Stuffed Bitter Gourd Fry With Peanut Powder (Bharlela Kaarla)

I had eaten this yummy way of cooking Bitter Gourd (Karela) many years back at one of my friend's place. The spicy stuffing is sauteed abundantly with Peanut Powder (Daanyaachey Koot) and stuffed in the parboiled Gourds. The Gourds have occasional bites of Peanut which is a highlight of this recipe. Go easy on oil else you will not enjoy the real flavour of this recipe. The taste of this recipe is an acquired one; however I enjoy the flavour of Gourd cooked in this fashion. Pass it off if you are not friendly with this gourd. Use tender Bitter Gourds for best results.

~ Bharlela Kaarla ~

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd Melon (small to medium size) - 2-3

Onion (chopped) - 1 cup

Peanut powder (coarse) - Daanyachey Koot - 1/3 cup

Turmeric powder - Just a pinch

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Green Chillies (split) - 1

Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil

Salt

Kitchen Thread - 1 metre

Method:

Wash the gourds and scoop off the inner membranes and seeds. Do not discard the inner membranes, keep them aside. Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder all over the Gourd and keep them aside for 10 minutes. You could also par boil them in water and then keep aside. Since the gourds I used were tender, I skipped this step.

In a deep sauce pan, heat few spoons of oil, add cumin seeds and once they proliferate, add onions, green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and sweat them in oil. Allow the onions to get charred, add the spice powders and adjust salt. Add Peanut powder now and give a good stir. Cook on low to medium flame all the time else your spices could burn off. Once the mixture becomes an even consistency, turn off the flame and allow the stuffing to cool. Stuff the Gourds one by one. Tie them with a kitchen thread to prevent them from oozing the stuffing out. In the same pan previously used, heat oil and fry the gourds together. You could also add rest of the stuffing masala on the side and cook it along. The Gourds will get seared on all sides. This will take around 3-5 minutes. Once that's done, add 1 cup of water and cover with a lid. Steam cook till the gourds are completely cooked. Garnish with some peanut powder on top. Serve with the seared masala and steam cooked rice. Chop them into blocks or serve them as they are.