Korola Bhaji - Bitter Gourd Fry

Not many people are fond of bitter gourds I know. I also don't like bitter gourds that much unless cooked in a stylish way with a spiked-up taste and flavor. In fact, I don't have any fascination for eating anything tasting bitter, but there are people I know including my mother, father, sister, mother in law and so much as my husband going gaga over these bitter tasting veggies, putting me to question what secret taste is there that they like these veggies so much. Ya, I know they are healthy, but c'mon eating every day something bitter at the beginning of every meal is too preposterous for me and surprisingly, I have never seen my father giving these bitter tasting veggies a miss any day of his meal.

 

 

There was a time I even wouldn't consider putting korola into my mouth but after marriage when my mom in law introduced the taste to me through her wonderful magic of a dal preparation Uchche Diye Moong Dal, I began acquiring a taste for it. I realized korola or uchche or bitter gourd is not so bad as I used to think it would be. The bitterness is tolerable and if you can cook your curry fashionably with mixing and matching few taste boosting ingredients, bitter gourd tastes really nice.

The below recipe of Korola Bhaji or Bitter Gourd Fry is one example of how can even bitter gourd tweak you taste bud. It usually goes very nice with rice and dal, but you can become little adventurous by enjoying it as snacks with a cup of tea or coffee. I bet the combination would be an innovation.

 

 

Ingredients:                                                   Cooking time: 30 minutes ü  4-5 korola or karela or bitter gourds (chopped) ü  4-5 green chillies (chopped) ü  1 tsp turmeric powder ü  1/2 tsp dry chilli powder ü  Salt to taste ü  2 tbsp besan or gram flour ü  2 tbsp rice flour ü  2 tbsp all-purpose flour ü  White oil for deep frying

Method:

1) Wash the bitter gourds repeatedly under running water and then chop them coarsely into teeny weeny pieces.

2) Combine chopped green chillies, turmeric powder and dry red chilli powder with the chopped bitter gourd.

3) Add gram flour, rice flour and all-purpose flour. Season with salt. Mix well. (Don't add a single drop of water unless of course you want to ruin the dish.)

4) Now taking a sieve, sift the bitter gourd mixture and get rid of unnecessary lumps of flour, if any.

5) Deep fry in smoking hot oil and drain on absorbent paper.

6) Serve hot with dal and rice.