December 19, 2005

Karela curry aka bitter gourd curried sauce

It was curry week, day #5 at My Dhaba. Lera of Myriad tastes was so kind in sending us her spicy fish curry to be included in our today's curry post. Here is Lera's spicy fish curry recipe and picture details. Thank you Lera for this post. Excellent blend of spices! We could feel its taste just by looking at its picture.

At My Dhaba, we have cooked karela curry aka bitter gourd curried sauce today.

We were remembering our childhood days today. The trio master home chefs at home, my grandma, mother, and sister used to put in their best culinary skills whenever they used to cook karela dishes at home to make it more tastier and delicious. It is now a delight to think, talk, write, and share the knowledge we had gained from those brilliant home chefs specialized in traditional Indian home cooking. They never used to refer to any cookbooks and had followed the best traditional wisdom handed over by generations and possible trial-and-error methods while cooking. Everything that you read here at My Dhaba is the traditional knowledge of those kitchen queens chronicled and manuscripted by my sister (late) Prabhavathy and me. Hope you are enjoying these journeys through traditional Indian home cooking.

Here is the recipe for My Dhaba's favorite karela curry.


Karela curry aka bitter gourd curried sauce
Serves - 4
Preparation time - 45 minutes

Ingredients:
Bitter gourd - 3 cups, fresh, deseeded, cut into thin rounds
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Tamarind - a lemon-sized lump
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Black pepper powder – ½ teaspoon
Cummin seeds powder – ½ teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds powder – ½ teaspoon
Coconut - half of a fresh coconut, scrapings
Onion - 2, medium size, chopped
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 sprig, fresh
Salt - 1/2+1/2 teaspoon
Jaggery - 2 tablespoon, powdered

Method: Smear the turmeric powder and salt all over the karela rounds, keep aside for half an hour, and wash well in water. Add 3 cupfuls of water to a lemon-sized lump of tamarind and extract the juice. Bring this tamarind juice to the boil and add the washed bitter gourd rounds to it. Let it boil for 15 minutes, strain, and keep both karela rounds and boiled water separately. Grind the coconut and onions to a smooth paste. Heat a flat-bottomed vessel and pour in the oil. When smoking hot, add the mustard seeds to splutter, the remaining chopped onions, and curry leaves. When the onions turn limp, add the boiled karela and saute well for a minute. Pour in the coconut+onion paste and all other spice powders. Saute well for a minute. Now add the boiled tamarind water and salt. Adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding more water (1-2 cups) and boil for 10 minutes. Add the jaggery powder and simmer further till the sauce reaches a semi-thick honey-like consistency and the oil shines on the surface. Enjoy with plain boiled rice.

Indian curries discussed so far during My Dhaba's curry week ...
Day #1 - Moluvu kolumbu aka black pepper sauce.
Day #2 - Ennai kathrikaa kaara kuzhambu aka Brinjal oil sauce.
Day #3 - Mixed vegetables sambhar.
Day #4 - Aloo gobi curry aka cauliflower and potato curried sauce

Read more details about My Dhaba's curry week here. We look forward to your participation. As always, your feedbacks are our inspiration. Cheers!

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9 Comments:

Blogger Priya Bhaskaran said...

I often make pavakka pulikuzumbu. Will try for sure this week.

12/20/2005  
Blogger Nupur said...

I love Bittergroud! :)
And sorry that I showed up a little late.... but this a great idea. This curry week. I'll surely try the vegetarian ones. :D

And have posted some tips to make Thick n saucy delicious curries on my blog!

Cheers!

12/20/2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,
Tried ur brinjal oil sauce with green brinjals.
It came out sooooooper sir.
Thx from a happy&satiated blog visitor.

Am a regular visitor to most of the Indian food blogs on the net& try out the recipes in them (never bothered to help mamma in the kitchen at home. So now, away from home, have to depend on the net for recipes).Yours is the one that always come out the tastiest.

12/20/2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vkn,thanks for the post! this recipe brings back memories of childhood,you seem to weave Magic with veggies. you make even a karela recipe sound so very appetising! plan to get karela from the market & I am gonna try your way soon .

12/20/2005  
Blogger mae said...

Hello!

I'll have this with boiled rice. Please. Want-some-now. Also some of the Brinjal. Looks absolutely delicious.

12/20/2005  
Blogger Priya Bhaskaran said...

VKN, I tried krela curry this afternoon for lunch. It came out tasty. Thanks for sharing this recipe

12/24/2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

VKN, this karela curry was lovely....my friend who doesnt like karela at all was all praise for this curry!!

7/31/2006  
Blogger R said...

VKN, thanks for such a wonderful blog. If I wish to omit onions from this recipe for religious reason, what can I use as substitution? Hing, for taste, perhaps, and besan for body? Would that work? Or, would it taste funny?

- Row

9/19/2008  
Anonymous RecipeJuice said...

Useful recipe, i saw cartoon i the a bowl of curry..hehe sorry.. just kidding.. it look funny for me.

P/s If Someone want to make karela juice, visit my posting, i share karela juice recipe at here. :)

1/25/2012  

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