Kakarakaya Kura

Kakarakaya kura is an Indian stir fry prepared sauteing bitter gourd along with lots of onion, tomatoes and Indian spices. Goes well with rice.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian Cuisine, Telugu Cuisine

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Servings

Calories 178kcal

Author usha

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.

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.