Karela Fry/Bitter Gourd Fry

As winter packs its bag to leave…..as summer silently arrives…turning weather neither cool nor hot….and as the mood swings along with the weather…so are the taste buds….winter calls for piping hot recipes, summer for super cool and so the tastes change according to the season…..and being in the middle of two seasons sometimes….call for a dual recipes…which is neither hot nor cold…but satisfying, simple and indulging....isn’t it?

To satisfy this swing of taste…I made Tomato Rasam along with Bitter Gourd fry….Tomato rasam, as I mentioned in my earlier post is a simple and delectable side dish…which go hand in hand with any fry recipe. After potatoes…bitter gourd is one such vegetable…I love to indulge…I love the bitter taste in bitter gourd and never try to suppress the taste by adding any other ingredient…A simple fry is a easy way to indulge with this nutritiously rich bitter gourd…..

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large Bitter gourd, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp Jeera/Cumin seeds
• 1 Onion, peeled and sliced
• ½ tbsp Turmeric powder
• 1 ½ tbsp Red chilli powder
• 5-6 cloves Garlic
• 10 fresh Curry leaves, soaked in water
• Salt
• Oil

PREPERATION:

• Soak bitter gourd slices in water by adding turmeric powder for at least an hour. Squeeze the water by pressing slices hard in between your palms and lay them on kitchen tissue or cloth.
• Add oil to a heavy bottom cooking vessel and to this add jeera, when seeds start to splutter, add bitter gourd slices and sliced onions. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a low flame.
• Now add salt, little turmeric powder and curry leaves. Cook covered, till the bitter gourd slices get soft.
• In the meantime, crush garlic with red chilli powder and make a coarse paste. Add this paste to cooked bitter gourd slices and stir till all the pieces get coated with the paste.
• Cook for another minute and remove from heat. Serve hot with rice, rasam and papad.
• Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

When I posted Methi Dal, many of you left a comment about the brinjal recipe peeking in the background of the picture…..it’s Stuffed Brinjal With Onions….I came across this recipe in Prathibha’s blog…who posted it recently….you can find the recipe here. I just added coriander powder and MTR vangi bath powder to the recipe to give an extra hint of flavour….

VERDICT : I really love the simplicity of the recipe….it’s flavourful and yummy….Thank you Prathibha for posting such an simple and delectable brinjal recipe.