Andhra Pradesh

Kakarakaya pulusu

Name: Kakarakaya pulusu
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Andhra
Ingredients: 3 medium bitter gourd (bitter melon); Salt, to taste; 1/2 tsp turmeric (ground turmeric); 1 large sliced onion; 2 slit green chilli; 3 cloves crushed garlic; a large lemon sized ball tamarind; 2 1/2 tbsp grated jaggery; 2 tsp red chilli powder (indian red chili powder); 1 tbsp rice flour; 2 1/2 tbsp cooking oil (vegetable oil); 1/2 tsp mustard seeds; a few seeds fenugreek seeds; 1/2 tsp cumin seeds; 2 dried red chilli; 1 sprig curry leaves; Water, about 1 2/3 cups

Bitter gourd in a sweet sour tamarind gravy. The one that converts karela sceptics.

45 minTime

2 gProtein each

mediumSpice

Bitter, sour, sweet3 chapters · 2 min read

Make it your way

Grandma's wayThe original. Handle with reverence.

The original

181kcal

2 gprotein

4 gfibre

45minutes

Per serving, worked out from the ingredient table. Grandma's way is the starting point the other versions are compared with.

Ingredients

Bitter gourd (bitter melon)3 medium

Saltto taste

Turmeric (ground turmeric)½ tsp

Onion1 large, sliced

Green chilli2, slit

Garlic3 cloves, crushed

Tamarinda large lemon sized ball

Jaggery2½ tbsp, grated

Red chilli powder (indian red chili powder)2 tsp

Rice flour1 tbsp

Cooking oil (vegetable oil)2½ tbsp

Mustard seeds½ tsp

Fenugreek seedsa few seeds

Cumin seeds½ tsp

Dried red chilli2

Curry leaves1 sprig

Waterabout 1 2/3 cups

Method

6 steps

1Slice the bitter gourd into thin rounds, removing hard seeds. Rub with a little salt and turmeric and leave for 15 minutes, then squeeze out the juice.
2Soak the tamarind in warm water and squeeze out the extract, making it up to the full amount of water.
3Heat the oil, fry the squeezed bitter gourd on medium until the edges brown. Push aside, add mustard, fenugreek, cumin, red chillies and curry leaves, then the onion, garlic and green chilli.
4Add the remaining turmeric, chilli powder, tamarind water, jaggery and salt. Simmer on medium until the gourd is soft.
5Whisk the rice flour with a little water and stir it in. Simmer until the gravy thickens and oil rises to the top.
6Rest for 30 minutes if you can, then serve with hot rice.

Serve it like this

Serve in a small bowl beside hot rice with a spoon of ghee.

Bloom picks tonight's dinner for your diet and allergies, then cooks it with you step by step.

Kakarakaya pulusu

Make it your way

Ingredients

Method

Make it a meal