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Monday, July 16, 2007

Instant Bitter Gourd Pickle ~ Kakarakaya Pachchadi

Before moving on to today's recipe, let me tell you the name of the green vegetable that I asked you to guess in my previous post. Capsicum got the most votes and keeping JFI - chillies in view, some even suggested green chillies. Only Suganya and anonymous (I know it is you, Deepthi) mentioned the veggie along with their other choices of guesswork. Lakshmi went with the Chinese one.
The answer is Indian Bitter Gourd / Kakarakaya / Karela. The idea of playing the guessing game occured to me after seeing the picture and when even my husband guessed the veggie as ridgegourd. It didn't look like karela (except when you paid attention to certain pieces) at any angle and to prove that I didn't scrape the ridges, here are the chopped karela in a bowl, which I used to make this pickle.
Here is a recipe for all bitter gourd lovers and diabetics. It is really a simple preparation and tasted good really the next day.
So far tested shelf life of this pickle is a week, refrigerated.

You need:
Finely chopped Indian bitter gourd, seeds removed - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1&1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 3 or 4 (Can be chopped fine or slit lengthwise)
Juice extracted from two small limes (Or lemons)
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - Few pinches

Preparing the pickle:
Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and asafoetida. When mustard seeds start to splutter, turn off the stove. Let the mustard seeds cool.
To a bowl add chopped bittergourd, salt, green chillies, turmeric powder and lemon / lime juice. Add the mustard seed mixture. Mix well and let it sit for a couple of hours before serving.

12 comments:

Suganya said...

Yay! I got it right. I saw those seeds in that pic. How is the bitterness level after sitting for 2 hrs?

FH said...

See!! I told you I will NEVER win at any guessing game EVER in ANY blog!:D
I make Hagalkai palya.Arvind loves it but I can manage few bites.Looks great.Enjoy the bitter one!:))

Sharmi said...

doctors prefer such kind of pickle is good for diabetes. very nice one infact. My Dad and granddad eats it this way.

Suma Gandlur said...

Oh, you could locate the seeds. Then you have good eyes. I removed most of them.
Bitterness gets reduced after a while and you would not notice it that much, if you ARE a bitter gourd eater. :)

Suma Gandlur said...

Asha,
:) Even I would not have guessed it right with this picture.

Sharmi,
True, It is really good for diabetics.

DEEPA said...

I could have never gussed it right .I would have been wrong for sure ..But this one is a healthy pickle....Nice one

Shivapriya said...

WOW Suma. I never tried pickle with karela. I make curry and pulusu with it.

Neelam said...

Hey, never tried Karela Pickle before..I like karela though! Thanks for sharing!

Sia said...

but there r green chillies too;) he he he...so my guess is also almost right;)

Suma Gandlur said...

Sia,
Yup.. You were right in away too.

marriedtoadesi.com said...

Boy, I wish I had a taste test of this one. Looks really fresh and tasty.

Kanchana
ps. I've added you to my blog links...will keep returning!

SeeC said...

I love bittergourd. My whenever I prepare the bitterness stays and not everyone at home likes it (am an exception.) Should try this way sometime.