Bitter gourd or karela is quite an amazing ingredient, if it cooked properly. Here is my mother’s recipe for Bitter gourd, that is cooked with brinjal in a mustard sauce. It is quite a simple dish, with the addition of raw onions at the end, to provide the crunch in every bite. To reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd, soak it in salt water overnight and the next day just throw the water away and wash the bitter gourd pieces in fresh water, and you are ready to go, The mustard sauce is quite simple, just as the one that goes for the Bengali fish in mustard sauce ( shorshe maaach ).
Ingredients
- 350 g bitter gourd
- 200 g brinjal
- 3 tbsp. mustard seeds
- 10 garlic clove
- 3 green chilies
- 2 dried chilies
- 1 tomato
- 1 turmeric powder
- 15-20 dried lentil dumplings (vadi)
- 1/2 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- Salt
- Mustard Oil
Method
- cut the head and the tail of the bitter gourd, and portion into 5 cm slices.
- soak it in salt water overnight to reduce bitterness.
- exclude the heat of the brinjal and cut it into 1/4 slices lengthwise.
- soak it in normal colour to keep the colour intact.
- Blend the mustard seeds, garlic cloves, green chilies, dried chilies and tomato to a smooth paste.
- Sieve the mustard paste so that the bitter parts stay in the strainer.
- add salt and turmeric powder to the washed bitter gourd that was soaked overnight and coat it well.
- Heat mustard oil in a pan and add the brinjal and fry until it develops a golden brown colour.
- fry the lentil dumplings in the oil too, remove when it turns to golden brown.
- On a medium flame add the bitter gourd pieces too and sauté until they turn golden brown too.
- Heat oil on low heat in a kadai and add the nigella seends, red chili powder, turmeric powder and give it a nice stir
- Now add the mustard paste and cook for 10 minutes on high heat.
- Now add the fried brinjal and bitter gourd, mix it well and add 1.5 cups of water.
- Add the fried lentil dumplings on top and mix it again.
- Add the sliced onions and cook for 3minutes on medium heat.
- Mix it well and turn off the flame
Comments
Post a Comment