HAGALAKAI/KARELA/BITTER GOURD CHUTNEY

This is a wonderful tasting chutney, a combination of bitter, sour and sweet. Goes very well with hot rice and ghee and can be a good accompaniment with chapathi etc.

Ingredients:

Bittergourd                        1/2 kg

Onions                              4-5 medium

Salt                                   4 level teaspoons

Sarina pudi                       4 teaspoons (heaped)

Tamarind                          1 big lemon sized or 1 1/2-2 tablespoons thick paste 

Jaaggery                           1 cup (powdered) or ¾ cup thick syrup

For seasoning:       

Oil                                     4-5 tablespoons

Mustard seeds                  2 teaspoons

Curry leaves                     8-10

Ingu/asafetida                 ¼ teaspoon

Turmeric                           ¼ teaspoon 

Procedure:

Chop bitter gourd into about 1” pieces and slice the onions. Let the volume of sliced onions be about half that of chopped bitter gourd.

Run them in the mixer along with salt and tamarind into a coarse mixture.

Now heat oil in a thick pan. Add mustard seeds. When they sputter add curry leaves, turmeric and asafetida. And immediately add the ground paste. Fry till the mixture does not smell raw any longer and it leaves the sides of the pan.

Now add jaggery and mix well. Add sarina pudi and mix well again and cook till it thickens and leave the sides of the pan.

Allow it to cool and store in bottles or steel boxes.

Will stay good in the fridge for months.

HEEREKAI CHUTNEY

Dear S and P,

The other day I brought vegetables from the market and was cleaning them. Papa asked me, "shall I peel heerekai"? I was thrilled by the offer and gladly handed him a peeler. I expected him to just remove the ridges of the gourd. But with in no time, I was aghast to see that the peels were off and almost the seeds were being seen! Half the weight of the heerekai was gone! Don't make your usual comment, `amma, M.A. in exaggeration'! But it was really so. There was no other choice for me but to make chutney out of this nutritious peel. I just could not throw it into my compost bin.

Believe it or not, that day the chutney tasted so good that I decided to ask papa to peel every time I make chutney :). I guess the reason for the good taste. Since the quantity of the peel was much I added very little of grated coconut and so the main stuff must have retained its flavour! That is all. So, do you want to try this? Keep in mind that you have to buy tender gourd so that you get soft peel.

Ingredients:

1 cup heerekai peel(cut into about 1 cm pieces)
1 tablespoon grated coconut
1 table spoon blackgram dal (dehusked)
1/2 teaspoon methi seeds
1 or 2 green chillies
1/4 teaspoon of ingu
6-8 curry leaves
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon tamerind paste
2 teaspoons oil
salt to taste.

Procedure:

Heat one teaspoon oil in a small kadai. Add methi seeds, and immediately after it turns brown, add cut green chilllies. Then add blackgram dal and roast till it is golden brown. Add a pinch of hing and then the peel. Roast on a small flame till the peel looks a bit dry. Add grated coconut and roast for about half a minute and turn off the stove.

Add salt and tamarind paste to the above and run the mixer. Grind to a coarse paste, adding very little water if needed. Finally season with mustard seeds, a little more ingu and curry leaves.

Tastes great with hot rice. Enough for four.