[Experiments in Kitchen #10] Karela Fry

Hi foodies, 

Welcome back to 10th Experiments in Kitchen post where I am going to explore a Karela recipe, Karela Fry. 

 

Karela Fry

 

Many of you might know karela as Bitter Gourd. Google Translator tells me it’s called calabaza amarga in Spanish. I am going to use Karela as that is the way I identify the vegetable. 

I hated Karela as a child because of its bitterness. I would give my mother a hard time for making it. In our home, she used to make karela and eat by herself. Occasionally, my father would share her karelas, but my sister and I ignored it. They tried to tell us the many health benefits of having Karela, and still, we would ignore them. Act like they are not on the dinner table. I am sure many of us are guilty of doing this. Turns out my husband loves karela. And we were not having it till now because of my deep karela dislike.

Most of the time we don’t hate a particular vegetable/recipe, we actually hate its first memory. The first memory of ever having tasted that vegetable/recipe. Unfortunately, my first taste of karela has been a sharp bitterness with that first bite as a child. I now cook and know that sometimes, a recipe takes more than one try before we get the right taste, and I had tasted the version when my mother was learning to cook karelas. I never tasted her karela recipes or anyone’s karela recipes again fearing they will be bitter and I won’t like them. But things change and I have also changed. Now, I am more adventurous when it comes to recipes and vegetables and tastes. So, I saw no point in staying afraid of karela and decided to finally cook it.

Instead of making Karela like my mother, I looked online for other recipes and found this easy Karela Fry by Kabita’s Kitchen. Karela Fry is a recipe which involves Karela and onions. So let’s see how to cook this quick and easy recipe. 

 

Changes

 

I used coriander powder and garam masala in place of chaat masala as I was out of chaat masala. That’s the only change I made to the recipe.

 

Let’s Begin 

 

I didn’t know how to cut Karela so had to rely on another youtube video to learn how to do it. I couldn’t find the link to that video but promise to update it here whenever I find the link. I first peeled the Karelas from outside only a little (we don’t want to remove the greens). Then I cut it into chips like slices. I removed the seeds from the middle. One of the karelas was ripe and red from inside. So make sure to buy karelas that are not ripe. I have no idea how to identify the right sort of karelas. I am still searching information on that.

 

 

 

Then I added salt and turmeric powder to the sliced karelas and mixed well. Left it covered for around 3 hours. Then washed the marinated karela in water thoroughly and left them inside the strainer. This step reduces the bitterness of karelas.

 

 

Then I took a pan and added oil to it. Next, I added fennel seeds, once the oil was hot. Then added the karela slices into the oil. I fried the karela slices for 15 minutes on medium flame, constantly mixing it to prevent them from burning. 

 

 

 

Once the karela slices were brown, I added turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, garam masala, and amchur powder. Mixed them well and let them cook for another minute. 

 

 

 

 

Next, I mixed the onions and salt into the spiced karela slices. Then I covered the pan and let it cook for another 10 minutes on a low flame. I kept mixing in between to prevent burning. Then I cooked at high flame for another 5 minutes. And Karela Fry is ready. I served it with urad dal and hot chappatis. 

 

 

How was it?

 

Karela Fry turned out to be surprisingly delicious. It was spicy, tangy and only lightly bitter. The onions and spices, specially amchur powder successfully masked the bitterness of karela. I think there was only one karela out of the four I used whose bitterness couldn’t be masked. And whenever a slice of that karela came, it filled the mouth with bitter taste. Karela Fry doesn’t get worse if you store in the refrigerator. So we had it in small quantities over the next few days with chapattis and dals. 

 

For the next time

 

This recipe is perfect as it is right now. But I want to try other karela recipes like these next time:

• Stuffed Karela by Manjula’s Kitchen
• Dahi Karela
• Karela and Tomatoes Curry

 

 

 

 

Are you like me when it comes to karela? Or you belong to the karela lovers category? What recipe do you make using karelas? Share with me in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Cooking!