Khatta Meetha Stuffed Karela

I hate Karelas..... yes literally hate. But this one recipe was something which I love....inspite of it being made with karela.... The best part is... u cannot taste the bitterness atall..:)

I got this Idea from a college friend who used to get these in her dabba. I never bothered to taste it then because it was karela, but now when I think and see how much nutrients r there in karela.. we (me n R) r trying to get it into our food list..:) As we both hate it, I had to try some recipe which will make it easier for us to try it..:P


Hence came this recipe of Khatta meetha Karela...:)


Ingredients :


Karela / bitter gourd - 6 (ends cut , slit length wise and scooped out )
Onion - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Tomato - 1 1/2 cup finely choped
Ginger n garlic - 1 tsp finely chopped
Potato - 4 big boiled
Tamarind pulp - 1 bsp
Jaggery - 1 lemon size piece or 2 to 3 tbsp (depending on how sweet the jaggery is )
Salt to taste
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1tsp
Garama Masala - 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin coriander powder - 1 tsp
Oil - few tsps


Method :


1) Clean the karela and wash it under running water. Sprinkle about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt on the karelas and keep aside for 2-3 hrs. The karela will leave water.
2) Drain that water and rinse each karela well under running water. I dont like the bitter taste at all in the karela....atleast for my first try with it. This process will remove most of the bitterness from the karela..:) U can skip this if ur okie with the bitterness :d


3) Now for the filling. In a pan take some oil and add the ginger garlic paste. fry for 2 minutes and add the chopped onions.
4) When the onions r tender n pink add the tomato along with the red chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, chaat masala and coriander cumin powder. Mix well and let the tomato cook well and become pasty.

5) Now add the mashed potato and mix well. Let all the spices mix well into the Potato. Add salt to taste and amchoor powder. Remember u have salt in the karelas too so be careful not to over salt ur filling.


6) Add 1/4 cup of water to the tamrind pulp and mix well. Dissolve the jaggery in the tamarind juice and mix well. I used powdered jaggery which was easy to dissolve..:)
7) pour this mixture over ur filling and give a final stir. Mix well and ur filling is ready now..:)
taste it and add more amchoor or red chilli powder as needed.


8) Now comes the assembly and cooking. Stuff this filling inside the slit karelas. If ur karelas r sleek they will hold the filling well. Mine weren't holding the filling so I tied it with a thin thread. This helped the filling from not coming out when cooking.




9) Now u can either steam this in a pressure cooker or shallow fry it in a pan or Tava. I went for the option 2. Fry the karela till its crisp and dark brown spot appear on it..:) Your Khattha Meetha Karela is ready to be savoured..:D

10) If u have any leftover filling add it to a pan and pour 1/3 cup of water to it. make it like a gravy and add the fried karelas to it. It will become Bharva karela curry :D.


Enjoy it the way u want..:d. We loved it :)