Karela fry recipe – Kakarakaya fry or bitter gourd fry is an easy, quick and healthy dish. This is a North Indian style karela fry recipe as I have used the spices which are generally used in North Indian cooking. Karela is also known as kakarakaya or bitter gourd or bitter melon. A vegan recipe.
If you like karela or bitter gourd then only you will like this dish. Not many people are fond of karela because of its bitter taste. i make a karela dish once in a month as it is very good for health.
This is another way I make karela at home beside the Bharwan karela and the Punjabi Style karela sabji posted earlier.
These bitter gourd fry can be served as a side dish with a combination of dal rice or rasam rice or sambar rice. You can also serve them with Indian flatbreads like chapati or phulkas.
If you are looking for more Vegetable recipes then do check:
If you made this recipe, please be sure to rate it in the recipe card below. Sign Up for my email newsletter or you can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest or Twitter for more vegetarian inspirations.
Karela Fry
Ingredients
- 250 grams tender karela (bitter gourd or bitter melon or kakarakaya)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder
- ¼ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ½ or 1 teaspoon amchur powder (dry mango powder)
- 1 tablespoon besan (gram flour or chickpea flour)
- 2 tablespoon oil
- salt as required
Instructions
preparation
- Rinse the karela in water first.
- Slice the karela into thin round pieces.
- You can lightly peel the skin if you want before you slice them.
making karela fry
- Heat oil in a frying pan or kadai.
- Add the karela slices and saute on a low or medium flame till the slices
- Become lightly browned. Takes about 8-10 minutes. Stir in between.
- Now add all the dry spice powders and salt.
- Stir and saute for 5-6 mins more on a low flame.
- Lastly add the besan and saute for some minutes till the rawness of the besan or gram flour goes away. Takes about 4-5 minutes more.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve bitter gourd fry with dal-rice, kadhi-rice or sambar-rice.
Notes
- This recipe can be doubled or tripled.
Wonderful recipe, however could not get it crispy because of the powders that we add
add more oil and you will get a crispy texture. slow cooking is also the key to get a crisp texture. it is not due to the spice powders. add salt at the last once the karela is done. hope this helps.
Tried this today and it tasted fabulous. Also very easy to make. Loved it!!
thanks, winnie. yes easy to make.