Saturday, January 22, 2011

Karela fry/ Pagakka kari


I never was a fan of karelas as a kid. In my household karelas were only used for pulikozhambus, pitlai and sambhar. I became a big karela eater once i tasted the thinly sliced deep fried ones. I don't know why these fried stuff tastes so good, but bad for you :((

I don't deep fry them, but cook them with lots of onions, tomatoes and spices to take the bitterness away. These are perfect accompaniments to either rice or chappathis.

They can be sliced as rounds or cut thin wedges. The key is to remove those seeds and pulp from the centre as they are not so nice!




Get ready:
  • 4 karelas sliced round
  • 1 tsp sambar powder
  •  1/4 tsp salt
  • drizzle olive oil
  • 1/2 onion sliced
  • 2 small tomatoes chopped
  • 1 tsp sambar powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/4 tsp asafetida/ hing
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp urad dal
  • 1 red chilli
Go:
  • Marinate the sliced karelas with  a drizzle of olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and sambhar powder for about 20 mins.
  • In a pan, heat oil and do the tadka with mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilli.
  • Add the sliced onions and fry till they are brown.
  • Add the tomatoes and fry till they are all mushy.
  • Now add the karelas, hing, and mix well.
  • Reduce the flame, cover let the karelas sweat as they cook.
  • Add salt to taste, sambhar powder, coriander powder and mix well.
  • Uncover and cook on alow flame tossing them intermittently till they are browned and well coated with spices.

Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. So funny, Priya - i made vazhapoo (which was surprisingly kaduva before cooking) curry which i will be blogging soon and we were just talking about pavakai and how long it'd been since I made it - We had gone to richmond for our 3-monthly Indian grocery shopping!

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  2. Karela is neither my fav ..... the only way I eat them is by deep frying them after dipping it into a besan batter.
    But my husband loveeees Karela .....Adding Sambar powder is quite new to me. Looks delicious

    Cheers,
    Satrupa

    http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

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  3. I love karela..glad to find another cool new way of making them!

    US Masala

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  4. Healthy karela fry, my fav veggie..

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  5. Wonderful fry
    http://shanthisthaligai.blogspot.com/

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  6. Love this fry,adding sambar powder sounds great.

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  7. Wow, this looks so scrumptious!

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