BITTER GOURD CURRY
Authentic Karnataka way of making " Bitter Gourd Curry
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Bitter gourd / Hagalakayi , You can add more also if you like )
- Small Orange size Jaggery, ( Can + or - this quantity )
- lemon size Tamarind, soak in water
- Salt, As per taste
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric / Haldi
- 1-2 tsp Oil , coconut oil preferred
For Grinding (Masala)
- 1 cup coconut
- 2 tsp Black Gram / Urad Dal
- 1 tsp Bengal Gram/ Chana Dal
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds/ methi
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds/ Jeera
- 1.5 - 2 tsps Sesame seeds/ Til , ( Black / white )
- 4 - 8 Red Chillies, As per your spice level ; byadgi + guntur
- 1-2 a big pinch Hing
- few Curry Leaves
For Tempering :
- 2 - 3 tbsps Coconut oil /Oil/ Ghee, ( Coconut oil preferred )
- 1 tsp Mustard
- a pinch Hing
- few Curry Leaves
Instructions
- Wash the bitter gourd, cut it lengthwise and remove all seeds. Chop it to small pieces.
- Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder to bitter gourd slices and mix well. Keep it aside for 30 to 40 mins. Bitter Gourd would have left some water. Discard it. Again sprinkle little water, mix and squeeze the bitter gourd slices with your hand. This helps to reduce the bitterness of bitter gourd. Soak tamarind in warm water.
- In a pan or vessel , add little oil. When its hot add turmeric and bitter- gourd pieces.Saute it for 4-5 mins. This step enhances the flavors from the veggie.
- Next to the sauteed bitter gourd pcs, add water,salt, tamarind and jaggery. Close a lid and cook.
- Meanwhile in a small pan add few drops of oil.Add all the ingredients mentioned under masala except coconut and sesame.Roast them in medium low flame till red chillies becomes crisp and dal turns golden color. Add coconut to that and just saute it , may be for 1 min.Transfer all the ingredients to a mixer jar.
- Next,dry roast sesame seeds in the same pan till it turns golden. Add it to the mixer jar containing other roasted masala ingredients. Once its little cooled , add little water and make a very smooth paste.
- Add this ground paste to cooked bitter gourd and mix well.Cook this in a medium flame till the gravy starts boiling.
- Reduce the flame to sim, add a *tbsb of raw coconut oil and allow it to boil for another 8-10 mins. Stir in between.Let the gravy thicken. *REFER NOTES
- Season with mustard,hing and curry leaves.Switch off .
- Serve Bitter gourd gojju hot / warm with plain Rice / roti / dosa / Idli .
Video
Notes
- * The tip of adding raw coconut oil while boiling , i got it from a cook who is a regular in my home for all functions. He was right ,It takes it to a new level.Actually ,he adds more than a tbsp but atleast to go near to that taste i add just a tbsp. If you want you can increase the qty or omit it completely.
- *Another tip , the cook gave me was to boil this gravy well in a low flame. The more you boil the more tasty it becomes .The consistency also thickens. Boiling it well also increases its shelf life. It does not spoil for a week if refrigerated and stays good without fridge for 2 days.this also enhances the taste.
- You have to roast sesame seeds very well. if its raw this dish will turn flop.
- Basically this dish (menaskai) will be tangy ,sweet n spicy. So to get the authentic taste add more jaggery ,tamarind n chilli. But you can vary it depending on your pref.
- You can substitute bitter gourd with raw mango / pineapple /Hog plum/ dry raisins/ ladies finger/ Capsicum / orange peels.