7-8nosKarela / BitterGourdsmall or medium size karela
3nosPotatoesmedium size, cooked and mashed
4nosTomatoesfinely chopped
4nosOnionfinely chopped
1Garlicbig bulb
1tbspGinger
2-3Green Chillior as per the taste
1/2tbspYellow sarsonoptional
1/2tspTurmeric Powder
3tbspCoriander Powder
1tbspCumin Powder
1/2tspGaram Masala Powderoptional
1tspAmchur Powderor as per your taste
2tspChilli Powderor as per the taste
Saltas per the taste
1/4thtspPanch phoranmixture of mangraila, methi, ajwain, saunf and sarson available in stores
Mustard Oilas per required
Instructions
First of all take out the top stem and bottom tail of the karela's and make a lengthwise slit through the Karela from top to bottom ensuring that the two halves of the karela does not get separated.
Scoop out all the seeds and flesh and keep it aside.
Wash the karela's and boil in a cooker by adding little water and salt. Boil till one whistle comes.
Immediately after one whistle take out the karela's from the cooker and keep in the freezer to cool down.
In the meanwhile in the same cooker boil potato.
After it gets cook, peel it and mash it and set aside.
Now grind ginger, garlic, green chilli and the scooped material taken out from karela. Set aside.
Once panch phoran starts spluttering add onion, turmeric powder and salt.
Fry onion till golden brown.
Now add tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes gets little mushy.
Now add the grinded masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, chilli powder, amchoor powder, salt and garam masala powder.
Fry till the raw smell of masala goes off and the oil gets separate.
Once masala gets fried properly add yellow mustard powder or paste and stir well.
Now add the boiled and mashed potato and mix well.
Cook for another 2 minutes and turn off the gas. Let it cool down.
Now take out the karela from the freezer and squeeze each piece with soft hand to take out extra water in it.
Time to stuff karela. Now with a spoon take some mixture and stuff karela and tighten the stuffed karela from both the sides.
You can do the same using your hand also.
Heat oil in a pan or tava and fry the karela on a low flame depending on how deeply you want to fry them. If in any case, the masala falls into the oil, then don't worry you can have those fried masala mixing with rice as it tastes great. Mostly I would finish those fried black masala while making itself. :)
Keep turning the sides so that it gets fried evenly.
Once it is fried from all the sides, take it out in a serving plate and follow the same process for the rest of the karela's.
If the oil is less you can add more oil in between.
Serve stuffed karela along with plain rice and dal.
It can also be eaten with chapati or paratha.
Notes
It is advisable to use mustard oil as it gives a nice flavor to it but if you want you can use refined oil as well.If you want you can also add fennel seeds powder.You can boil karela and potatoes at a time in the cooker. (I personally avoid doing that, just to avoid the situation where the potatoes might absorb the bitter taste of Karela.Potatoes are optional but it's better if you use them, the idea behind using potatoes is to avoid adding too much off masalas.If the masala is left you can have it along with rice or paratha or you can store it in the fridge and have it the next day.If you are adding yellow mustard powder or paste, it is advisable to add it once the rest of the masala is fried properly to avoid a bitter taste.People also deep fry it in a kadhai and to prevent the masala from spilling into the oil, they wrap the the karela with a thread. The method that I have mentioned above is something that I prefer and helps avoid spilling and the tying that is involved otherwise. It also consumes less oil.