Pyaaz vaale bharva karele, ek katori dahi aur garam – garam parathe bana kar koi khila de…bas, itni choti si ichha poori ho jaaye!!! (bitter gourd stuffed with onions, one bowl of curd along with hot parathe… that is all I ask!) I love pyaaz vaale bharva karele a lot. The only problem is that in Bangalore we don’t get those small sized bitter gourds so easily. This week when I was storing my vegetable deliveries in the fridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see that those small sized bitter gourds were delivered. Usually, once I finish my cooking for the day, I don’t go into the kitchen to cook anything else. But seeing those small sized karela I started chopping the onions. I wanted stuffed bitter gourd for lunch!!
Preparation is not a time consuming process if you are not peeling bitter gourd. Many people peel them and smear with salt and keep it like that for an hour or so and later wash it and continue with the rest of the process. This way a lot of the bitter taste gets washed away and probably those who don’t want to eat karela, might find it interesting to give this method a try.
But my mother never cooked karela by peeling them – so I am also used to cooking them this way. Moreover, as I don’t want all the nutrients to be washed away, I never peel them.
There is one more post in the blog on karela Karele ki Sabzi (bitter gourd)
Some more stuffed vegetables recipes :
Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)
Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch)
Stuffed Brinjals/Eggplant/Aubergines
Ingredients:
Small size bitter gourd 6
Medium sized onions 2Oil 4 tsp
Coriander powder 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt as per your taste
Coarsely grounded fennel seeds 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Dry mango powder 1+1/2 tsp
Oil 4 tbsp
Process:
Wash and cut bitter gourd vertically with a deep cut.
Chop onions fine.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and sauté chopped onions till they are transparent.
Add rest of the spices along with the remaining 2 tsp of oil.
Mix everything well and sauté this onion masala for 5 minutes on sim heat.
Switch off heat after five minutes and when masala cools down, fill it into all the bitter gourds.
Add remaining 4 tbsp oil in the pan along with karela. Cover the pan and let bitter gourd cook on sim heat till they become tender from all sides. In between, keep on turning them upside – down for even cooking.
Serve them with hot parathas, rotis or as a side dish for rice.
Deeksha, ye to mein padh bhi nahi rahi. Bas bhej do! ❤
Yahi aa jao, saath saath lunch karege 😘☺️
🚃 🚇 ✈
🙂👍
Interesting one to try, Thanks Deeksha.
You are always welcome Sri ☺️
If you having them first time, then my suggestion is to peel them and try.
Sure Deeksha, Thanks.
Ah….Deeksha, this is an all time hit at my place. We all love it. Wish we had an app where you could send in some to sample. Am actually drooling 🙂
Radhika, great minds eat alike 😁😁😂
I so much wish if I could send 😘❤️
👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks a lot Dulcy ☺
I have no idea what bitter gourds taste like, but they surely look delicious! I will have a look at the other stuffed recipes, for example the eggplant, although we do not get small ones here.
Honestly speaking bitter gourd tastes bitter, so it is ideal to cook it by peeling it for the first time to develop taste. Once you like it, you will like this nutritious vegetable in all variations. Big size green chillies tastes wonderful if you can find them.
Bitter is usually very healthy … 😉 … but we don’t get all those different vegetable here. The only gourd they had in the supermarket yesterday was butternut, which is very mild in taste. And no chilis at all, not even red ones, which they usually have. It is time we go to town again … 😉
I can understand for not getting a few different vegetables but chilli also..everything is affected by corona or in general also you don’t get green chillies..
In Copenhagen you get everything, and most things in the next town, but in the countryside … we live in pork country, there are a lot of pig farmers, as far as a large variety of vegetables is concerned it is an underdeveloped area … 😉
That’s ok Stella.. If things are not bad around you, you can probably have a nice drive to buy vegetables and we will get wonderful picture of that drive in your post☺️😉
Never tried this…eating or preparing 🙂 A good share, Deeksha!
