best for Palak Paneer & Chicken Tikka Masala

Here we go with the final two recipes of my Indian supper, Palak Paneer and Chicken Tikka Masala. Just to clarify since here is some confusion about the difference between saag paneer and palak paneer, saag paneer is made with mustard greens, while palak paneer is made with spinach, but the recipes are very similar.

Our completed dinner consisted of Sweet Potato Samosas, with Mango Chutney, Palak Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala, served with the Cilantro Dipping Sauce, fragrant basmati rice and store bought naan bread. A great beer or ginger beer makes the perfect drink accompaniment. Enjoy!

PALACK PANEER

Ingredients

1 pound fresh spinach leaves, washed and roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 tablespoon oil or ghee
1/2 red onion cut in a small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger
8 ounces cubed and sauteed paneer or 1/2 of the recipe given on December 4th

Optional:
1/2 cup cream or 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions

In a large dry sauté pan, lightly toast the cumin, coriander and fenugreek seeds over medium heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly so not to let the spices burn. Add the oil, garlic and onion and cook until soft and lightly browned. Sir in the tomato and garam masala and cook down the liquid. Add the chopped spinach, tossing occasionally as it wilts. It is important to simmer to reduce most of the water that the spinach releases as it cooks, otherwise you will end up with a bland watery dish. Add buttermilk, season with salt and black pepper, stir and add a dash or two of cayenne pepper to taste.

At this point, you can mix in the paneer cubes and serve or, if you want the restaurant style palak paneer, puree the spinach mixture by pulsing it in a food processor and then return it to the pan. Stir in cream until well combined. Gently fold in the paneer cubes, trying not to break them as you mix them in.

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA

Ingredients

1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 1/2  tablespoons lemon juice
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 inch piece of ginger, grated
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 Greek or strained plain yogurt
2 lbs. skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into 1-inch cubes

For the marinade:

Blend all of the ingredients, other than the chicken, in a food processor until smooth and then place into a large bowl. Add the cubed chicken, mix to coat, then cover and place in the fridge for two to three hours.

Thread chicken cubes on to bamboo skewers that have been soaked for a half hour or on metal skewers. Either place on a sheet pan and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15–20 minutes or grill until just fully cooked but still tender and juicy, approximately 10-15 minutes.

Serve with masala sauce.

MASALA SAUCE

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil or ghee
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1-2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1/2 serrano or jalapeno chile, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 (28-ounce) can plum tomatoes, pureed until smooth
1 tablespoon honey
Pinch or two of cayenne powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
1/4 cup water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 – 3/4 cup heavy cream (depending on how creamy you would like it)
Chopped cilantro leaves

Directions
Heat the oil and onions in a heavy bottomed saucepan on medium and cook until onions are soft and lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the ginger, chili and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, paprika, and garam masala and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, honey and water and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Stir in the heavy cream, bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

South Indian Masala Dosa recipe

Ingredients:
Dosa shell:

1. 1 1/2 cups rice
2. 1/2 cup urad dal
3. salt to taste
4. Oil

Masala Filling:

1. 2 large potatoes
2. 1 medium onion (chopped)
3. 1/2 teaspoon yellow split peas
4. 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
5. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
6. 1-2 green chili
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. salt to taste

Preparation:
Dosa shell

• Separately soak rice and urad dal at least 6 hour or overnight in water.
• Grind to paste.
• Mix together, add salt with water to make batter.
• Leave in room temperature overnight.
• Mix onion and chilies to the thin batter.
• Heat pan or griddle with little ghee or oil.
• Spread the mix on pan in circular motion to make thin Dosa.
• Cook on both the sides, if desired.

Masala Filling (Spicy Filling):

• Heat oil. Add mustard seed, peas, onions and spice.
• Fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat or/until onions are turned into golden brown
• Add potatoes and mix and cook some more Serve
• Add filling inside Dosa and roll. Serve hot with Chutney.

