23 Jun Aachari Karela
Pickled Bitter Gourd
Travelling on business is a great way to sample regional cuisines. Local dishes, quaint preferences, small eateries, are what make India such a great place to travel in.
Many a time though, I’d be travelling with Mr.K.C.Jain, who’s a stickler for home-cooked food, and a basketful of tiffin-carriers, dry-fruit, 7 pm ‘chakhna’, and assorted snacks would travel with us. At first, I was put down by the prospect of a pot-luck in a hotel room, and then, the boxes opened.
This is a simple enough dish, one of the many that carry Mrs.Jain’s signature. It’s an explosion of flavours though, and I have made it a point thereafter to request for a boxful whenever the next outstation case was scheduled.
I feel we don’t quite do enough of simple Indian cooking nowadays, and tend to not rate it quite as highly as we should. Try it for yourself, as a vegetable-dish / pickle. My experience is, it looks like a pickle, but vanishes from the table like a vegetable dish.
INGREDIENTS – 4 PAX
Karela (Bitter Gourd) – 400 gm, chopped into finger-sized pieces after scratching off the crust. Keep both, remove seeds.
Mustard Oil – 0.4 cup (I used a lot less because of the diet & stuff, which is probably why my dish is somewhat anaemic in the picture.
Whole Spices – Asafoetida (o.3 tsp), Jeera (1 tbsp), Saunf (1 tbsp), Dhania Seeds (1.5 tbsp).
Spices – Amchur (1 tsp), Salt (1 tsp + 1 tsp), Mirchi Powder (0.5 tsp), Sugar (1 tsp).
PROCESS
PREP – Skin & chop Karela. Rub both with 1 tsp salt, keep overnight.
COOK – (1) Parboil the Karela in water till al-dente, with sugar. Don’t overcook. Slightly underdone is better than slightly overdone. Karela should be crunchy. (2) Strain, remove water. (3) Take a deep pan, add Mustard Oil. Allow it to smoke. Once done, reduce flame, pour in whole spices, allow them to sizzle. (4) Mix in parboiled Karela, add Spices (sugar already added earlier). Cook 5 minutes or so, till flavours mix, and Karela begins to crispen.
Remove, serve cold.
I’m told batches of boiled Karela can be cooked on different days, depending on the quantity required. My own experience however is, that a group of four foodies will knock this much Karela off, no worries.
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