Finely chopped kakarakaya sautéed with onion, tomatoes and some sugar or jaggery is a must try kakarakaya kura aka bitter gourd fry recipe.
People have a love hate relationship with bitter gourds and I am the former. Bitter gourd is karela in Hindi and kakarakaya in Telugu. It is a bitter vegetable. The way the vegetable is cooked cuts down the degree of bitterness and tastes delicious.
Kakarakaya recipes I usually make at home are baked bitter gourd chips and kakarakaya pesaru pappu kura, apart from today's kakarakaya curry.
This post was originally published in July 2010. It is republished with new images and content.
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About the recipe
Today's bitter gourd fry is my mom’s recipe, which she got from one of my aunts and then modified it to her liking. Cut bitter gourd into small pieces or coarsely chop in a food processor, marinate the pieces with salt & turmeric, and then squeeze the pieces to extract the juices to cut down the bitterness.
Then saute bitter gourd in lots of onion, tomatoes and basic spices. Sourness from tomatoes cuts down the bitterness of the vegetable and addition of a sweetener further reduces the bitterness. Give this kakarakaya curry or karela ki sabji a try.
Remove bitterness in karela
- To reduce bitterness, cut bitter gourd into desired size, marinate with salt and keep side for at least 15 minutes. Then squeeze the pieces between your palms to extract the juices. Then rinse the pieces in water or you can use as is. This works for today's recipe and in recipes where karela is chopped or cut into thin slices.
- Pre-cook karela pieces with some salt, turmeric and buttermilk or curd. You can replace buttermilk with tamarind. This tip works best for curries where karela is cut into 1" or longer pieces such as pulusu and masala curries.
- Shallow fry or deep fry karela pieces before preparing the curry. Again, this tip works great in recipes where karela is thinly sliced or cut into big chunks like in masala curries and pulusu.
- If you do not have time to follow any of the above tips, to reduce bitterness of bitter gourd, fry the pieces a little longer when preparing a stir fry and also cook with lots of tomatoes or tamarind. This tip works great in today's kakarakaya kura recipe.
Ingredients
- Bitter gourd (melon) - use Indian or the Chinese bitter melons. Indian bitter melons are horny unlike the Chinese ones and are darker in color. I like Indian bitter melons and prefer using these although they are bitter than the Chinese ones.
- Try to pick Indian bitter melons that are in a lighter shade of green. Dark green gourds are usually the bitterest melons.
- Onion - use a decent amount of chopped onion to balance the bitterness of kakarkaya.
- Tomatoes - are one of the key ingredients in this recipe to cut down the bitterness. If you want to skip tomatoes , add some tamarind concentrate or freshly extracted tamarind pulp. Sour and tangy tomatoes and tamarind reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd.
- Oil - be a little liberal with oil. Frying or sautéing the vegetable a little longer also reduces the bitterness of the gourd. If you reduce the oil quantity, cook on low flame for a longer period of time.
- Brown sugar / Jaggery - use jaggery or brown sugar to balance the bitterness of the karela. White sugar also works just fine.
- Other ingredients - curry leaves, chilies, crushed garlic, coriander powder, green chilies salt and turmeric.
For detailed recipe along with ingredient measures, check the recipe card below.
Instructions
For this karela fry, you need to finely chop karela. I either chop or use a food processor to cut karela into small pieces. Depending on how ripe the karela is, I either keep or discard the seeds and the white fibrous flesh.
When using a food processor, cut karela into 1” cubes and then run it in a food processor for few seconds. Be mindful, just an extra pulse could result in grated karela, which we do not want. You can also cut the karela into small pieces using a knife, which is what I prefer.
Optional step - to cut down the bitterness of kakarkaya, rub salt & turmeric powder to chopped kakarkaya. Leave it for at least 15-30 minutes and then extract the juices from the mixture. Squeeze the mixture between your palms to extract as much juice as possible. Now kakaykaya is ready to cook and keep aside until ready to use.
Step 1: Wash kakarakaya and cut it into small pieces using a knife. Or, take one inch pieces in a food processor, pulse it for 3-4 seconds until the pieces are coarse.
Step 2: (Optional) Rub salt and turmeric powder to karela pieces and keep aside for at least 15- 30 minutes. Then extract the juice by squeezing karela between your palms. Keep the kakarakaya aside until ready to use.
Step 3: Heat oil in a pan, pop cumin seeds, toast green chilies and curry leaves. Then saute onions, followed by garlic.
Step 4: Add coriander powder, chili powder, salt, turmeric and mix well. Then add tomatoes and cook for a minute or two until tomatoes are soft.
Step 5: Add kakarakaya pieces, mix well, cover and cook on medium flame for 8-10 minutes until the bitter gourd is tender. Keep stirring it in between.
Step 6: When the kakarakaya is tender, remove the cover, add jaggery or brown sugar and cook on low flame for 15 - 20 minutes until it is done.Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.
Serving & Storing
Serve kakarkaya kura with steamed rice or with roti. We prefer steamed rice. Serve it along with any other curry and pappu khut, pappu charu or rasam (chaaru).
