Stuffed Karela ...Not for adults only..

Stuffed Karelas

Who says you’ve to be an adult—worse still a diabetic—to enjoy  the bitter bitter bitter gourd? 

Karela in North and Pavakkai in the South. I know lots of young people who like it—but only after they’ve reluctantly tasted it. The word bitter puts them off to start with. And mothers don't try to make their kids eat karelas, the way they make them eat many vegetables--- left to themselves, children would be eating only potatoes in whatever form!

A never fail you karela dish is the simple stuffed karela made in North India, particularly, Punjab. It has a pretty long shelf life even outside the fridge, making it very safe to take with paranthas on a train journey. Or for lunch during the hot summer.

Scraping the peel is the painful job. I don’t do that when the skin looks good, as it did when I made this batch. Some people scrape the skin, cook it separately, and either toss it on top of the ready stuffed karela, or as a separate dish.

There is no hard and fast rule on what one should stuff in them.

Slit and stuffed, waiting to get fried

CLEANING AND CURING:

Choose uniform sized karelas, wash, and if you want scrape the skin off. Make a slit of an opening. Put all these karelas into a bowl of water with some salt, and let it rest for half an hour or so. Drain off the water. This is said to take off the extreme bitterness of the vegetable.

NOW THE STUFFING(For 10 medium sized karelas)

Option one-dry masalas

Salt -1 teaspoon

Turmeric-Half a teaspoon

Red chilli powder-Half a teaspoon

Hing or Asoefiatide—a pinch

Crushed kasoori methi(dry methi leaves)- one teaspoon

Dry mango powder(aamchur)-half a teaspoon

Dhania-Jeera powder or garam masala-1 teaspoon

Sugar/Brown sugar(optional)- Half a teaspoon

Mix all these powders together, and stuff into the slit karelas, equally

Option two-onion & tomatoes

Onions --2—finely chopped

Tomatos-2—finely chopped

Ginger-garlic paste-two teaspoons

Turmeric- Halt a teaspoon

Red chilly powder- 1 teaspoon

Salt-1 teaspoon

Oil-2 tablespoons

(In a frying pan, heat the oil. Throw in the ginger garlic paste, stir for a minute, add the onions, and stir till they are golden. Now add the tomatos with salt, chilli powder, turmeric, and stir till it becomes  nice and thick, with oil leaving the sides. This , when cooled, is your stuffing  no 2 for the karelas)

Option three-- onion & pickles

Two onions-chopped

Masala from any pickle –four teaspoons

Jaggery—a little bit

Oil –one tablespoon

(Heat the oil in a frying pan, and sauté the chopped onions till golden. Switch off the gas,  add the jiggery, and let it be for ten minutes. Mix in the pickle masala. This is the third kind of stuffing for the karelas)

After they are stuffed, I microwave the karelas for three or four minutes. This simply speeds up the cooking, and saves time when it is on the gas, getting sauted or stirfried.

In a frying pan or karhai, add  two tablespoons of cooking oil—Mustard oil tastes best for this, though it is a cultivated taste. 

When  the oil  begins to smoke, drop the karelas into it, and on a low flame, keep turning, till they are uniformly cooked, turning into a greening brown color. Some people enjoy them almost burnt ! 

Some people deep-fry them, after rolling thread around each karela to ensure the stuffing doesn't spill out.

Stuffed karelas don’t need any garnish. Just stack them up neatly.

 And they go well as a side dish with dal-chawal, or dal roti, or paranthas and karela. You can make  a lot more than you need, and leave them in the fridge, they are handy .

Enjoy the bitterness of its all !