Thursday, July 26, 2012

Kakarakaya vepudu(bittergourd stir fry masala)..An authentic Andhra dish




This dish is from Andhra where people love to eat rich and spicy food.Vepudu means fried.Mostly deep fried dishes are known as vepudu but in this dish i have just shallow fried my bitter gourd which makes this dish very healthy and tasty too.

Ingredients: 
 Bitter gourd-2
Onion-3
Green chillies-2
Garlic -6-7 cloves
Tamarind-1 lemon sized ball(make pulp by using 1/4cup of water)
Turmeric-1/2tsp
Lemon juice-1tsp
Cumin-1/2tsp
Black gram dal-1/2tsp
Mustard-1/2tsp
Curry leaves-1spring
Oil-2-3tsp

Ingredients for curry powder:
Ground nuts-2tbsp
Cumin-1tsp
Coriander seeds-2tsp
Bengal gram dal/chana dal-1tbsp
Red chilly-4-5

Method of preparing curry powder

  • Heat 2tsp of oil in a pan and roast all the ingredients till its changes to light brown colour

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  • Now coarsely power all the roasted ingredients in a mixer grinder.Curry powder is ready .Now lets start our main dish.




  • Thinly slice bitter gourd and marinate it with salt ,Turmeric and lemon juice for 30 minutes.Just before using squeeze the bitter gourd and discard the water .This reduces bitterness of the gourd .But personally i like the bitter taste so i never strain the water from gourds. 


  • Heat oil in a pan in that add cumin,mustard,uraddal.when it changes colour add curry leaves,chopped green chillies,crushed garlic and onion chopped.Saute for sometime or until onion changes to light pink color.
                                     

  • Now add sliced bittergourd and saute for 2min,cover and cook on a low flame till its done.In between  keep stirring and check for seasoning as we have used salt in the marination also.So its better to check salt after every step.you can add salt if necessary after adding curry powder.
  • Once the gourd is cooked add the masala powder and  tamarind pulp,mix it well.Saute for 2-3 mins and switch off the gas.
  • Serve hot with rice or roti
Note:Those who want have plain stir fried gourd then no need of curry powder just have it like that.