Simple Bitter Gourd Stir-fry / Pavakkai Poriyal without Coconut

Bitter Gourd is supposed to be the best type of medicine to control blood sugar. We will see here how to make a tasty Bitter Gourd Stir Fry. It is a tasty dish and will not taste that bitter. You can also reduce the bitterness more by adding a little Sugar to the dish while making it. Generally we add Coconut as one of the ingredients while making stir fry, but this dish does not require coconut. Even if you are not a fan of Bitter Gourd, you would definitely like this dish. It goes well with Sambar Rice, Rasam Rice, Dal Rice, Roti etc

Ingredients:

Medium sized Bitter Gourd (Karela / Pavakkai) – 2

Oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Large Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Green Chillies – 3 (slitted)

Curry Leaves – from 1 twig

Red Chilli Powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric Powder – 1 pinch

Salto – to suit taste

Sugar – 2 tsp

Method:

Scrape the skin of the Bitter Gourd if it has thorn like texture. Wash and clean. Cut them into thin slices as shown in the picture. Add ½ tsp of Salt. Mix well and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Heat the Oil in a pan. Crackle the Mustard Seeds in it. Add Onion, Curry Leaves and Green Chillies. Sauté for a minute in low flame.

Wash and rinse the marinated Bitter Gourd and squeeze out the water. Add it to the pan.

Add Chilli powder, Turmeric Powder, Sugar and Salt. Mix well.

Cook in low flame for 6 to 8 minutes till the Bitter Gourd become brown and soft.

The tasty stir fried Bitter Gourd is ready for serving.

Note: You can avoid Sugar if you like the bitterness of this vegetable.