Quick Kidney Beans Rice

Category : Health food
Servings : 2
Time Taken : 30-45 mins

Ingredients: 
1 cup basmati rice
1 -2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 tsp cumin
1 onion, sliced
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
1 tbsp amchur (dry mango powder) (optional)
1-2 green chillies, thinly sliced (or as per taste)
Salt to taste
1 bay leaf (optional)
A few mint leaves for garnish

Method

1. In a pan, add 1 tsp of oil/ghee.
2. Splutter the cumin seeds, bay leaf and then add the spices.
3. Toss until aromatic - about 20 seconds
4. Add the chopped onion and chillies to this mixture along with salt.
5. Cook until soft - about 1-2 min.
6. Add the rice and saute until aromatic and the rice turns translucent.
7. Add 2 cups water (or vegetable stock).
8. The amount of water might vary with the quality of rice available to you.
9. Close with a lid and cook until the rice is almost done.
10. Add the cooked kidney beans to the rice.
11. Give to a good toss until well incorporated
12. Make this rice extra flavourful with mint or cilantro.
13. Serve hot with raita.

Tips: To make this a quick meal, you can replace the basmati with leftover rice. Simply saute the onions along with spices, add the cooked beans and then toss rice with the mixture.

Tomato peas bhath

Category : South Indian lunches, Tomatoes, Rice
Servings : 4
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients: 
4 - tomatoes
1 - onion
1-2 garlic pods
4 cloves
2 cinnamons(each 1 inch)
1 star anise
2 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 green chilli
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Salt
1 tbsp grated coconut
A handful of coriander leaves
Frozen peas
Frozen corn
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp oil
Cooked rice

Method

1. Cook rice separately in rice cooker.
2. Heat ghee and oil in a pan.
3. Tamper with cumin, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, garlic, star anise, green chilli and chopped onion.
4. Fry till onions turn brown and soft.
5. Add chopped tomatoes, salt, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
6. Fry till tomatoes are cooked well.
7. Add frozen corn and peas when tomatoes are half done.
8. When the paste becomes thick, add rice, grated coconut and mix well.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Serve with plain yogurt/raitha/pappad.

Sakkarai Pongal

Category : Rice, Tamilnadu
Servings : 2
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients: 
1 cup - milk
1/2 cup - raw rice
1/2 cup - grated jaggery
3 tbsp - split green lentil (moong dal)
3 to 4 tbsp - cashews
1/2 tsp - cardamom powder
1/4 tsp - nutmeg powder
pinch - saffron
1 to 2 tbsp - dried raisins

Method
Wash and clean lentil and rice together and place in a vessel.
Add 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup water and pressure cook for 10-15min until cooked. (about 4-5 whistles)
Meanwhile in some ghee roast cashews and raisins and just before removing from the heat add saffron,cardamom and nutmeg.
Add the jaggery to the cooked to the lentil-rice mixture.
Mix well until combined. Add the cashew and raisin mixture and stir until combined. Drizzle it with some ghee and serve.

Note : 
If the rice-lentil mixture is dry, add some melted ghee/warm milk to the mixture until it comes to the consistency of your liking.

Pepper Chicken Chettinaad

Category : Chicken
Servings : 4

Ingredients: 
1 chicken cut to medium pieces 
1 cup curd/ yoghhurt
4 tsp - garlic-ginger paste
2 tbsp - fresh coarsely ground peppercorns
A few drops lime juice
Cooking oil 
3 - large onions, finely chopped
2 - ripe chopped tomatoes 
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
salt � to taste
2-3 whole dried red chilies (to taste)
2 sprigs of curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
For garnishing: 1/4 cup each of chopped coriander, ginger juliennes & dessicated/grated fresh coconut

Method

• Marinade the chicken pieces in well-beaten curd, half the garlic-ginger paste, pepper & lime juice for upto 1 hr.
• Heat oil in a non-stick thick bottom vessel, fry onions in it & then add the remaining garlic-ginger paste & fry well again.
• Add the tomatoes and stir fry till the oil separates.
• Add turmeric & stir. Add the chicken-marinade mixture & add salt to taste - toss well & fry for 5-6 minutes.
• Add 1 cup of water, cover and cook till the chicken is cooked.
• In a small tempering-pan, heat 2 tbsp oil & toss in the red chillies & curry leaves.
• Toss in the mustard seeds & when they stop spluttering, remove and pour at once over the chicken.
• Garnish with ginger juliennes, chopped fresh coriander &/or grated or dessicated fresh coconut & serve with rice or Malabari parottas.

