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Kakarakaya Karam ~ Bittergourd Stir fry

I went to the Farmer’s market and bought the freshest bitter gourd I have ever seen. I am a bittergourd fan. Prepared a simple classic recipe that combines the wonderful flavor of red chillis and garlic with caramalized onions and bittergourd to incredible effect. The burnt edges of bittergourd is what I love most about this vepudu. :)

kakara-kaya-karam
Kakarakaya Karam ~ Bittergourd Stir fry
bitter-gourd-slices
Bittergourd slices, red chillis, garlic and onion

Kakarakaya Karam Recipe

Prep & Cooking: 40 mts

Serves: 3-4

Cuisine: Andhra

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Ingredients:

1/4 kg bitter gourd, peel, slice into rounds

1/4 tsp turmeric pwd

1 onion, finely sliced

1 tsp grated jaggery (optional)

1 1/4 tbsps oil

salt to taste

For seasoning/poppu/tadka:

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal/minappa pappu/split gram dal

1 tsp senaga pappu/channa dal/bengal gram

10-12 curry leaves

Make a coarse pwd:

4 garlic cloves

2 dry red chillies, de-seed

1 Add turmeric and salt to the peeled bittergourd slices. Leave aside for 15 mts. Gently squeeze the liquid off the slices.
2 Heat oil in a cooking vessel, add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Add urad dal and channa dal and toss till the dals turn red and then add the curry leaves, stir fry for a few seconds. Add the sliced onions and fry for 3-4 mts till they turn transparent.
3 Add the sliced bittergourd slices and saute. Constantly stir fry on medium heat ensuring they don’t burn or stick to the pan. Keep frying till they well roasted and this could take about 22-25 mts.
5 Add the ground red chilli-garlic mixture, jaggery and adjust salt. Combine and saute for another 3-4 mts. Serve hot with white rice.

kakarakaya-karam1
Bittergourd stir fry with rice and Mysore rasam ~ Our lunch

Kakarakaya Karam ~ Bittergourd Stir fry Recipe

Prep time: min
Cook time: min
Main Ingredients:

I went to the Farmer’s market and bought the freshest bitter gourd I have ever seen. I am a bittergourd fan. Prepared a simple classic recipe that combines the wonderful flavor of red chillis and garlic with caramalized onions and bittergourd to incredible effect. The burnt edges of bittergourd is what I love most about [...]

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By • Aug 9th, 2009 • Category: All Recipes, Andhra Recipes, Indian Fry Recipes, Indian Vegan Recipes, Indian Vegetarian Recipes, Recipes Vegetable Dishes

  • http://gaurigharpure.blogspot.com Gauri

    heard the red-chillie and garlic combination with karela for the first time. will try soon. the tastiest karela dish i have had so far is one with stirred-fried fresh peas, karela with jaggery and tamarind. tht combo seemed quite unique too..

  • http://fastindianrecipes.com Kshipra

    Hi sailu,
    I have been a regular visitor to your site but writing for the first time. You are really doing a fabulous job.
    This karela dish seems unique and new to me.

  • http://zaiqa.net Mona

    Sailaja, bittergourd is one of my favorite vegetables too. Your bittergourd stir fry with jaggery, garlic and fried onions sounds delish!

  • http://foodblogga.blogspot.com Susan from Food Blogga

    I wish I had this recipe when I lived in LA. We had lots of Asian produce at our farmers’ markets there. But here in San Diego, bitter gourds are just about impossible to find.

  • srividya

    awesome pics..bittergourd is also my fav veggie!

  • http://www.cookingdemystified.blogspot.com/ Hb

    I can sense the taste of this karam! It is made and packed to carry when visiting relatives. Right? The aroma of red chilli powder and garlic is classic!

