Mom's Favourite: Bitter Gourd Curry

By Ramya MN

If there is one recipe that I would like to share for Mother's day it would be my mom's special bitter gourd curry. This recipe is one of my personal favourites. My mom introduced me to this delicious recipe through her magical preparation and I realised that bitter gourd can actually taste so good. This bitter gourd curry is cooked with such unique mix and match of ingredients that the bitter taste completely goes off.

Mom's Favourite: Bitter Gourd Curry

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs. Gayathri

The tangy taste of this bitter gourd curry due to tamarind and jaggery makes it mouthwatering. You can cook this recipe for your mom on this Mother's day. I am sure she will be totally surprised by this preparation. So, check out the recipe and give it a try.

Serves: 3-4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • Bitter Gourd-1.5 cups (chopped coarsely)
  • Tamarind- Sphere of 2 inch diameter soaked in one cup of water
  • Jaggery- 1 ½ tbsp
  • Salt-1 tsp
  • Water-1 cup (250 ml)

For Masala Paste

  • Dry Coconut- 2tbsp (grated)
  • Dry red chillies- 5
  • Urad Dal / Black gram split lentil- 1tbsp
  • White Poppy seeds- 1tsp
  • Water- 1/4 cup

Seasoning

  • Vegetable Oil- 3tsp
  • Mustard Seeds- 1/2tsp
  • Urad Dal / Black gram split lentil- 1/2tsp
  • Curry Leaves- 1-2 twigs

Procedure

  1. Soak the chopped bitter gourd in turmeric water for 10 minutes.
  2. Dry roast dry red chillies and urad dal on medium flame for about a minute. Set it aside for sometime to cool.
  3. Dry roast poppy seeds on low flame for a few seconds. Keep it aside to cool.
  4. Grind these roasted ingredients, i.e. dry red chillies, poppy seeds, urad dal along with coconut to a fine paste by adding 1/4 cup of water.
  5. Heat vegetable oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it .Wait for the seeds to crackle.
  6. Then add urad dal, curry leaves and fry for about a minute.
  7. Now add the chopped bitter gourd, and stir fry the pieces for about 10 minutes on medium flame.
  8. Extract the pulp from the soaked tamarind with your hand and add this to the stir fried bitter gourd. Cook on medium flame for 15-20 minutes.
  9. After the bitter gourd pieces get cooked, add the ground masala paste, jaggery and salt. Mix well and continue to stir the curry for 5 more minutes.
  10. Once done, switch off the flame and serve with steamed rice.

Here goes your bitter gourd curry. Serve it hot and make this Mothers day special for your mom.