Kaju Khoya Burfi

Category : Ganesh chaturthi, Milk
Servings : 2
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients: 
500 gm - khoya 
150 gm - cashewnuts
2 tbsp - milk
400 gm - sugar
1/2 tsp - elaichi powder
silver foil (optional)
few halved cashews for garnishing

Method
Dry grind the cashew.
Grate the khoya.
Mix khoya, milk and sugar.
Heat in a heavy pan, stirring continuously.
Once the sugar dissolves, add the cashew (powdered) and elaichi.
Cooking, constantly stir till soft lump is formed and does not stick to sides.
Roll on a flat surface to desired thickness and apply silver foil.
Garnish with halved cashews.

Making Time: 30 minutes
Shleflife: 1 week
Makes: 20-25 burfis

Kozhukottai Recipe

Servings : 4
Time Taken : 30-45 mins

ingredients

For the dumpling:
Rice flour- 1 cup
Water- 1 1/4 cup
Oil- 1 -2 tbsp
Salt- a pinch
For the filling:
Grated coconut- 1 cup (fresh)
Jaggery- 3/4 cup (powdered)
Cardamom- 1/2 tsp (powdered)
Accompaniments:
Coconut milk
Fresh boiled sweetened milk


Method

What modak is to Maharashtrians, dumplings is to the Americans, wantons to the Chinese, so is kozhukottai to Malayali.
It makes for a very light and popular dessert; it resembles a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian rice flour based desserts. Again kozhukottais are extremely versatile and can be made as both sweet and savoury. Kolakattais or kozhukottai are also a festive special made on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi with a sweet stuffing of jaggery and coconut called `Vella poornam`.


Method

Step-1:
1) In a non-stick pan add jaggery and coconut.
2) Let the jaggery melt over low flame and combine it with the coconut well.
3) Add the powdered cardamom and mix well.
4) If the jaggery and coconut mixture is runny just add little rice flour and ensure it`s thickened to a consistency where you can roll out small balls like laddoo.
Step-2:
1) To make the dumpling sieve the rice flour 2-3 times to ensure there are no debris.
2) Do not add all of the water as different quality of rice powder would consume different quantity hence add it gradually. Bring the water to boil along with oil and salt.
3) Add the water to the rice flour and mix it together to form a pliable dough.
4) Take a ball sized dough and flatten it in your greased palm or rolling pin. This might be a bit difficult hence you need to grease your hand often.
5) Place the filling and close the rice cover either by folding it into half or gently bringing together all the ends and sealing them like a fig. Repeat till you have used all of the dough and then steam them for 10-15 minutes.
6) Once done remove and serve hot or dropped in a bowl of freshly squeezed coconut cream milk.


Note
1) You could make rice flour at home too instead of buying from store, if you like to have the pleasure of having cooked this dessert from scratch. Soak raw rice overnight in water. The following day remove from water and spread it over a kitchen towel to dry the rice or soak the water off. Now grind the rice in dry jar till its a fine powder. It`s recommended that the flour be sieved 3-4 times to get the finest rice flour and to get the best kozhukattais.
2) If your dough does not come together or becomes a bit soggy add some rice flour or all purpose flour. But do not add too much of maida as it could alter the taste. 3) Cut out pieces of coconut and add it to the blending jar with some water 1 cup coconut: 1 1/2 cup water. Grind it in a blending jar till it becomes a fine paste. Strain the coconut milk from the ground paste to extract all the fresh cream coconut milk. Add sugar and drop the kozhukattais in the milk and serve.

Sabudhana khichdi

Servings : 2
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients
1 cup sabudana/ sago
1 potato 
3 green chilli
1/2 lemon
3 tblsp peanuts 
1 tblsp ghee 

To Temper

1 tsp ghee
1 tsp jeera
3/4 tsp mustard (optional)
1 sprig curry leaves

Method

• Wash sago well and soak it overnight with water just enough to immerse the sago. The next day morning, all water should have got absorbed by the sago and it will be soft and fluffy.
• Boil potatoes and cube it and keep aside.In a non stick pan, add ghee and temper with mustard if desired and then jeera, followed by curry leaves. Add the cubed potatoes, little salt and fry for a minute.
• Add the sago, required salt and stir well. Add ghee if needed and keep in medium flame for 4- 5 minutes, until transparent and soft. Make sure you stir to avoid sticking to the bottom. Add crushed peanuts (roasted).
• Give it a stir and lastly squeeze the lemon and toss well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Notes

