Pavakkai (Bittergourd/Karela) Fry

Happy Mother's Day

This recipe is my mom's and is dedicated to my mom. Bitter gourd is one of her favorites.

My mom is a worrier. She worried when I was a baby as most new mom's would. She worried when I was a school kid about my education. She worried when I was in college doing my bachelors about my safety, as I had to go a long way (about 1.5 hrs one way). She worried when I was working because I had to work late nights. She worried when I had to leave the country and go far far away to pursue my masters. She worried when I decided to stay back in that country and make a life for myself there. She worried when I had my first kid and worried some more when I had my second. She still worries about my health, safety, well being every single day. She worries about my cooking skills and parenting skills. We in fact have lots of arguments and fights about it. But, it is such a blessing having someone that worries about you. Her worrying makes her care for her kids at all times. Her biggest identity and strength is being a MOM. She has never wanted anything different for herself. She has never wanted to trade that role for anything else. She never gets tired of it and sometimes it makes you think that she was born a MOM.

As I grow older (and wiser 😉😉), I have started becoming a worrier and have started shouldering more responsibilities. I worry about my kids, my husband, my family back in India and I even have time to worry about my community and the world. But somehow I am always too busy to worry about myself. So it is really nice to have my mom do that. I am eternally grateful that she is my MOM and hope I become as selfless as her one day.

Now back to the recipe. I never liked bitter gourd when I was younger as it was too bitter for my palate. But like many other things in life, taste palette's change. With time I started appreciating bitter gourd for all its goodness (taste, nutrition and medicinal properties). My husband likes it a lot, so now it has become a regular in our house. My 10 yr old tried it for the first time last week and liked it too.

Ingredients:
Karela (Bitter gourd) - 6
Onion (chopped) - 1 medium sized
Garlic (chopped) - 5-6 cloves
Jeera (cumin) - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder -  2 tsp (use less if you prefer less spicy)
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Tamarind - gooseberry size
Oil - 3 tbsp
Jaggery - 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:
Chop the bitter gourd into slices. If its tender or young, the seeds will not be hard. Else you will have to remove the seeds. Some people sprinkle the sliced bitter gourd with salt and turmeric and marinate it for about 15-30 minutes. Then they squeeze the bitter gourd and use it. This makes it less bitter but I usually skip this step. Mostly because I would have forgotten to do it and sometimes because I do not mind the mild bitterness.

Soak tamarind in some warm water.

Heat a kadai or a wok and then add the oil. After its hot add the mustard seeds. Wait till it starts spluttering and then add the jeera and curry leaves. Then add chopped onion and garlic and give it a stir. Wait till it starts turning brown.

Add sliced karela pieces, salt and turmeric.

Keep stirring it, till the karela looks half cooked like shown below. If it is too dry you can sprinkle some water. You can also close it with a lid to speed up the process.

Add chilli powder and fry. If you add chilli powder in the beginning it will make it taste burnt.

Wait till it turns golden brown and looks roasted. At this point you can sprinkle a spoon of powdered jaggery. Its totally optional and some people might not like the mild sweetness it imparts.

To get a good roasted flavor cook the whole dish on medium to mild heat. Since it is a dry dish if the heat is high it will get burnt very easily. Serve it warm with rice.