Stuffed bitter gourd or bharwan karela is a delicacy and a popular Indian side that is served with rotis or parathas.
Bitter gourd if pre-treated correctly and cooked well is delicious.
This is a recipe which requires time but rewards you generously in terms of flavour. This is my late mother's recipe.
As this was dad's favourite, she would make it often and for some reason I've loved it since childhood.
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These really work well with smaller, rounder variety of bitter gourd or melon that have a thin skin. Always choose nice dark green ones which are fresh.
You can keep it in fridge for 3-4 days and keep frying them as per need.
Here is the recipe:
How to Prepare Bharwa Karela or Stuffed Bittergourd (Step-by-step pictures)
Take the bittergourd and scrape lightly with a knife.
Make a vertical slit from top to the bottom and scoop out the flesh and seeds of the karela. Scrap the bitter gourd lightly.
Discard the seeds.
To reduce the bitterness of karela, I apply some salt both inside and outside and keep aside for half an hour.
After half an hour, wash the karelas off all the salt, dry and keep aside.
I also microwave the karelas for about 4-5 minutes to half cook them.
Prepare the stuffing
Take 1 tsp. mustard oil in a kadhai. Add sliced onions and ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown.
You can add scooped out flesh of karela and skin scrapings too if you like. I normally avoid this.
Now blend into a thick paste when it cools down.
Add all the spice powders, salt and tamarind pulp and cook some more. Let the stuffing be thick.
Check taste and adjust seasoning. Let the stuffing cool down completely.
Prepare the karelas
Now take the split karelas and spoon the stuffing inside generously.
To prevent the karelas from opening up while frying, I sometimes tie the normal sewing thread around them to keep them intact (especially when shallow frying).
For Air frying
Preheat Air fryer at 200 C or 390 F for 5 minutes. Spray or brush oil on Air fryer basket.
Lay the bharwa karelas on the basket and Air fry for about 6-8 minutes till the karelas are golden brown and slightly crisp.
Check that they should be cooked.
Take them out and serve hot with rotis.
Air frying the bitter gourd does not make any difference to the taste as the bitter gourd turn out nice and browned.
You do save substantially on the Calories.
For shallow frying
Heat some more mustard oil. Add fenugreek seeds and allow them to sputter.
Shallow fry the karelas on both sides on a low flame till they are well cooked and brown in colour. You can cover the kadhai when they are cooking.
Serve them hot with chapatis and dal. They are delicious.
Here's the recipe card:
📖 Recipe Card
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Bharwa Karela | Stuffed Bitter gourd
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 small bittergourd karelas
- 3 onions sliced
- 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp. cumin powder
- 1 tbsp. coriander powder
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds saunf powder
- ½ tsp. garam masala
- 1 tsp. cayenne
- 1 tsp. tamarind paste
- salt to taste
- ½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
- Mustard oil to fry
Instructions
- Take the bittergourd and scrape lightly with a knife. Now make a vertical slit from top to the bottom and scoop out the flesh and seeds of the karela.
- Discard the seeds. To reduce the bitterness of karela, I apply some salt both inside and outside and keep aside for half an hour.
- After half an hour, wash the karelas off all the salt, dry and keep aside. I also either microwave the karelas for about 4-5 minutes to half cook them or parboil them with some tamarind paste (about ¼ tsp.) for 5 minutes for the same effect.
Prepare the stuffing
- Take 1 tsp. mustard oil in a kadhai. Add sliced onions and ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown. Now blend into a thick paste when it cools down. Add all the spice powders, salt and tamarind pulp and cook some more. Let the stuffing be thick. Check taste and adjust seasoning. Let the stuffing cool down completely.
Prepare the karelas
- Now take the split karelas and spoon the stuffing inside generously. To prevent the karelas from opening up while frying, I tie the normal sewing thread around them to keep them intact (especially when shallow frying).
For Air frying
- Preheat Air fryer at 200 C or 390 F for 5 minutes. Spray or brush oil on Air fryer basket.
- Lay the filled karelas on the basket and Air fry for about 6-8 minutes till the karelas are golden brown and slightly crisp. Keep checking every 3-4 minutes. Take them out and serve hot with rotis.
For shallow frying
- Heat some more mustard oil. Add fenugreek seeds and allow them to sputter. Shallow fry the karelas on both sides on a low flame till they are well cooked and brown in colour. You can cover the kadhai when they are cooking.
- Serve them hot with chapatis and dal. They are delicious.
Video
Notes
- Always choose dark green and small bittergourd with a thinner skin for stuffing karelas.
- Air frying helps in really reducing the need to use a lot of oil for crispy stuffed karelas.
- Ensure that the stuffing is thick and if you are shallow frying using a thread to close each karela is very helpful.
- To further reduce the bitterness of karela, you can cook them in a pan with tamarind water (use ½ tsp. tamarind paste)f for about 2-3 minutes. This helps in making them less bitter. by Parboiling karela in this manner you reduce the Air frying time as well. But make sure you don't overcook karelas so that they become too soft. They must still have a bite.
- You may add the flesh and scraped skin of karela to the onion filling mixture. I avoid it because it gets very bitter for my taste.
Nutrition
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Shailaja V says
I like Karela ? stuffed are even better. There’s a lovely Karela crispy salad recipe in this place called Jalsa. Get the kids to try that out. They’ll enjoy it.
Your recipe looks great as always. I’m sure the kids will slowly warm to it.
Shilpa Garg says
I like karelas and like your recipe too. I have never added saunf and tamarind paste in the stuffing. Will definitely try this next time.
Initially, I used to fry the karelas after stuffing them, just the way you mentioned. Now I shallow fry the karelas and then just add the stuffing.
Ramya Abhinand says
This is my fav recipe. I make it quite often, though my kids dont like it much. I search for those small karelas in the market, and when they are tender, they taste awesome!!!
Obsessivemom says
I was never particularly fond of Karela but the husband loves it and he's diabetic too, so I've learnt to appreciate it now. I associate the smell of saunf with the stuffing. These days we get readymade masalas and I'm grateful. But your recipe sounds easy enough to give a shot.