Stuffed Bittergourd / Kakarakaaya stuffed with senagapodi / Stuffed Karela

Talk to somebody about  ‘Kakarakaya’aka ‘Bittergourd’ aka ‘Karela’ and see their face feelings change instantly. I remember days when my mom buys kakarakaya, I make a big fuss at meal time. I was almost in my 20’s when I began to start liking it ever since I tasted a bittergourd stir fry with sugar sprinkled as a side to mudda pappu at my friends house ( I have a sweet tooth and mainly Guntur and Krishna dist are famous of adding jaggery in certain dishes and I carry the same tradition). The hot and mild sweetness of the dish just complements each other and a tasteful treat to our appetite. When told it was kakarakaya vepudu, with disbelief write on my face, I asked for a second helping. My love for this knobbly, bitter-tasting vegetable grew leaps and bounds since then. Then I had this stuffed kakarakaya made by my mom , as I am getting it into my mouth, I am praying please don’t be bitter and with the first bite my eyes opened just wide, yesss….it’s not bitter infact it was delicious, then my appetite increased and I ate one after another. Wonderful thing about this dish is…it looks like very dry fry..but because of the stuffing you can eat the whole rice with 3 of these.

Enough memories, here is the recipe-

Ingredients:

• Bitter Gourd – 6
• Cumin Seeds – 1 1/2tsp

• Red Chillies – 4
• Turmeric Powder – 1/4tsp
• Roasted Chick Pea Powder (Senaga Podi)- 1 cup
• Buttermilk – 1 cup
• Tamarind- small goose berry size
• Medium onion diced
• Curry Leaves – Few
• Salt To Taste
• Oil To pan Fry

Preparations:

1. Wash and clean the bitter gourds. Scrape the rough skin off and make a slit longitudinally on each bitter gourd
2. In a pan, add buttermilk, tamarind, salt, turmeric and let it boil till the skin of the vegetable becomes soft to the touch. (don’t over cook the vegetable as we have more cooking ahead)
3. When the vegetable is soft to touch, take it into a plate and let it dry in sun or bake it in over at 350F for 30 min. alternatively we can pan fry the vegetable with 3 tbsp oils. Note- We are not deep frying, you can even reduce the oil for pan frying.
4. After 30 min, let it cool off until you can handle them and now remove the seeds.
5. Stuff kakarakaya with roasted chick pea powder (Senaga podi). NOTE- Refer to powders and chutneys category for this senaga podi recipe.
6. Heat oil in a wide pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin, urad, channa dal, red chilies and curry leaves.
7. Add diced onions and let them cook till transparent.
8. Add stuffed kakarakayya and sauté on medium low flame. Add salt and chili powder according to your taste.
9. Saute till you get nice color. sprinkle with 1 Tbsp of senagapodi before turning off the flame.
10. Serve with rice and ghee.

Tips-

Sprinkle some water in the stuffing powder to make it wet so that the stuffed powder will not fall back. Stuff all the bitter gourds with this semi wet powder. Heat a pan and add 2tsps oil. When oil is hot, arrange the remaining stuffed bitter gourds and cook covered till the vegetable is cooked. Once the bitter gourds are cooked, remove the lid and fry on low flame till crisp. You will find brown spots on the bitter gourds when they are fried. Remove and arrange them in a serving plate. Serve with hot rice.

Kids generally do not like bitter gourd curries as they are bitter. Removing seeds will reduce the bitterness.

fry the stuffed bitter gourds on low flame till crisp. Then the dish tastes excellent.

Bitter gourd is good for health. Experts say they kill the worms in stomach. So do eat this vegetable once in a while to ensure good health of your family members.

Bon Appetite!!!!!!!

Stuffed Kakarakay