happened to be the latest experiment. He forced me to taste it and yes,
even though the koora itself is sort of bitter, the masala tastes very
delicious. I am told that Ulli Karam is typically prepared with
Kakarakaya/Bitter gourd and Brinjal/ Vankaya.
from just onion paste, they even add coriander to the masala and grind
it. Ulli is onions in Telugu and Karam is Dry Red Chili paste. This sort
of gravy is called Koora, which means a side dish to be served with
Plain Rice. Pulusu refers to any thin gravy prepared with tamarind. I
haven't tried this koora with Chapatis, with Rice it tastes very good.
followed by shopping with Parents. Which meant, yes I didn't work today
and I felt writing this post should at least happen. We went to a
restaurant for breakfast, I remembered the Aloo Punjabi, a
dish that will forever be in my memory, I asked the supervisor for the
tandoori master to see if he remembers the recipe. I guess they were
reluctant to share their recipe and gave me titbits of how they make.
Guess its one dish that might simply have to be in the memory, always
reminding me of my younger years, of a time so different from now. Maybe
I will just visit again with kids and see if they can make it again and
we could enjoy with Naans.
Kakarakaya Ullipaya Koora
Ingredients Needed:
For the Bitter gourd:
Bitter gourd, diced into 2 inch cubes - 2 cups
Tamarind - small lemon size, soaked and extracted
Salt a pinch
Turmeric a pinch
To be ground
Onions - 2 medium
Garlic - 3 -4 cloves
Ginger - 2"
Dry Red Chilies - 4 -5 nos
For the Tempering
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves handful
Coriander Leaves handful
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water as required
How to make the Koora
Prep the Bitter gourd, dice it into 2" pieces. Soak and extract the pulp from tamarind. Add a cup of water or as required to this extracted pulp and bring to boil. Add the bitter gourd pieces along with salt and turmeric. Cook for 5 mins, drain the vegetable and keep it aside.
Grind the ginger, garlic, onions and dry red chilies to a fine paste.
Heat a pan with oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and then add the ground paste and saute well. Now add the boiled bitter gourd and combine everything together.
Add the coriander powder and cumin powder and let it get mixed well.
Add water as required and bring to boil. Finally add the chopped coriander leavers and remove when the gravy reaches a thick consistency.
Serve with rice.
This goes for the June Week 2, Cooking from Cookbook Challenge Group.
Priya Srinivasan says
Looks delicious valli. Never tried bitter gourd this way. Bookmarking to try.
Leena Chandrashekar says
Nice looking platter...yumm
Pavani N says
It's been a while I made this version of kakarakaya -- will have to make it some time.
Suja Ilangovan says
This version of bitter gourd sounds delicious, Valli. Your platter looks very tempting 🙂
sneha datar says
I like this recipe of bitter gourd.