Bitter melon recipe | Hagalakayi palya
Sweet and sour South Indian bitter melon recipe pairs great with rice and rotis!
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely chopped bitter gourd 1 medium sized bitter gourd
- 3 tbsp jaggery Unrefined Indian sugar
- dry tamarind blackberry/gooseberry sized, soaked in 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Indian red chilli powder Adjust to taste. Cayenne pepper powder can be added instead.
- 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh/frozen grated coconut
Hot oil seasoning/tadka/oggarane
- 1 tbsp oil preferably coconut oil. Check notes for WFPB.
- 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp de-husked black gram/urad dal
- 1 dry red chilli
- 1 sprig curry leaves optional
Instructions
- Soak dry tamarind in 1/4 cup of water.
- Defrost coconut if using frozen.
- Wash and slice bitter gourd in half.
- Remove the seeds as they may be hard to chew on.
- Chop bitter gourd into tiny pieces.
- Heat a heavy bottomed pan, on medium to high heat. Add oil.
- Add mustard seeds, de-husked black gram, broken dry red chillies into the oil.
- When mustard splutters and black gram turns golden, add curry leaves and chopped bitter melon.
- Add turmeric powder and salt. Cover and let bitter melon cook on medium heat. Stir occasionally.
- When bitter melon is 90% cooked, add jaggery, tamarind water and red chilli powder .NOTE: Squeeze the tamarind, to help release it's pulp into the water. Discard the fibrous parts.
- Mix and simmer on low-medium heat for five minutes. It is important to simmer for five minutes to help deepen the flavours of jaggery and tamarind and for the raw flavours to go away.
- Add grated fresh/frozen coconut and stir. Cover and simmer for a minute.
- Turn off the heat. Serve with rice + ghee/yogurt. Can also be served with jowar/bajra/whole wheat rotis.
Notes
- Tamarind concentrate can be used instead of dry tamarind. I haven't tested this recipe using tamarind concentrate but I would add 1-2 tsp mixed with 1/4 cup water.
- To reduce bitterness, add salt to chopped bitter gourd and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze out the water and then continue with the above steps. I dont find it necessary as tamarind and jaggery help in reducing the bitterness.
- Acidic ingredients and sweeteners (like tamarind and jaggery) should be added after bitter gourd is at-least 90% cooked, as vegetables take longer to cook in an acidic environment.
- To make the recipe WFPB, heat a heavy bottomed pan and without adding oil, let the mustard seeds splutter and urad dal turn golden. Then add in the chopped bitter melon and add a dash of water to help it cook.
- Mangalore style rasam powder can be added towards the end of cooking(along with coconut) for extra flavour.