Karele ki sabzi or bitter gourd vegetable is rarely liked by family members. It is almost an impossible task to make kids eat this. I have hardly seen a family where all family members love to eat and they demand Karele ki Sabzi (bitter gourd) in their lunch or dinner menu.
Not boasting, but I was always an obedient daughter and used to eat whatever my mom used to cook. Probably that’s how I slowly developed taste for all vegetables. I remember till 5th or 6th class my daughter Apoorva also used to eat every thing. But slowly she also became fussy and I just couldn’t make her eat a few veggies, including bitter gourd.
I love karela in any form – whether it is prepared as sabzi or in stuffed form. It tastes really good if onions are also added, but it is not compulsory. I like bitter gourd with hot parathas or as a side dish with simple daal – chawal.
There are many ways to cook bitter gourd. To eliminate its bitter taste you can peel it and smear it with salt and keep it like this for 2 hours. Later wash it and cook it.
I don’t want to wash away all nutrients of bitter gourd this way. So I never peel it. I just wash it and chop in small pieces and cook it with onions. To reduce the bitterness you can add dry mango powder (amchoor), grated raw mango or lemon juice.
Try this extremely nutritious vegetable in my way, probably you might develop a taste for it …
I have a few more posts on vegetables in the blog. You can take a look…Vegetables (Curries)
Ingrediants:
Bitter gourd(karela) 200 gms
Onions 2 big size
Oil 3 tbsp
Rai (small mustard seeds ) 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) 1/4 tsp
Asafotida (hing) 1/8 tsp
Coriander powder 1+1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Coarsely grounded fennel seeds 2 tsp
Finely chopped green chilies 2
Salt as per your taste
Water 2 or 3 tbsp
Dry mango powder/grated raw mango/lemon juice
Process:
Peel, wash and chop onions.
In a wok heat 1 tbsp of oil and add chopped onions. Keep the heat on sim and let the onions turn light brown. Keep tossing them from time-to-time.
Wash and chop bitter gourd in round shape.
In another wok heat two tbsp oil and crackle rai, hing and jeera. Add chopped bitter gourd and rest of the spices, except dry mango powder. Mix everything nicely, cover it and let it cook on sim heat. In between keep turning them upside down a couple of times. If you feel that sabzi is sticking to the bottom of the wok, add little water and let it cook till it is tender.
Onions would be ready by now – so, switch off heat.
Once bitter gourd is cooked, add onions and 1 tsp dry mango powder or 1 tbsp grated raw mango or 1 tbsp lemon juice. Mix it well, cover it and on sim heat and let it cook for 2-3 minutes more.
Karele ki sabzi is ready to be served.