• The sago should get soaked well, then only it gets cooked easily too. So make sure you soak atleast 8 hours.
• Do not soak in more water. Just wash and add water to immerse the sago. Otherwise if you add more water, then becomes gooey.
• After you add sago and keep frying, as the sago gets cooked, it turns transparent. Make sure all the sago gets cooked.
• As it gets cooked, tends to be sticky but dont worry, it wont be too sticky.
• Mustard is purely optional. So you can avoid it.
• If you over cook the sago and keep frying, after turning transparent, it again starts to turn white.

Shimla Mirch Baingan Rizala sabji

Ingredients

8 small brinjals, sliced
6 small capsicums, sliced
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. chilli powder
1 tsp. garam masala powder
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup coriander leaves
8 curry leaves
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Ground to a paste

1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1 clove garlic
1 large onion
2.5 cm. piece ginger
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1/2 cup coconut, grated

Method

Deep fry brinjal and capsicum.
Drain on paper. In 4 tbsp. of oil, add turmeric, chilli and garam masala powders.
Add vegetables and stir fry till soft.
Add tomato and ground paste and salt. Blend.
Heat 2 tbsp. oil, add cumin seeds and curry leaves.
Pour over rizala.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve

Baingan Bharta sabji

Servings : 2
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients
1 - large eggplant ( or 2 medium ones)
1 tsp - cumin
1 - onion, finely chopped
1 tsp - ginger-garlic paste
2 to 3 - medium ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 tsp - turmeric
1 tbsp - coriander-cumin powder
1 tsp - garam masala
1 tsp - chilli powder ( or as per taste)

Method

• Wash your eggplant, wipe it dry and then coat it with some oil.Turn your stove on with flame med-high and place the eggplant on it. 

This will burn out the skin of the eggplant while making it soft.

Oven Method 

If you want to use the oven, put maximum temp, prick the oil coated eggplant all over and place it until the ggplant is tender. You can use broiler too for this purpose.

• Let it cool and then remove the skin from the eggplant. Remove its flesh, mash it well and keep it aside.
• Saute onions, ginger garlic paste along with the spices until soft in 1 tsp - oil.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are soft.
• Finally add the mashed eggplant, mix well until combined and serve hot garnished with cilnatro.

Keema Stuffed Karela - Minced Meat stuffed Bitter Guard sabji

Ok Folks, here is Keema stuffed Karela as per promise and specially dedicated to our dear Anup. It is not any different from the stuffed karela that we saw earlier the only difference is the filling which consists of Keema [ Minced Meat ]. 

We proceed normally and make the Keema dish where only difference is that we use less oil, different spice mix and try to make this as dry as possible because this would be basically a filling. 

We also process the Karela as usual as we do for any stuffed Karela recipe, only difference being that we remove the seeds too to make much larger room for the filling. 

We took two front legs of the lamb weighing 1.6 Kg which came to 1.5 Kg after trimming and cleaning. We took out the soft meat chunks and ground them for minced meat. It came to about 510 gms. The rest of the kilo meat would be used to make rogan josh as per promise tomorrow. 

I may add here that we ordered the butcher to manually grind the meat and not by the electric machine and also ordered him to mince only once contrary to twice that is usual. The idea being that we wanted the minced meat to be coarser than usual.

We make the keema in our household in many different ways. The keema, keema kaleji , keema gurda kaleji or keema with aalloo or with aalo and green peas or the Keema Gobhi that is made in the household are different recipes than this.

I ALSO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO EMPHASISE THAT THE MOST PROMINENT SPICE FOR KEEMA OR KARELA IS SAUNF AND SAUNF POWDER [ FENNEL SEED AND FENNEL SEED POWDER ]

So here we go :

- Scrap the karela

- slit them

- Deseed them

- put lots of turmeric and salt

karelas with turmeric and salt

karela with slits and salt smeared on the inside too

Take a pan and put two teaspoons of refined oil

Chop three onions and add to the oil

Spice plate having

half teaspoon full of salt

half teaspoon full of red chilli powder

half teaspoon full of cumin seeds

half teaspoon full of coriander powder

three teaspoon full of saunf powder [ Fennel Seed Powder ]