  • VikasK

    Sailu,

    you had earlier posted another bitter gourd dish where it had to be boiled for 15 minutes with tamarind, turmeric and salt and the water discarded. i tried that dish 4 times. twice i managed to get all proportions right and it was an awesome taste – an intermingling of flavors – bitter, sweet, sour, salty…

    however, i have a conceptual problem with your bitter gourd preps. my parents complained to me that if you peel the bitter gourd, boil it and discard the water you loose most of the benefits of the vege. in short if your bitter gourd dish is not bitter enough then there is no use. a lot of people in north india simply fry BG and onions and add very basic spices to it. some times a spice mixture is filled in like you do with egg plant. to them it was heretical to remove the bitterness of bitter gourd.

    in this dish as well if you leave them marinated (almost) for 15 minutes and squeeze the water a similar result is achieved.

    can some one please clarify if bitter gourd actually looses its health benefits because we remove the bitter taste somewhat while cooking?

    ps: bitter or not, i will give this a try and share my experience.

    Usually my mother follows the method of very slightly peeling and cooking the bitter gourd directly without any pre-soaking in haldi or buttermilk. Yes, the nutrient value diminishes when we squeeze out the pre-soaked liquid. In fact, the leftover buttermilk residue after squeezing out the karela is not thrown away in most kitchens. Many drink it for its nutritional value.

    I mentioned the pre-soaked method to reduce bitterness. Those who do not mind the bitterness and want full nutritional value of bitter gourd, can cook the bitter gourd directly.

  • sudha

    hello sailu garu,

    im also big fan for kakarakai..

    Thanks for lovely recipe.

    Did u try, sailu garu, the egg curry with black pepper which i said earlier??

    Thanks, SudhaBalaji.

    I am yet to try it, Sudha garu.

  • jyoti

    hi shailu,
    i liked the recipe.. i was wondering if we can achieve good taste if we use, frozen karela..!! as that is what we get here…
    and also when we defrost it is quite wet…. please do copy your respond to my email as well as i don’t want to miss your views.
    Thank you hugs and smiles.

    I’m not sure how the frozen karela would taste since I have never tried them. You will have to try it and leave your feedback, Jyothi.

  • http://mydiversekitchen.blogspot.com Aparna

    I’m also a bittergourd lover (the only one in my house) and I have a somewhat similar way of preparing this dish. I love it. :)

  • pavan

    its an excellent site for indians

  • http://www.curryinkadai.blogspot.com kalva

    mom makes the same way.. lovely recipe

  • http://nacasadoborao.blogspot.com Ana

    Hi dear. Here in Brasil we have this vegetable (called melão de são caetano) and if you hadn’t showed the pic I wouldn’t find what it was. I have never eaten it.
    I found it’s a very good recipe cause I love onions, garlic and chili. Maybe I’ll try it.

    Your site is very beautiful and interesting. Thanks, so long.

    Ana.

  • swetna

    hi sali garu,
    i am also frm vizag,liked ur kakarkaya fry vymuch.if post some bottlegourd curry also ,iwil be vy thankful 2 u.v also make like same recipe bt bit different.nicedish

  • Sharon Jha

    Dear Shailu
    I am an ardent fan of Andhra food though I belong to Karnatka. I have been married for a year and my husband is from Bihar. As we belong to two different parts of India, with different cuisines, it is very hard to impress him with food. I have no clues how to cook Bihari food. The other day I accidently came across your website and then tried your pepper chicken. It turned out to be awesome and my husband was all gaga over it. Thanks to your website, my cooking tension has reduced. I now visit your webiste everyday and decide my menu for the day.

  • A.K

    The red chili and garlic combination is what made this dish taste so awesome. Thanks for this recipe! It’s a very good idea to spice up the dull bitter-gourd. :)

  • Sirisha

    Delicious Vepudu Sailu – Thank You.

  • shirley

    i tried this recipe.its really tasty..

  • Anisha

    Hi sailu,
    I tried ur recipe n it turned out really well :) but the bittergourd pieces r a bit raw still….so where did i go wrong,can we boil thm before cooking? Anyways tastewise its really good.
    Thank u:)

  • Anisha

    Hi sailu,
    I tried ur recipe n it turned out really well :) but the bittergourd pieces r a bit raw still….so where did i go wrong,can we boil thm before cooking? Anyways tastewise its really good.
    Thank u:)

  • Anonymous

    Yes, you can lightly par boil them.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, you can lightly par boil them.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, you can lightly par boil them.