Karela’s( bitter gourd) bitter taste might turn people away from it however it can really sweeten your health by virtue of its disease preventing and health promoting phyto chemical compounds. There are a variety of recipes you can make with Karela, like stir fried Karela with onion, or gravy or stuffed karela fry. Stuffed karela goes very well with simple daal and rice as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 8 Karelas ( bitter gourd)
- 1 medium Onion fine chopped
- 1 tbsp Garlic paste
- 2 tsp Ginger paste
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tsp Crushed fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp Roasted Poppy Seeds
- 2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 tsp Coriander and Cumin powder each
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 2 tsp Aamchoor powder
- 1/4 tsp Hot red chili powder
- 1/3 cup Onion chopped
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 4 tbsp Oil
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp Oil for roasting Karelas
Instructions
- Clean karelas with running water. Scrape the karelas and keep the scrapings aside.
- Boil karelas with 2 cups of water and 4 drops of lemon juice in a pot till karela gets tender. Lemon juice helps to reduce the bitterness of karela. Once it's done, remove from boiling water and let it cool down. Slit each karela at center and remove the seeds from karela and keep them aside.
- Dry roast poppy seeds, fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds at low to medium heat till aromatic. Once done, grind poppy seeds, fenugreek seeds, karela seeds and mustard seeds in a blender with very little water and make a paste. Keep it aside.
- Heat oil in a kadhai at medium heat, add cumin seeds and fennel seeds wait till it gets light brown. Add onion, ginger -garlic paste and little salt. Saute it for 10-12 min until the onion gets golden brown. Add ground poppy seeds mix, turmeric powder, chili and karela scrape and saute it for about 8-9 min at medium heat.
- Add 1/3 cup onion, coriander and cumin powder, amchoor powder, sugar and saute it till the masala gets nicely fried for about 5 mins.
- Once the masala dries, turn off the heat and let it cool.
- Fill the masala into the slits in the karela and tie it with a thread. Keep it aside.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a kadhai, place the stuffed karela in kadhai and roast it from all side till golden color at medium heat. Turn off the heat. Remove the thread from roasted karela once its done cooking.
- Stuffed karelas are ready to be served.
- Stuffed karela can be stored in fridge up to 3-4 days.
- Serve it with simple daal-rice and roti.
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