Stuffed Bitter Gourd / Bharwan Karela

It's almost two weeks break from blogging and I am feeling very lazy to write anything new. But at the same time I want to share this wonderful recipe with you which I believe is the favorite for very few people. :-) Can you guess the vegetable??? It is the Bitter gourd and I just love to eat it. 

This recipe includes stuffing of spices inside the bitter gourd and shallow fry with very less oil. This is similar to the Stuffed Bhindi Recipe with little variations. By this method you can reduce the bitterness of the vegetable and many non-bitter gourd lovers will also love this recipe.

Before filling the spices you have to scrap off the upper skin of Bitter gourd/Karela with a peeler/knife. Clean properly with water and rub some salt and keep it aside. This will reduce the bitterness from the vegetable.

The ingredients required for stuffing is as below.

Karela/Bitter gourd - 4

Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 3 tsp

Amchoor Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala - 2 tsp

Salt - As required

Twine / Thread - To tie the karela

Onion - 1 Medium

Ajwain - 1 tsp (Optional)

Oil - For frying

Heat oil in a pan and add ajwain seeds and let it splutter. Chop the onions add to the pan and saute till brown in color. 

Mix all the above powders in a wide bowl and add them to the fried onion and saute for two minutes. Grind it in a mixer to get a smooth paste; this step is optional, you can use the mix without grinding also.

Take the karela and slit each one vertically without breaking or cutting into two halves. Now with a spoon, scoop out the seeds and make space for the filling. Take spoon full of the above prepared onion and spices mixture and fill inside the karelas.

Now tie the karelas tightly with a thread to avoid the masala's coming out while pan frying. Repeat the steps and fill all the karelas.

Heat a wide pan with little oil and arrange the stuffed karelas on it. Shallow fry both the sides till the karela become brown or dark in color.

Serve hot with chapathi/Parata. Don't forget to remove the thread before having the tasty stuffed karela.