoning
salt as per taste

Directions

Slice onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Soak tamarind in one 1/2 cup of water.
Clean and cut the bitter Gourd in a round shape as shown in the picture.bitter gourd slicing
deseed the sliced bitter gourd.
Sprinkle about 1 tbsp salt on the sliced and deseeded bitter gourd mix it well and keep aside.
After half an hour, cook it in the cooker for one whistle (not more than one) and throw the water.
Crush hog plum with a pestle and add it to the bitter gourd.
For the masala, grind dry chillies, mustard, peppercorns, tamarind to a fine smooth paste.
Add this masala paste to the cooked bitter Gourd and also, add the sliced onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Mix well and add tamarind soaked water, vinegar, salt and jaggery. Add jaggery till you get a mild sweet taste. This dish may require a lot of jaggery.
Cook the above till a good boil.
For seasoning, take little oil in a seasining pan. once its heated add garlic then curry leaves and mustard. once the mustard stops cracking, pour it to the karela dish.