Bitter Gourd I feel is a funky vegetable, so different in its taste and texture as compared to any other vegetable. The bitter taste is what sets it apart and you either love it or hate it. Luckily everybody in my family loves it and we cannot have enough of it.
This is a favorite dish of mine and is a typical Konkani recipe. I have learnt this from MIL. She is an expert in making this and whenever she is here, she makes an extra batch for me and stores it in the fridge. I then go on for days eating it with rice, rotis, or right about anything.
Ingredients
1 medium sized bitter gourd (karela/ bitter melon)
½ cup shredded coconut
5-6 red chillies
Juice of lemon size tamarind
3 tsps of jaggery
Pinch of Asafotedia
Turmeric
2 tsps Corriander seeds
1 tsp jeera
Oil, salt, mustard
1 cup of water
Method:
v Clean the bitter gourd thoroughly and cut it into small cubes.
v Boil 1 cup of water and add the diced bitter gourd cubes and cook until done.
v Meanwhile roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, jeera with little oil and keep aside to cool.
v Grind coconut along with red chillies, tamarind extract, and roasted spices into fine paste.
v Add this ground paste to the cooked bitter gourd and heat again.
v Add salt, jaggery and let it continue to boil more.
v Make a tadka of mustard, curry leaves, asafetida, and 1 broken red chilly and add to the mixture.
The dish is ready and has a unique combination of sweet, tangy, bitter, spicy taste that goes well with rice, Rotis, literally anything.
Isn’t it tastier when someone else make the food , especially a expert person like you MIL or mom
I woudn’t mind to have the dish with plain rice. MMMMMMMMM
Thanks for visiting my blog! Nice recipe for karela!
I love Bitter gourd and this recipe is new to me…which part of India are u from? Loved the design of your blog
Thanks HappyCook, wonderful choice. Rice it is then fo you.
Latha, loved your recipes and blog as well.
Padma, glad you liked my blog. It is a christmas theme, sounds festive and cheerful isn’t it? Well, I am from Bangalore, even though I am a Konkani. So I have influences of kannada, north kanara and south kanara in my everyday cooking.
hey red chillies lovely recipe! What a beautiful picture also
I dont LOVE bittergourd, but I’m trying to eat more of them
So I’m always on the lookout for tasty recipes. Going to bookmark this one!
I don’t care for bitter gourds but my husband loves them. So I will try this out. I like the steel vessel you have shown in the pic.
Thanks Jeena, Shyam and TBC. Glad you all enjoyed it.
this looks delicious. Does the bitter taste linger?
Hi
I love bittergourd but im really scared making anythng out of it coz its so bitter. ur recipe is really nice.. shud try this. thnx for sharing.
[...] DW: “Bitter Gourd ghashi?” [...]
Thanks Mandira. Yes, the bitter taste lingers but that is not the pre-dominant falvor. It is masked by the sweet, hot and tangy taste as well.
Thanks Sushma. It is a aquired taste, i guess. But once you love it, it is for life!
Well, should the bitter gourd be so well cooked that it they can be mashed up easily? What if i grind the bitter guard of mash them up completely in this recipe? will it be right?
Mona, sorry saw this post only now. No, please don’t mash the bitter gourd, it is best when cooked ( no crunch left). The gravy has all the other taste to mask the bitterness of the bitter gourd.