Meanwhile, on another burner spinach was being boiled. We would make something out of it too.

when the onions get translucent add teaspoon full of garlic paste and ginger paste

and add the spice plate

and bhuno the masala mix

add half a cup of tomato puree

and bhuno again

add six chopped green chillies

This is manually ground 510 gms of keema

add it to the mix

and bhuno

Wash the marinated karelas. See how much they have shrivelled and how much soft they have become

when the keema is done add chopped coriander

meanwhile our spinach too has boiled and reduced 

the keema is done and is ready to be stuffed into the karelas

Stuff the karelas

and tie a thread to each karela

Now take the pan again and put two teaspoon fulls of refined oil

and add the tied karelas to the oil

stir fry them in open for about 6-7 minutes

cover the karelas and let them simmer in dum on a low flame for some 20 minutes. Stirring them once in while

This is your beauty

Remove the threads and plate them

Enjoy with roti or tandoori roti

keema karela recipe

Try mutton mince with bitter gourd – unusual, but you will love it!

Cooking Time:-  10-12 minutes
Servings:-  4 Preparation
Time:  10-15 minutes
Category:  Non Veg

 Ingredients:-

•Mutton mince (keema) 2 cups
•Bitter gourd (karela) 5
•Salt to taste
•Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
•Oil 5 tablespoons
•Onions 4 medium
•Caraway seeds (shahi jeera) 1 teaspoon
•Ginger-garlic paste 1 tablespoon
•Tomato,pureed 3 - 4 medium
•Red chilli powder 1 3/4 teaspoons
•Amchur powder 1 teaspoon
•Garam masala powder 3/4 teaspoon
•Fresh mint leaves a few
•Green chillies 3
•Chaat masala a pinch
•Juice of 1 lemon

Method:-

Scrape the karelas, slit them and place them in a bowl. Add salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder, mix and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.

Place mutton mince in another bowl and add 1 cup water and mix.

Heat 2 tbsps oil in a non stick pan. Finely chop 2 onions.
Add caraway seeds and onions to the hot oil and sauté for a minute. Add ginger-garlic paste and 2-3 tbsps water and sauté till fragrant.

Add tomato puree and sauté for a minute. Add 1½ tsps red chilli powder, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp dried mango powder, ½ garam masala powder and sauté till oil separates.

Add the mutton mince and sauté.Wash the karelas thoroughly and wipe them with a tissue paper.

Chop mint leaves and add to the pan. Add salt and mix.
Stuff the karelas with some of the mince mixture and tie them with a thread.

Heat remaining oil in another non stick pan. Add the stuffed karelas to it.Roughly chop remaining onions and slit green chillies.Cover and cook karelas, stirring at regular intervals.

When the karelas are cooked, add onions, green chillies and mix. Add the remaining dried mango powder, chaat masala, remaining red chilli powder, lemon juice and remaining garam masala powder. Cover and cook again on low heat for 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the remaining mutton mince mixture into a serving bowl. Untie the karelas and place them on the mince. Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Stuffed Karela (Bitter Melon) sabji

Stuffed karela makes a great side dish to any meal. Karelas have many health benefits including  a home remedy for diabetes.

Stuffed Karela (Bitter Melon) racipe by manjula

Recipe will serve 4 to 6.

Ingredients:-

For the Marinate:

4 bitter melon (karela)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the Filling:

2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
2 tablespoons gram flour (besan)
2 tablespoons coriander powder (dhania)
1 tablespoon fennel seeds powder (saunf)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
1 1/2 tablespoon mango powder (amchoor)
For Cooking Step:

2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Also need some thread to wrap the filled karelas before cooking.

