Bitter Gourd (Pavakkai) Chips

Serve Bitter Gourd Chips with kids favorite yogurt rice!!!

One of the tastes that we don't include in our cooking is the bitter taste. Bitter taste needs to be included in our food for the healthy functioning of small intestines, heart and its related organs. I know bitter gourd is not everyone's favorite dish, because we were not introduced to that taste right from childhood. Getting our kids used to this bitter taste from the childhood can go a long way for their healthy living.

How did I make my kids eat bitter gourd? It all started in India when my mom deep fried the bitter gourd and added chilli powder to it and gave the kids as bitter gourd chips which they liked very much. Well instead of deep fry, I tried the shallow fry method. Initially I fried them crispier, to get the kids used to the taste, but now I fry it less crisp. My younger son is so much used to the taste that he can figure it out from the smell without even looking at it.

Slice Bitter Gourd into circular pieces

Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 5 min
Serving size: 2

Ingredients

• Bitter gourd - 1
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp(optional)
• Oil - 3 tsp

Preparation

Boil the bitter gourd in water added with salt and turmeric

• Slice the bitter gourd that are not too thin.
• In a vessel bring one cup of water to boil. 
• Add turmeric, salt and the sliced bitter gourd.
• Cook for 5 -7 minutes or until the bitter gourd color is changed to light green.
• Filter the bitter gourd and set it aside.

Cooking

Shallow fry the 3/4 cooked bitter gourd with 2-3 tsp of oil

• Bring stove to medium heat. In a skillet add oil.
• When the oil is warm place the bitter gourd slices as shown.
• Add another tsp of oil on the outer edge of circle and fry for 2 minutes.
• Turn over the slices and fry on the other side for 2 minutes.
• Remove the slices when they are crispy. Take care not to burn it.
• Sprinkle some chilli powder and mix. If you do not like the chilli spice you can skip this step.
• Serve the bitter gourd (pavakkai) chips with curd rice for the kids and let them enjoy.....

Crispy Bitter Gourd(Pavakkai) Chips Ready to be served

Nutritional facts

Bitter gourd is an excellent source of vitamins, folic acid and dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, has twice the amount of calcium as spinach and twice the amount of potassium as banana. It also improves immunity of the body and increases the energy and stamina level. Turmeric is a good antibiotic.

Note:

• All leafy vegetables has bitter taste in it and so eating leafy vegetables at-least twice in a week is recommended. But how many days in a week can we cook leafy vegetables? So bitter gourd is the other option.
• To start with, you can try the deep fry may be with 1/2 cup oil. Once the kids get used to the taste you can do the shallow fry.
• You can drink the strained water from cooking which is less bitter than raw juice but you still get most of the benefits.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes..... Please provide your valuable comments below.

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