Gutti Kakarakaya Fry (Stuffed Bittergourd Fry)

Bitter, no one loves this word. Sometimes bitter memories and dreams will surround us and spread like vines  and bitter experiences will change our life's and the change may be good or bad. But sometimes they make us strong and act as stepping stones for our future. Even we don't like bitter taste food and vegetable, but they benefit us in many ways.

One such vegetable is bitter melon  / bitter gourd. Bitter gourd and its seeds are used to make medicine. Bitter melon contains a chemical that acts like insulin to help reduce blood sugar levels.

Today's recipe is gutti kakarakya fry, which is my mom's recipe. She used to make this recipe for me as I love it. Now my hubby also love this recipe, as we both are big fans of bitter melon. With few ingredients we can make this tasty fry. This recipe will be very delicious with very little bitterness and little-bit sweet. Don't miss this tasty fry.

Ingredients:

• Kakarakayalu /Bitter gourd - 4 (small size)
• Onion - 1
• Pallilu / Peanuts - 3 tsp
• Red chilli Powder - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil  - 2 to 3 tsp

Preparation:

• Wash and cut the edges and slightly or completely peel rough surface of kakarakayalu  / bitter gourd surface and make a slit length wise and remove seeds.

• In a pot boil water with 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp salt and small marble size tamarind, add bitter gourd to the boiling water  and cook for 8 to 10 min. This step is to get ride of bitterness.
• While cooking bitter gourd, in another pan dry roast peanuts and let them cool and  grind them into powder.

• In the same pan, heat 1 tsp oil and fry onion till they turn brown.  Add salt to onion to speed up the cooking process. Add red chilli powder,turmeric powder and fry for a min.

• Now mix onion, ground peanut powder, sugar and adjust salt.

• Now stuff the onion mixture into the bitter gourd and tie with thread.

• In a pan heat 2 tsp oil and fry stuffed bitter gourds on medium heat with lid on until they turn brown on all sides. If need add oil in between. As we boiled bitter gourd, it will  take less time for frying.

•  Serve hot with white rice.