Thanks a lot Indira☺️ if you like bitter gourd in any other form, you might like this variation also!
Yess! More food posts!
This is a food blog so yes, there will be more food posts.. . Thanks a lot ☺️
He he! 🤠🔥 With the ones I cannot understand, I look at the pictures!
I can understand!!
🍪🍪🍪😛
Wow Deeksha ji, this is just like my mom’s recipe. Love it, sounds good
Thank you very much Nisha 😊
Wow I love Bharwa Karela… Yours look just awesome Deeksha!!
Thank you very much Niranjana ☺️😊
My mom did this with Mirchi!!. Love the stuffed veggies, such a delight.
Thanks a lot Smitha😘 stuffed vegetables definitely make meals so desirable.
How is the taste is it Bitter or not so bitter Dee? 😀 kids are not interested in bitter taste but it sounds awesome !! 💕
Suni, I guess If kids are used to of bitter gourd from the beginning, they like it but later if we introduce them, they might not develop a taste. And yes it is bitter and not so bitter both, depends on how you cook it. Raw mango powder, peeling it and smeared with salt helps a lot to reduce the bitterness.
My daughter liked the bitter taste earlier but now she step backs a little and my son doesnt like it !! I will follow the tips, raw mango powder.. salt 😀
Thank you very much Deeksha !! 💌
I can understand Sunip… Kids keep changing their taste buds and we moms just keep experimenting according to their wishes😇
Yes Dee that is the reason we try to satisfy them !! 🖖 Thank you very much !! 💕
I love this ……. with a good shelf life it can be savored with anything 🙂
Oh yes, because of good shelf life I love this vegetable!
Hey I have nominated you for liebstar award please visit and check out my website
Aradhana, Thanks a lot. I will sure check.
Superb dish, can we make it with big bitterguard, I never seen small bitterguard in Muscat.
Thanks a lot Subbashini 😊 Yes, you can definitely do with bigger size bitter gourd. Only thing is that you have to prepare a lot of stuffing and a big size pan.
Ok, thank you so much.
Very good recipe ma’am 👌👌. Sometimes the truth of life and bitter gourd are bitter, but they greatly benefit our health.😊 your work is incredible, ma’am🙏🌻🎆💐
Thanks a lot Yogesh ☺️ Loved your philosophy with life and food!!
This looks wonderfully exotic! Wow. Thank You, Deeksha! ❤️
Thank you very much Katy❤️
My pleasure! ❤️
This looks very delicious and tempting,love bitter gourd and the stuffing in it .
Thanks a lot Nisha. Stuffed vegetables gives a feeling that we are having something special in our menu☺️
I agree 🙂
I too like this without peeling. 😋
Same pinch ☺️
Its so delicious
Thank you very much.
These are my favourite. Plain parantha with home made white butter are ideal accompaniments.
You’re truly talented. This is perfection
Thanks a lot Parneet ☺️
Very sorry for responding so late. Some ups and downs in life.
I believe homemade white butter should be preserved only for garam-garam parathe. Nothing else can beat this wonderful combo!!!
Hope the ups have remained and the downs have gone. Prayers.
🙏🙏
My fav..❤️
Dear Deeksha, another wonderful recipe for bitter melons! Bravo.
I love bitter melons very much. The bitter melons in Taiwan is in white color, but we have some green ones sometimes.
How are you? How is your family?
Hi Oscar, didn’t know bitter gourd is known as bitter melons also! White coloured bitter melons, very interesting.
We are doing fine. In the apartment people are constantly getting virus. Now two families are under quarantine. By God’s grace they are only Asymptomatic. I am not not at all stepping out of the house except to pick up my groceries and vegetables deliveries. Never imagined that life would be completely dependent on ‘online everything’.
Dear Deeksha, this has changed everybody’s life… we never stayed indoor so much like we do this year. I am glad that you and family are fine. Let’s still keep careful… stay positive. The winter will be end…
love.
Hope is the only thing to make us going each day with positivity!!