I totally love karele… so i got some on the weekend and made them for hubby and myself (and my SIL)
They turned out pretty good… heres my recipe
pls give me tips to make them better
Ingredients
6 karele
2 large onions
2 large tomatoes
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp chilli flakes (the hubs gets heart burn so i try using flakes)
1/8th tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1tsp zeera
roughly remove the skin off the karele using a potato peeler
a) add 0.5t sp salt and set aside for an hour
Put a slit in the karele and remove all seeds
b) cut karele into 1 tsp thick pieces
c) add 0.5 tsp salt and set aside for an hour
After an hour, heat up some oil and brown the karele pieces (not the shavings). Dont burn them.. just cook them until they are brown. Tip: I usually do a single layer of karele and turn them over until both sides are brown, and remove. Continue till all are brown.
Set the fried/browned karele aside
Slice the onions and cook them lightly in the same oil. Do not brown them, just make them transluscent. Add the zeera to the onions as well.
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a bit (I usually add a lil cheent of paani cus i find the ginger gets too brown too quickly and starts flicking everywhere
I then add all the masala (Note: I dont add anymore salt as ive already added that to the karele shavings and cut up pieces)
Add the karela shavings and cook until they are brown
Add the diced tomatoes.
Once tomatoes are soft, add the fried/browned karele
Leave them cooking on a low heat for about 5-6 min
oh yumm. I love kareles too. Infact I think Ive one of those frozen packs lying around in my freezer. I'll wait until we have more feedback here.. I like em fried and crispy but hav never made them..
Saddz, recipe sounds good. Next time, try adding some sliced potato to the masala. It gets the karela flavor and is yummalicious. Or you can make normal qeema masala and add the fried karela to it, along with some extra chopped onions/tomatoes so they get softened.
Yummy...I like karelas too...!!
You can try making them in keema or meat...they taste good too...
whenever I make karelas,I add some sliced onions at the end and put on them 'dumm' for a while...they taste good too...
I add a few tablespoons of yogurt to the masala mix too,whenever making karelay...
oh have you tried keema filled karelay...gosh they are so good...I find them a bit too time consuming so dont make them that often but they are the bestttt...!!
I like karelay DEPENDING on how they’re cooked. My mom makes them two ways. The first way is similar to your recipe (fried with onions, masala, etc). That’s not my favorite, though.
The second way is to fill the karelas with keema. I’m not sure but I think it’s more common in Punjabi cuisine.
But this what my mom does. She doesn’t chop up the karelay in small pieces. Instead she peels the skin…and slits them down the middle…and takes out the inside stuff (seeds, etc). So basically you get a karela boat/pocket.
Then she stuffs this karela boat with cooked keema. Then she takes a needle, puts a thread through it (you have to use several strands of thread to make it sturdy)…and then sews the karela shut. Simple in-and-out sewing…like lacing the karelas closed. Then she deep fries them in oil…until the shells are brown.
How do you eat it…well you take out the thread…and you eat the keema and crispy karela shell. It may sound weird. It may even look weird. But it is soooo good!
Here are some pics (not pretty looking…but yummy!)
This is what they look like during the stuffing procedure:
yeah my mums does that too redvelvet! im not so great at cooking yet but im gonna try this next... cus my SIL hates karele but loves the stuffed ones :) but insteaf of sewing, my mums just goes around the karele from one end to the other and after frying, before eating, she takes the thread off...
Once peeled and cut in to pieces i keep them in 2 3 tbl spoon salt for almost 2 hours. then wash dem througly... and dry them in mal mal cloth (making sure there is no water in them) then i fry dem....
rest the same as urz.... + before putting on dum i put some light brown fried onion on top...
Slice them lengthwise, remove the seeds, then slice crosswise into 1/4" crescents. Soak in saltwater while you thoroughly fry an equal amount of (crosswise) sliced onions until they are golden. Toss in whole zeera, and then the drained and rinsed karela. Stir that around, frying it nicely, and after a bit, add haldi for a little colour, and lal mirch to taste. The onions should be dark brown when you're done. Let people salt it to their own taste at the table.
sadzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, put amchoor in karela stuffing or masla it will add the taste and reduce bitterness of kerala, also add some boneless chicken pieces in masala and at the end add spring onion .........................................try and inshallah u like it