Method:-

Preparing the Kerala

Wash karelas thoroughly and using a knife, scrape the skin. Set the scrapes aside.
Make a slit in the karelas length wise and remove the seeds.
Add karelas and the skin scrapings to a bowl. Mix and sprinkle with salt and lemon juice. Let it marinate for at least an hour.
Squeeze the karelas to remove all the marinade. Wash karelas twice with hot water and then squeeze out all the water.
Separate the scrapings from the whole karelas.
Preparing the Filling:

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if the seed cracks right away, the oil is ready.
Add the cumin seeds and asafetida to the oil. After the cumin seeds crack, add the karela scrapings and stir fry for about 2 minutes.
Add gram flour (besan) and stir-fry for another minute.
Add all the remaining dry spices: coriander powder, fennel powder, turmeric, chili powder, and mango powder. Sauté for a minute and then turn off the heat.
Stuff the split karelas with this spice mixture (there should be some spice mix remaining, which will be used later). Tie the karelas with a thread so that the stuffing does not come out while cooking.
Cooking the Stuffed karelas:

Add 2 tablespoons of oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Spread the stuffed karelas in the pan and sprinkle with salt. Cover the pan and let it cook for about 2 minutes.
Turn the karelas over to the uncooked side and cook for about 1 minute. Repeat until all four sides of the karelas are cooked.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water and the remaining spice mixture over the karelas. Cover the pan and let it cook for 2 more minutes.
Remove the lid to see if the karelas are tender. Gently turn them over a few more times, making sure they are covered with the spice mixture.
Stuffed karela can be served hot or cold and can be refrigerated up to a week.
Variations

For a slightly sweeter taste add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the cooked spice filling, prior to stuffing the karela.

Crispy Karela sabji

Crunchy fried bitter gourds (karela) tossed with jaggery, poppy seeds and cashewnuts. This recipe tastes superb when served immediately after it is made. It is a great accompaniment for kadhi-chawal.

Preparation Time: 20 mins.
Cooking Time: 30 mins.
Serves 4. 
Show me for   servings  


Ingredients:-

2 1/2 cups sliced bitter gourd (karela)
1/4 cup grated jaggery (gur)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 tbsp broken cashewnuts (kaju)
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds (khus-khus)
1/2 tsp sesame seeds (til)
1 tbsp raisins (kismis)
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Other ingredients
oil for deep-frying

Method:-

Peel and slice the bitter gourd and apply salt over them. Cover and allow them to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain out the liquid and discard.
Dissolve the jaggery in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and keep aside.
Deep fry the bitter gourd slices in hot oil till they are crisp and golden brown. Drain and keep aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and the turmeric powder.
Add the cashewnuts and fry till they are lightly browned. Then add the poppy seeds, sesame seeds and raisins.
Add the jaggery solution and allow it to cook for 4 to 5 minutes till it thickens. Lower the flame, mix the fried bitter gourd slices into the jaggery mixture and cook until the karlea slices are dry.
Transfer onto a plate and allow to cool slightly. Serve when the bitter gourd slices are crisp.

Tips:-

Save the peel of the karela to make karela theplas, just as we make mehti theplas.

Karela (Bitter gourd) & Onion Subzi Recipe

Karela or Bitter Gourd is exactly as the name suggests – bitter. Despite it’s bitterness and when made well, it is a very enjoyable dish. Karela is also known for it’s health benefits – good for liver, skin, cleanses blood amongst others. Enjoy our version with a dash of tartness and a hint of sweet, just enough to make you forget you are eating and enjoying Karela or Bitter Gourd!

Karela (Bitter gourd) & Onion Subzi Recipe

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Serves: 6 – 8

Ingredients:-

Bitter gourd / Karela – 2lbs (approx 1kg)
Onions – 4 small, sliced
Oil – 2 tbsp
Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Fennel Seed Powder – 1 tbsp
Lime Juice – 2 tbsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp or to taste

Method:-

1. Prep the Karela by washing, removing the seeds and cutting it.
2. In a large wok, heat the Oil on medium heat.
3. Add the Fennel Seeds and cook for 30 seconds and then add in Turmeric Powder and mix.
4. Add in the Onions and Salt and mix. Allow the Onions to brown and get a caramelized about 10-12 minutes. Stir frequently.
5. Add in the Bitter Gourd and a little more Salt, just for the Bitter Gourd. Mix.
6. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring in between.
7. Once the Karela has cooked, add Fennel Seed Powder, Lemon or Lime Juice and Sugar. Mix well.
8. Cook for another 5 minutes until all the flavors are mixed in well. Adjust seasoning if needed.
9. Serve hot with Chapatis, Rotis, Rice as a side dish.

Tips:-

1. Cut the Karela smaller if you prefer.
2. To reduce bitterness in the Karela:
- salt the cut Karela generously
- mix well and set aside for 15 min
- drain or squeeze out the liquid.