This Punjabi Karela Sabji is spicy, easy to make and makes the perfect accompaniment. It is a recipe from my childhood and still makes me happy.
This Punjabi Karela sabji is a trip down my childhood. As a child I didn’t like Karelas much, found them bitter and couldn’t understand why people (read adults) like it. Fast forward 20 years and I love Karela and the complexity it brings to every dish. We cook it once a week at home in various dishes and forms. Helps that it is extremely healthy too.
Today’s recipe is a look back to my childhood when mum used to make this karela pyaaz ki sabji with loads of onions. We three used to eat onions & mum-dad used to eat the karelas ? Yes, we used to take out every single karela slice and put it in dad’s plate.
And as always, life has come back to bite me and now Ojas does EXACTLY the same. The look on my mum’s face last week when I scolded Ojas for doing so was something I definitely don’t want to remember ??
We ate this last week with aloo ki sabji, parantha, curd and kheera. Delicious meal it was! Leaving a recipe for you guys here.
Do share a picture if you make this on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Will show mum, she’ll have a good laugh and we all need it these days, don’t we?
Punjabi Karela Sabji: Spicy Bittergourd Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 500 gms bitter gourd
- 500 gms onions small ones
- 1/4 cup mustard oil
- 1/2 tsp methi seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp kala jeera
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp Saunf
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp amchoor powder can go up to 1.5 tsp
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Lightly peel (what I mean is just remove the top part of the peel), slice the karela in 1/4 inch half circles. Soak them in salted water for about 20 mins. Dry them somewhat.
- In a kadhai, heat mustard oil till smoking hot. Add karelas to the oil and fry till they are almost golden brown. Don't hurry this step. It will take about 10-15 minutes.
- Once the karelas are brown, take them in the side of the pan so that you have some empty space in the middle. The oil will slowly flow down to that space in a few seconds. Add your full spices to this oil and fry till fragrant. Once the spices are done, mix the karela and fry further for a couple of minutes.
- Add the onions at this stage. Wait, before adding peel and make four slits on onions like you would if you were going to stuff them. But we wont really stuff them. The masala would get into the slits while frying and make it all delicious. If you aren't using small onions, then simply slice them in thick slices. We want some bite and crunch in the onions so please don't slice them thin
- Add all the dry spices and then let it cook on low flame till the whole thing turns a lovely golden brown. This will take around 15 mins. That's it, serve with curd, parantha and dal. Happy Eating!
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