Kakarakaya (Bitter Gourd, Karela, Pavakka) is one of those vegetables that people either love or hate. The main reason for these extreme positions is the bitter taste of the vegetable.
Fortunately for me, my family loves it as much as I do. Kakarakaya Vepudu or stir-fry is the simplest way to cook this vegetable. This past Sunday, I had made Sambar Rice for lunch and so made this curry as an accompaniment.
Did you know that Kakarakaya Or Bitter Gourd is an excellent remedy for diabetes. It reduced blood glucose levels and is also an excellent blood purifier.
Time: 40 Minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- Bitter Gourd – 1/2 Kg
- Red Chilli Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Oil – 1 tbsp
- Salt to Taste
Method
- Dissolve 1 tsp salt in 1 litre water.
- Wash and dry the bitter gourd.
- Cut into thin discs.
- Add the discs to the salt water.
- Let the discs remain in water for 10 minutes. This helps in reducing the bitterness.
- Remove the discs from salt water and rinse with cold fresh water.
- Pat dry.
- If required, cut the discs into halves or quarters. I have.
- In a wok or kadai, heat the oil.
- Add the bitter gourd pieces.
- Mix well.
- Over low to medium heat, stir-fry till the edges turn to turn brown.
- Turn off the heat.
- Add a bit of salt, if required. Be careful as there is already some salt from the soaking.
- Add red chilli powder and mix well.
Yummmm
Ah ! a ladle of this with steaming rice……..bliss !!
I love karela.. I like it as stir fry or in pitlai or as chips too.
Aruna my husband loves karela and whenevr he goes to the Indian grocers he gets karela. He also likes the stir fry version a lot. I also occasionally do a deep fry which is also very tasty! Yum with simple daal/sambhaar and rice:)
Absolutely, Indu. In stores that sell things from Kerala, we get dried Karela that can be fried. They are superb in texture and very light, even after deep frying. My only grouse is that they are not bitter. 🙂
yes dried karela is better for deep frying since it takes up less oil. I sometimes dry the karela pieces in the oven at low temperature before frying them. But most of the time there is no time for that extra step! 🙂
Yum karela, my favorite! Unfortunately my family doesn’t care for it very much 🙁 Therefore, I wait for my mum to visit and she make its for me 🙂
Aruna they look crispy with less oil….even i love pavakai with sambar,rasam and curd as well…..
I love to have Karela fry but my husband doesn’t. 🙂 I don’t add chilli powder and fry it until crispy, also add mustard sauce while eating with steamed rice. But next time I will love to try your version. 🙂
I love mustard so I will try your version. By sauce do you mean, mustard and soaked rice paste?
Actually in Kolkata one mustard sauce is available in market……we call it “Kasundi”……..we generally buy it from the market, so don’t know how to make it 🙁 we often have it with few stir fried leaves as well…such as “Kolmi shak”, “Lal shak” etc……..
Ok. I will look for it next week. Lots of Bong places in Mumbai. Anyway I have to go for Palm Sugar/Jaggery.
As you want to know its recipe, I searched in youtube and found few……they are grinding mustard seeds (black+white/only black) along with green mango pieces, salt, sugar (little amount), turmeric powder, mustard oil and green chillies……add as little water as possible……… 🙂
Thank you so much, Jayeeta!
Wow Aruna.. They looks. Spicy and yummy… 🙂
It is such a simple dish with just 4 ingredients. But what a mix of flavours! Like it!
very matching post for my lunch today, I just had pavakka theeyal. Today also bought 1 kg from market. I like it very much