Sunday, August 7, 2011

bharwa karela / stuffed bittergourds

For Niket's birthday, Manoj got some organically grown karelas. These were small sized, and the minute I saw the, I decided I had to try stuffed karelas. I tried this recipe sometime back but never got a chance to post it until now.

My recipe for stuffed bittergourds-

Ingredients:

Bittergourds- 4 small sized
1 large onion chopped
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
3 tsps yellow mustard powder / paste
1 tsp turmeric and coriander powder, and garam masala / all spice
1 tsp dry mango powder / amchur /4 tsps  lemon juice
1 tsp panch phoran / cumin for tempering
Oil for cooking
salt to taste

Directions:
Cut off the tops and tails of the gourds and scoop out seeds, mine didn't have seeds inside. Steam the karelas after rubbing them with a mix of turmeric and salt. I microwaved them for 5 mins. This retains their bitterness, what is the point of having bittergourds if you don't like their bitterness!? Keep aside.

Prepare the filling-
Heat oil. Add tempering, onions, ginger garlic paste. Add yellow mustard powder / paste and cook for a couple of mins. Add all the dry spices, salt and cook. (You can also save the flesh and seeds if you like and cook it for the stuffing) Let cool. 
Stuff the karelas, bake the karelas at 180 deg for 15 mins or till browned. 
Makes a tasty side dish for rice dal.

No comments:

Post a Comment