Karele Ki Bhujia

                                                                         

My daughter bought  karela while shopping for veggies and then called me " Mom, how do you cook karela? " I was surprised as I don't ever recall my daughter eating karela, willingly or unwillingly, at home. She breezily informed me that she had got bored of the usual veggies she used to make and so picked up karela for a change!! That's it!!??!! And here I had tried everything possible to coax her to eat it to no avail!!

We are fortunate that we get excellent quality of karela in Dar Es Salaam, even though the locals do not eat it. Roda, the girl who helps me with cooking and house work, enjoys all the Indian food I prepare, except karela. She says it tastes like dawa! (In Swahili, as in Hindi, dawa  means medicine). I thought that she would gradually get around to eating it but she steadfastly refuses. Her droll reply when I urged her to try some was," Mama, I would rather get an injection than eat this dawa ! " I got the message!

This recipe of karela is the way I make it most often, apart from Bharwa Karela, the recipe of which I have already posted. This is an easy and straightforward recipe in which karela is cooked with onion and mild spices. The addition of jaggery diffuses the inherent bitterness while the crushed garlic almost at the end of the cooking process gives a lovely flavour.

Ingredients: 

250 gm karela (bitter gourd)
1 big onion, finely sliced
1 tsp garlic, crushed
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
1 tsp gur (jaggery)
1/4 tsp kalonji (nigella seeds)
1/2 tsp saunf (fennel seeds)

Method:   Cut karela in half lengthwise and then slice finely. Sprinkle salt over karela and leave it immersed in water for sometime. Before cooking wash well in fresh water. Finely slice onions and crush garlic.

                                                                         

In a heavy bottom pan heat oil and add karela. Stir over high flame for 3-4 minutes until karela loses it's raw colour and is lightly fried. Add onion, saunf and kalonji. Continue to saute for a minute. Lower flame and add the spice powders- turmeric powder, red chilly powder, and salt. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low flame until karela is tender. Add amchur, gur and garlic. Let it cook for a few more minutes and then close.

Immersing karela in salt water before cooking takes away part of it's bitterness so this is an important step in any recipe of karela.