Have Karela also gone Nuts!

Published: Dec 5, 2007 · Modified: Mar 11, 2022 by Srivalli · 21 Comments

Its not every day that I eat a Karela. Infact I never. Somehow I have not got myself eat this vegetable. But sometime soon I got to get used to this. The fact remains that I have got to be an example, if not a role model for my kids. God help me if I ever got to be one. I really hope my kids take either their grandparents or their father for one! But tackling a kid and trying to make her understand that these are good for her is seriously a tough job. So I have to first be doing it before I tell her to either eat it or some behavioral thing. So I have got over my toughest battles of eating those vegetables that I never used to eat as a kid myself. Bitter gourd is the lone one that's still not in the party!.

But lecturing a kid to eat anything for that matter on the pretext that its good for health is very difficult when they question you back on why I don't eat. This happened this Sunday when Konda was so happy with the Keema balls, that she was asking me to eat it. I said I don't eat non-veg. She was all questions. She wanted to know why I don't eat. When I said I don't like it. She said "I don't know pa, if you don't have strength don't ask me about that'. "If you don't eat this, you will not have energy and you will become weak." I told her that I eat when I was a kid, so I have all the energy that I need. Well this only shows that we got to practice what we preach.

So when she is good enough to eat Bitter Gourd, I better eat it myself. On the other hand, this is the only version that I cook which I eat and actually enjoy! You may feel that it may not be healthy as its deep fried. But some bitterness is better than nothing I feel. And also I ensure I try to drain most of the oil.

Hubby dear on the other hand, is crazy of Kakara kaya as we call in telugu. Amma and of course, Athamma make awesome curry with this vegetable that he simply adores. Of course, I can't certify myself on the delish of that curry but I trust my hubby's sense of taste. He is quite hard to please with just about anything that goes into a dish. But I feel this is what makes me search for perfection in dishes.

This Karela in Nuts is his favorite one among the dishes that Amma makes. One amazing thing about this is, when you pack for lunch also, the karela pieces retains its crispiness.The recipe is same as the fried nuts.

We use fresh garlic pods that have the skin on but loosen. Fresh curry leaves fried. Peanuts and cashew nuts deep fried.

Finally, just grate the karela's outer skin, chop into fine circles. Once all the other ingredients are fried, deep fry Karela in batches. Once they are cooked, drain them to kitchen towel.

In a bowl, take all the fried ingredients, add salt and chilli powder and toss. This makes all of it to get nicely coated with salt and chilli powder.

Karela will have the wonderful taste of garlic and curry leaves and since its fried, it wouldn't be so bitter.

At one point of time, this used to feature a lot during our week's menu. I was preparing this after a long gap. So it was really fun digging into the bitter, nutty taste of the whole dish, with roasted garlic flavouring the whole gastronomical journey!

Once in while indulgence in a fried passion works out well. And if its all nuts, why not go nuts over it!

Sending this to Pooja from My Creative Ideas for her VOW: Bitter Gourd.

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