This recipe is adapted from a Kashmiri cook book I own from many years called Kashmiri Kitchen. The bitter gourds are cooked in curd gravy with out onion, garlic, turmeric powder and chillies. I absolutely love this recipe. Believe me the dish is absolutely scrumptious to have it with hot steaming rice.
Ingredients
6 to 8 medium size Bitter gourds
1/2 cup Curd beaten
2 Cloves
2 Green Cardamom
Pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp Ginger powder
1 tsp Fennel seed powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste
1 cup Oil to fry
Method
Scrape the outer skin of the bitter gourds and give a slit on them. Remove the seeds of the bitter gourds. Apply salt on the bitter gourds and keep it aside for 5 minutes. Wash and drain out the excess water from the bitter gourds. Heat oil in a wok. Lightly fry the bitter gourds in the oil. Remove the bitter gourds and the excess oil from the wok, leaving 2 tbsp of oil in the wok. Add the cardamom and cloves in the oil. Let it crackle, add the asafoetida. Stir and add the curd. Stir it for a minute. Add the salt, ginger powder, fennel seed powder and garam masala powder. Stir and let it simmer for a minute. Add 1/2 cup water. On low flame, let it simmer for 2 minutes. Add the bitter gourds. Let it simmer till the bitter gourds have cooked and the gravy has thickened. Serve it hot with rice.
