This recipe of karare karele from the celebrity chef Vikas Khanna is so mind-blowing that it even made a karela-hater i.e. me fall in love with this super healthy veggie!
Karela i.e. bitter gourd carries a lot of health benefit and that is quite an established fact; but nothing could make me eat this bitter veggie. I could never come to convince myself to eat something which is so bitter in taste until I discovered this karare karele recipe by chef Vikas Khanna.
This dish truly turned me over and now I am an avid fan of karela or karare karele to be specific. I found this recipe of karare karele in Vikas Khanna’s book ‘My Great India Cookbook’ and it particularly drew my attention as I felt that this recipe can even make karela tasty.
But since I was never a big fan of karela, this could never top my to-do list until a friend of mine mentioned one day that she loves karela! This was enough to motivate me and prepare Vikas Khanna’s karare karele the very next day.
I was happy that she loved it immensely and keeps complementing me till today. Now once I publish this karare karele recipe, she will also know how easy it was! 😉 Let’s not waste any more time and go straight to the karare karele recipe!
- Karela(bitter gourd) – 4, large
- Onion – 1, large, finely sliced
- Freshly grated coconut – 1 & ½ tbsp
- Rice flour – 2 & ½ tbsp
- Red chilli powder – ¾ th tsp
- Fresh curry leaves – 2 medium sprigs
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
- Wash bitter gourds thoroughly and pat dry. Cut very thinly into discs and remove any bigger seeds.
- Spread gourd slices on a large plate and sprinkle salt over them. Mix well and set aside for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, squeeze gourds well and pat dry with a kitchen towel. This step is essential to make the fried gourds crispy. Sprinkle with rice flour and toss well.
- Heat oil in a deep-frying wok over medium-high heat till it just starts to smoke. Add gourd slices in small batches and deep fry till golden and crisp. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.
- Sprinkle the chilli powder over the fried gourd slices and toss well. Set aside.
- Now heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add curry leaves, sliced onion and grated coconut. Sauté till curry leaves turn crisp and onions are light golden.
- Toss these crispy karela chips with the prepared gourd slices and mix well. Serve hot. Enjoy!
Delicious especially adding a little sprinkle of sugar takes it to another level!!!
Yeah! We love it a lot too! 🙂