Food Talk
 Gourd bitter best

Considered good for purifying blood and great for bringing down blood sugar, a well-cooked bitter gourd can be relished as a delicacy as well, says Pushpesh Pant

THE bitter gourd, to mix metaphors, is not everyone’s cup of tea. Most are put off by its bitterness and submit to the karela recipes under duress of a doctor’s prescription.

It is considered good for purifying the blood and great for bringing down blood sugar. It is resorted to with jamun, neem and methi when the fear of the needle to inject the daily dose of insulin or the pill to be popped life long has to be combated.

We have always felt that this is the case of giving the dog a bad name and than condemning it.

Baked bharwan karele

Ingredients
Bitter gourd 250 gm
Ginger paste 2 tsp
Garlic paste 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter for basting

Filling
Paneer/hung yoghurt 100 gm
Peanuts 50 gm
Sesame seeds 1 tbsp
Onion (large, chopped) 1
Ginger (ground to a paste) 2 inch
Garam masala 1 tbsp
Green chillies (chopped) 2
Fresh coriander (chopped) 1 tbsp
Tamarind pulp extract 2 tbsp
Jaggery (crumbled) 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Tempering
Oil 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds ½ tsp
Mustard seeds ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds ½ tsp

Method
Wash, slit, rub, salt and set side the karela for one hour. Bring water to a boil, add salt, ginge r and garlic pastes and turmeric, add karela and blanch until soft. Drain and keep aside.

Ground peanuts, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and a roasted onion, to a paste. Blend the paneer/hung yoghurt, ginger, green chillies, coriander, jaggery, the garam masala and salt with the paste, mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan add cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds, fry until they splutter. Pour over the paste and mix well. Pre-heat the oven to 275°F.

Put an equal portion of the filling in each of the karela, arrange these in a greased roasting tray, with the open end up, cover with foil, punch a couple of holes in the foil and cook for 30 minutes, basting at regular intervals. Remove and uncover. Alternatively, pan grill the karela on a non-stick pan with just a thin film of oil on it.

We are certainly not advocating that karela be substituted for prescribed medicines but do urge that try out this vegetable.

It is not always unbearably bitter. We have enjoyed some very satisfying recipes that use karela.

The gifted chef, Satish Sibbal who belongs to the select club ‘chef de chef’ — those who are regularly called upon to cook for the heads of states — introduced us to an outstanding karela khurchan an impromptu delicacy prepared with miniscule quantities of leftover boneless chicken.

For once, Farouk Miyan’s bharwan dum ke karele laden with khoya studded with nuts and raisins, redolent of ittar felt heavy and unnecessarily rich in comparison.

One must confess though, that the unadorned karela do pyaza he treated us to at home appeared to be a close cousin of Sibbal’s khurchan.

The trick to master is to cut the vegetable fine — almost shredded — and cook it to perfection — neither crisply deep-fried, nor entirely retaining the crunch and the uncooked/ boiled ‘green’ look. It goes without saying that the karela must dominate this jugalbandi — chicken or paneer are merely the accompanists to set off its beauty. Great dish to improvise with.

We have also had a delightful "sweet n sour" alu karela curry but that does not count here as the imli, tomatoes and gur conspired meanly to totally overpower poor karela.

Another old favourite is the chooran ke karele from Hyderabad that lets you relish the karela with the tangy masala. Here is a recipe for baked bharwan karele that you can try without worrying about the tala bhuna stuff.

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