A Bong's Kitchen

Karela (bitter gourd) or "Ucche" as we Bengalis call it, is probably the most hated vegetable, almost everyone dislikes it for its bitter taste. But ucches are good for our health, they have great nutritional values and vitamins and in fact because of its bitterness, it helps a lot in purifying our blood of all toxins. Moreover there are ways to make the bitter gourd more palatable. We Bengalis often make Uchhe-alur chorchori (bitter gourd stir fried with sliced potatoes), or else like the north-Indians, we also sometimes stuff them with varied fillings. Sometimes we even fill the ucches with spiced mashed potatoes or chenna or even with chicken keema or fish keema! They taste very well.

Ingredients :

Ucche or Bitter gourd - 6-8 pieces
Besan (bengal gram flour) - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1 medium sized
Amchur powder - 1 tbsp
Chili powder - 1 pinch
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds (saunf) - a pinch
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt
Sugar or Jaggery
Mustard oil - 2 tbsps
Refined Oil - 2  tbsp
Coriander leaves - finely chopped, about 1 tbsp

Method :

Make slits in the bitter-gourds from one side and de-seed them (but don't throw them away, they will be used in the stuffing mixture). In a deep bottomed pan, heat some refined oil and add cumin seeds and the chopped onions. Saute them until the onions turn golden brown. Now add the besan flour and turmeric powder into the pan and fry for some more time till a nice aroma starts coming. Now add chili powder and garlic-ginger paste and stir nicely. Now add bitter-gourd seeds and mixing nicely, let the stuffing mixture to cook for a few minutes. Then add the amchur powder, coriander leaves and small amount of jaggery or sugar and saute over low heat for some more time. Our stuffing mixture will be ready in about 5-6 minutes. This cooked mixture will then be filled into each ucche (bitter gourd) piece and then will be tied tightly with a thin thread so that the mixture doesn't come out at the time of cooking. Again taking the mustard oil in a wok, these ucche pieces are to be shallow fried over medium flame until they get cooked fully. These stuffed karelas or ucches can be served as side dish with bhaat or even can be eaten with hot chapatis.