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for 3-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop in a frying pan, before serving.
Tips
- When picking kakarakaya, pick the ones that are in a lighter shade of green. Dark green kakarakaya tend to be very bitter. Pick the ones that are a shade or two lighter than dark green.
- For this kakarakaya kura, when using a food processor , be careful not to chop the pieces too small. A finely grated bitter gourd takes a little longer to cook. So I prefer chopping with a knife but when pressed for time, the food process works just fine.
- To reduce bitterness , marinate bitter gourd pieces with salt and keep side for at least 15 minutes. Then squeeze the pieces between your palms to extract the juices. Then rinse the pieces in water or you can use as is.
- Another tip to reduce bitterness is to fry the pieces a little longer and also cook with tomatoes or tamarind.
- This tip doesn’t apply to this recipe but you can pre-cook karela with some salt and yogurt or tamarind.
FAQ
Cut karela into small pieces and keep it aside for at least 15 minutes. You can even add some salt to the pieces to release juices. After 15 minutes, squeeze karela pieces between your palms and discard the juice. Second, cooking karela with tomatoes, yogurt or tamarind also removes the bitterness.
Unripe bitter gourd seeds and the spongy pit are edible. When ripe, the seeds turn red and are a bit hard. You can discard these seeds and I personally like the seeds.
More Recipes
If you like kakarkaya, check these recipes below and couple of other recipes where the vegetable cooked by grating or finely chopping the vegetable.
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📖 Recipe
Kakarakaya Kura
Equipment
- 1 Knife & Cutting Board
- 1 10" nonstick frying pan
- 1 Spatula
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon Oil
- 4 Green Chilies cut lengthwise
- 1 medium sized Onion chopped ¾ cup
- 1 ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 tablespoon crushed Garlic
- 2 teaspoon Chili Powder adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 large Tomato chopped I used vine tomato little over 1 cup
- 3 cups finely chopped Bitter Melon 2 medium sized, around 360 grams
- 3 tablespoon Brown Sugar or jaggery
- Cilantro to garnish
- 2 teaspoon Roasted Peanut and/or Sesame Seeds Powder (optional)
Instructions
- Wash bitter melon and cut into small pieces. If the bitter melon is ripe, remove the seeds and white fibrous part, and then finely chop. You can also use a food processor. Cut bitter gourd into 1” pieces and process for 20 seconds until the pieces are more like a coarse grate.
- Optional - You can skip this step if pressed for time. Rub salt and turmeric powder to karela pieces and keep aside for at least 15- 30 minutes. Then extract the juice by squeezing karela between your palms. Keep the karela aside until ready to use.
- Heat oil in a pan, pop cumin seeds, toast green chilies and curry leaves.
- Then saute onions until soft, followed by crushed garlic.
- Add the spices; coriander powder, chili powder, salt and turmeric. Mix well.
- Then add tomatoes and cook for a minute or two until tomatoes are soft.
- Now add bitter melon, mix well, cover and cook on medium flame for 8-10 minutes until the bitter gourd is tender. Keep stirring it in between.
- When the gourd is tender, remove the cover, add jaggery or brown sugar and cook on low flame for 15 - 20 minutes until it is done.
- If the stir fry is bitter to your taste, add some roasted sesame and/or peanut powder few minutes before turning off the flame.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.
Notes
- Picking bitter melons - pick gourds that are in a lighter shade of green. Dark green bitter melons tend to be very bitter. Pick the ones that are a shade or two lighter than dark green.
- Food processor - when using a food processor to chop/coarsely grate karela, be mindful not to chop the pieces too small. A finely grated bitter gourd takes a little longer to cook and the kura tends to have a mushy texture. So I prefer chopping with a knife but when pressed for time, the food process works just fine.
- To reduce bitterness - marinate karela pieces with salt and keep side for at least 15 minutes. Then squeeze the pieces between your palms to extract the juices. Then rinse the pieces in water or you can use as is.
- Another tip to reduce bitterness is to fry the pieces a little longer and also cook with tomatoes or tamarind.
- If you still find the kura bitter to your taste, add some roasted sesame and/or peanut powder few minutes before turning off the flame.
- Nutrition - values mentioned below are approximate values.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in July 2010. It is republished with new images and content.
Radha says
I have never used yogurt in bittergourd curry. This recipe sounds very flavorful and I am trying this version soon.
Usha Rao says
We usually curd to cut down on the bitterness. I don't use it in this curry but when using bit pieces of karela, we first pre-cook karela pieces with some salt, turmeric and yogurt and then make the curry.
Srivalli says
I love this recipe Usha, it came out so good...My husband loves karela and he enjoyed this so much...your pictures surely tempts one to dish this out right away!
Pavani says
This was one of the best kakarakaya recipes I've ever made. Loved the use of tomatoes in here. Thank you for the tips to remove bitterness from kakarakaya.
Apu says
The bhaji looks great!! Would be wonderful with rotis.
Rice Palette says
My Spicy Kitchen: This looks great! I like how the "Source" is "Mom" 🙂 good post!
Deepa says
I like bittergourd..want to try it some day..