Food talk
 Have a gourd day

Dahi-imli ke karele is easy to prepare and particularly suitable for inclusion
in the summer menu, writes Pushpesh Pant 

TO mix metaphors, bitter gourds are not everyone’s cup of tea. Some can’t stand the vegetable even when sweetened with gur or served in an exotic dum avatar in Hyderabad or Awadh. That’s the reason we are often left pining for the beautiful bitters. We have talked in past about chooranwale bharwan karele and khurchan enriched with desi chicken salad or keema and have a pronounced weakness for the bhaja the way our Bengali friends dish it out but what really surprised us recently is a take off on the dakshini delight of all places in a Punjabi host’s kitchen.`A0To be honest, we don’t think any tradition loving Iyer or Iyengar or Chettiyar or Nadar will own up this recipe but we are not complaining. It is different, easy to prepare and particularly suitable for inclusion in the summer menu. It does use typically south Indian ingredients and is satisfying to eat. The bitter taste is`A0pleasantly perceptible and even if you are not fond of this rasa, rest assured even a small morsel will do you a lot of good. Bitter does have time-tested cleansing properties and some doctors are not shy of admitting that it may have beneficial effects in patients of diabetes. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can dispense with prescribed medicines.

Dahi-imli ke karele

Ingredients

Karela (tender, thin and fresh) 500 gm

Dahi 200 ml

Sambar masala 2 tsp

Imli extract 1 tsp

Gur (crumbled) 1 tbsp

A small pinch of hing

Refined oil 2-3 tbsp

Salt to taste

Tempering (optional)

Mustard seeds ½ tsp

Whole dried red chillies two

A small bunch of curry leaves

Method
 Scrape to remove the skin from karela. Wash well and cut into small pieces after removing the core. Whisk the dahi well and blend the samabar powder in it. Heat oil in a saucepan and dissolve the hing in it. Reduce heat to medium. Add the karela pieces and stir-fry for about two minutes. Then sprinkle the gur and imli extract, along with the salt and `BC cup of water. Keep cooking till all moisture evaporates, remove the pan from heat and slowly add dahi stirring constantly to avoid curdling. `A0Replace on low flame and simmer till done to taste. Add a little hot water if a thinner gravy is preferred. Add the tempering for the ‘authentic’ Madrasi touch.





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