Stuffed Bitter Gourd

Stuffed Bitter Gourd ready
Although I am not a big fan of bitter gourd, given its nutritional benefits I had been including it in my diet atleast once a week. It is one of my hubby's favorite dish and I was venturing different cooking methods to make it taste less bitter so we both can enjoy eating it. The stuffed bitter gourd is one of the recipe that worked out well...

Preparation time: 20 min(10 min to make the stuffing and 10 min to do the stuffing)
Cooking time: 15 min
Serving size: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients
  • 4 - 5 small to medium sized bitter gourd
  • 1 cup peanuts(roasted is preferred)
  • 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 - 3 red chillies
  • small piece of ginger(about an inch)
  • Coriander leaves for garnishing
  • salt to taste
For seasoning:

Note: Most of the ingredients used in the seasoning is suggested in ayurveda to lower bad cholesterol and to ignite digestive fire
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp ural dhal
  • 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • few fennel seeds(somph)
  • curry leaves
  • 1/2 of medium sized onion chopped for seasoning
  •  thread (to hold the two halves of bitter gourd together)
Preparation
  1. Roast the peanuts, garlic, ginger and the red chillies on medium flame.
  2. In a blender add all the ingredients and 1/4 tsp of salt and grind it to coarse powder and set aside.
  3. Cut the bitter gourd into equal halves vertically and remove the seeds, so that we have enough space in the middle of each half, to place the stuffing. 
  4. With a spoon add the stuffing on each half of the bitter gourd. 
  5. Put together both the halves and tie it with the thread so that the bitter gourd can stay intact when being cooked. There will be some stuffing mixture remaining, save it for adding during cooking.
Note: The entire cooking looks elaborate, but usually I have the stuffing mix ground and stored in a bottle so the actual cook time is same as that needed to prepare any other curry.

Cooking
Cook on low-medium heat
  1. In a medium size pan, add 3-4 tsp of oil on low to medium heat.
  2. When the oil is slightly warm add mustard seeds.
  3. Once the mustard splutters add urad dal, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and curry leaves.
  4. Add chopped onions and saute for a minute.
  5. Add the stuffed bitter gourds and saute for about 5 minutes.
  6. Stir every minute making sure that the bitter gourd does not get burnt.
  7. Add the stuffing mixture and mix.
  8. Now add water and required amount of salt and cook covered.
  9. Stir the bitter gourd as needed. 
  10. Once the bitter gourd is tender, it is ready to serve.
  11. Garnish it with coriander leaves.
Enjoy the stuffed bitter gourd as side dish for chappati or rice!
Health benefits of  bitter gourd
Bitter gourd has good dietary fiber and antioxidants. It helps in lowering the glucose level in the body so it is especially good for people with diabetics. Bitter gourd with its bitter taste relates to heart and is good for health of the heart.

You may also be interested in these recipes:

 Poondu Kozhambu Or Garlic Curry

 Chana Dal Curry Or Vada Curry

 Pepper-Garlic Rasam

Comments

Post a Comment