Long back, Manoj had asked me to post this recipe. He had asked for “karathe puddi sagle”, which looks like a dish from South Kanara(I am not sure though). One thing which came to my mind when I read his mail was the traditional dish with bittergourd called as Karathe sukke. (Karathe – bittergourd, Sukke – sidedish with coconut, where coconut masala is cooked till it becomes almost dry).
Since I had this hatred about bittergourd, I had never tried any dishes with it. Manoj’s mail inspired me to try it. I had seen bitter melons in chinese store, but had never tried them. Few days back, when I went to Indian store, I found some bittergourds there. I bought the smallest one. Can you beleive it? I prepared three dishes with it( karathe fry , karathe sukke and karathe pickle, which I am going to post soon) thinking I might have to waste them if we both din’t like it. BUT….to my surprise, we just loved all the dishes. Now every time I go to Chinese store (Indian store is very far, so I am managing with the Chinese store which is easily accessible to me), I make sure to buy the bitter melons :D.
This dish has a sweetish, spicy taste to it. Give it a try, and I am sure you will start liking bittergourd.
Ingredients: Bittergourd(Karathe – cut into small pieces) 1 cup Onion 1/2 cup Coconut 3/4 cup Jaggery 1 tea spn Red chillies 4-5 Coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn Urad daal 1/2 tea spn Tamarind 1/4 tea spn Oil 1 tea spn Salt
Method: Add salt to bittergourd pieces and keep it aside for 1/2 hour. Sqeeze out the water (this step is done to remove the bitterness). Heat oil and fry coriander seeds and urad daal. Grind with coconut, jaggery, chillies and tamarind (do not make the masala too watery). Heat oil and fry onion till they turn slightly brownish. Add bittergourd. Add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook for 7-8mins. Add the ground masala (since bittergourd retains some salt, check for salt and if required, add salt). Serve as a side dish with rice.
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 20mins
This is a snack or I can say chaat item. Until today, I haven’t seen it anywhere else. My maternal grandmother used to prepare this. It was everybody’s favourite at home. Then my aayi and pachi(mom’s sister) started making it. It is usually prepared for evening snack, but pachi serves this with bread for breakfast.
When I read about JFI for dal event at Sailu’s food , I thought this would be the best contribution from me. It is made of moong dal or toor dal (authentic recipe calls for moong dal ). The bhaji is like ‘ sambar ‘, with a very different taste. While serving, add sev to it (around 1 and 1/2 cups bhaji to 1 cup sev ). The sev should be completely immersed in bhaji . Squeeze some lemon juice and enjoy.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup moong dal (or toor dal ) 1/2 cup potato(cut into small pieces) 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1/4 tea spn methi (fenugreek) seeds 4-5 cloves 1″ piece cinammon 1/2 tea spn chili powder A pinch asafoetida A pinch turmeric Lemon Salt 3 cups sev
It tastes great when the bhaji is spicy. So increase the spice if your taste buds can tolerate it :).
Method: Cook dal with potato, onions and turmeric. Roast (without oil) methi seeds, asafoetida, cloves and cinnamon. Take out and powder them. When the vessel (used for frying) is still hot, add chilli powder (do not fry the chili powder, just use the hot vessel to warm it a bit). Add the powders, around 1 and 1/2 cups water, salt and crushed garlic to cooked dal mixture. Cook for 7-8minutes. While eating, add sev (around 1 and 1/2 cups of bhaji to 1 cup sev ), squeeze some lemon juice. (do not keep for long after mixing sev. Sev should be still crunchy while eating, to get better taste).
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 15mins
