Stuffed Kareila

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 kg bitter-gourd
1/2 kg minced beef or mutton
3 onions , cut into thin slices
4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 inch piece of garlic crushed
2 tbsp fresh coriander
2-3 fresh green chilly
1 tbsp red chilly powder
2 tsp. salt
oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Peel of the bitter-gourd, make a long cut in it and take out all the seeds.Sprinkle salt in and out of the bitter-gourd and put it aside for at least two hours. Wash the bitter-gourd with plenty of water and rinse them softly.
2. Cook mince meat with one onion, one tomato, garlic, ginger, one tsp red chilly powder and one tsp. salt.
3. Fill the mince meat in each bitter-gourd, sew it with needle and thread. Deep fry them on medium heat until they turn golden.
4. Cook one onion, one tomato, one tsp. chilly powder, one tsp. salt and half cup of water. Cook it over low heat for ten to fifteen minutes or until the onion and tomato gets soft. Mash it with the back of a wooden spoon to make gravy. Add one fourth cup oil in the gravy and cook from three to four minutes.
5. Put the fried bitter-gourd in the gravy and cook for five minutes.
6. Garnish it with tomato, onion , Green chilly and coriander leaves.   

Stuffed Masala Karela

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Serves 3

Ingredients:

4 healthy firm bitter-gourds
1 ping-pong sized ball tamarind
1 ping-pong sized ball jaggery
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1/2 tsp. ginger grated
1/2 tsp. ginger crushed
1 stalk curry leaves
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1 tsp. dania powder
1/4 tsp. tumeric powder
1 tbsp. peanuts crushed
1 tsp. black masala powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. each mustard and cumin seeds
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp. coriander leaves to garnish
salt for rubbing gourds

Method:

Scrap bitter-gourds lightly. Make vertical slits along each gourd. Remove any ripe seeds. Run salt all over gourds. Keep aside for 1 hour. Mash to pulp, remove and piths and seeds. Keep aside. Wash well in running water. Boil plenty of water, drop in washed gourds. Boil uncovered till gourds are soft but not mushy. Drain and wash well again. Pat dry on kitchen towel.
Mix all dry masalas and salt. Add peanuts, ginger, garlic and mix well. Stuff each gourd with mixture. Cut into 1 inch thick slices.
Heat oil, add curry leaves, seeds and allow to splutter.
Add asafoetida, stir , add onions and stir till transparent.
Soak tamarind and jaggary in 1/2 cup water till soft.
Add tomatoes, stir and add jaggary pulp.
Add gourd slices and a cup water.
Cover and cook till gravy gets thick and oil starts to coze.
Garnish with chopped coriander, serve hot with chappattis.