Bharwan Karela, also known as stuffed karela, is a special recipe that brings together the natural bitterness of the gourd with delectable stuffing. In this dish, the bitter gourds are filled with a mixture of spices and ingredients, creating a mouthwatering flavor combination.
If you’re up for an exciting culinary journey that turns a humble vegetable into a tasty delight, then Bharwan Karela is the perfect choice for you!
About Stuffed Karela Recipe:
Stuffed Karela or Bharwa Karela is a famous North Indian recipe where bitter gourds are stuffed and cooked in various ways.
The stuffing for Bihari Bharwa Karela is where the magic happens. First of all, for this recipe, we don’t really peal the karelas. For this recipe the flesh and seeds are first scooped out. No, we don’t throw this rather we use it to make the base of stuffing.
So the stuffing typically consists of ground flesh and seeds, a blend of aromatic spices, and mashed potato along with the material scooped out of the karela. The stuffing is carefully filled into the hollowed-out bitter gourds, ensuring that each one is generously packed.
Once the bitter gourds are stuffed, they are cooked using the traditional Bihari method. In this style, the stuffed gourds are pan-fried or tawa fried in hot mustard oil until they turn golden brown and crispy on the outside. This cooking technique adds a delightful crunch to the dish and enhances the overall flavor.
This is something my Mom makes more often since stuffed karela is my Father’s favorite recipe. Rather I should say we all in the family loves stuffed karela very much.
Earlier my mom would use grinding stone to make a paste of all the masalas, so that had a different taste altogether. Nothing compares to the original. 🙂 But those days are gone, nowadays the lifestyle has changed and no one has enough time to follow those lengthy processes.
But don’t worry the recipe I am sharing is very similar to what my Mom used to prepare. And I am sure you would love this too.
Stuffed Karela goes well with plain Dal and Rice. This can also be served along with Paratha, Puri or Chapati.
Why You Should Make This Recipe?
Ingredients
- 7-8 nos Karela / BitterGourd small or medium size karela
- 3 nos Potatoes medium size, cooked and mashed
- 4 nos Tomatoes finely chopped
- 4 nos Onion finely chopped
- 1 Garlic big bulb
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 2-3 Green Chilli or as per the taste
- 1/2 tbsp Yellow sarson optional
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 3 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder optional
- 1 tsp Amchur Powder or as per your taste
- 2 tsp Chilli Powder or as per the taste
- Salt as per the taste
- 1/4th tsp Panch phoran mixture of mangraila, methi, ajwain, saunf and sarson available in stores
- Mustard Oil as 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.
- Heat oil in a pan add panch phoran.
- 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
Nutrition
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