Question:
Having been asked to buy my brother interesting vegetables when shopping I bought him what Asda called a Karela (a sort of knobbly cucumber, smells vaguely limeish). He despite being very adventurous can't find it in any cookbook. Any ideas - please?
A quick search turns up:
http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib2401.html
http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib236.html
http://www.hiindia.com/food/docs/lunch9.htm
http://www.bajajelectricals.com/recipes/karela.htm
http://www.wondersky.com/deepscookbook/recipe/curry/dc_19991030192658.htm
http://users.eggconnect.net/akitson/kaprawn.htm
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/recipes/maincourse/veg/karelabasar.html
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/recipes/maincourse/veg/karebhinmasala.html
Karela is also known as bittergourd
Karela is a bitter gourd, as far as I recall. A good Indian vegetarian
cookbook will have something, don't have one to hand due to rebuilding
of kitchen and storage of books AAAAGH WITHDRAWAL....
Hang on a sec ... aah, that's better, try this:
http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib236.html
(karela recipe on usually reliable indian foodie site)
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/recipes/maincourse/veg/karebhinmasala.html
(new site for me, looks ok at first glance, bhindi is okra)
http://www.les.aston.ac.uk/indian.html
(good hindi/english food glossary)
And Karella with two 'lls' appears in 'Oriental Vegetables' by Joy Larkcom
The heading for us English mutts is 'Bitter Gourd' although in her recipe
section she also cross references them to curcubits.
Latin name : Momordica charantia
Other names in use: bitter melon/cucumber, karella, balsam pear, alligator
pear
Mandarin Ku'gua (bitter gourd), jin li zhi (bright beautiful lichee)
Neither the Cantonese nor Japanese have translations.
Background: Until recently this strange looking vegetable of tropical
origins was little known outside south China, south east Asia, India and the
Phillipines. It is now a familiar sight in the Wet, in the British Isles
known by its Indian name, karella.
By the look of it one can grow it in an unheated greenhouse in the UK.
Use: It is grown mainly for the immature fruits, though the young leafy
shoots and leaves are edible. All parts are said to be very nutritious.
In the kitchen
In their natural state the immature fruits have a bitter flavour, due to the
presence of quinine. It is a strong, unusual flavour with perhaps a hint
of okra or aubergine about it. Bitter gourd appears to bring out the flavour
of other ingredients during cooking and is in turn neutralised by them.
Bitter gourds are usually cooked unpeeled, though the rougher parts of the
outer skin can be scraped off. Except in very young fruit the seeds
(which are purgative) and soft pith must be removed.
If the natural taste is considered too bitter, the flavour can be modified
by blanching or salting before cooking. Either cut the fruits in half,
remove the seeds and parboil for a couple of minutes or make slits in the
fruit or cut them into slices, sprinkle with salt, leve for at least 10 mins
before squeezing out the juice and rinsing thoroughly.
Bitter gourds are cooked in many ways. They are often stuffed and steamed,
either in halves or whole with the tops cut off to remove the seeds etc.
Fish and meat stuffings are the most popular. They are also stir fried with
meat, such as crispy pork or with other vegetables. They are frequently
combined with black fermented soya beans and used in curries. they can also
be pickled and make into chutney. Leaves and young shoots must be parboiled
for a few minues, the water changed, then boiled or stir fried like greens.
And the same author has recipes in the back of this excellent book:
Indonesian gourd stuffing (Petola Daging)
The recipe, apparently comes from a writer by the name of Sri Owen :
Indonesian Food & Cookery
It can be used for baked or stuffed gourds. Marrows too can be used for
this stuffing.
Baked gourds need to be parboiled, blanched or steamed to reduce cooking, eg
marrows parboiled for 2 mins. Texture of gourds should be firm enough to
withstand stuffing and cooking
2 lb gourd, thinly peeled
100g (4oz) shelled prawns
225g (8oz) minced lean beef or chicken breast
4 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
veg. oil
1 med onion or 2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 green chillies, de-seeded or half tsp chilli powder
half gourd lengthwise and remove seeds. Leave in cols salted water while
preparing stuffing. Chop the prawns and mix with the minced meat. Separate
one egg keeping the white to one side. Mix the yolk with the other whole
eggs, season and cook to make several thin omlettes. When cool, roll up and
cut crosswise into thin slices.
Heat a little oil in a wok or pan, cook the onion or shallots and the chilli
until just soft. Add the prawnand meat mixture and stir fry for 3 minutes.
Season, cool slightly and stir in the reserved egg white.
Mix in the omlette pieces. Drain and dry the gourd halves. Stuff the bottom and use the top half as a
lid. Steam for 30 mins or bake for 40 mins in a mod oven (350 deg F, 180
deg C, gas mk 4). Cut into thick slices. Eat hot or cold.
A Chinese recipe where Kenneth Lo uses the translation bitter melon
(Complete Encyclopedia of Chinese Cookery: Consultant Ed. Kenneth Lo: pub. M
& S with no publication details)
stir fried pork with bitter melon
1 x 15ml dry sherry
1 x 5ml soy sauce
1 x 5ml cornflour
6 x 15ml oil
225g pork fillet 2.5 cm x 5 cm thin strips
0.5kg/1 lb bitter melon seeded and thinly sliced
1 x 2.5 ml salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 15ml spoons salted black beans, soaked 10 mins and drained
2 x 5ml spoons sugar
250ml water
mix together sherry, soy sauce, cornflour and 1 x 15ml oil in a bowl. Add
pork and turn to coat thoroughly. Set aside.
Sprinkle the melon slices with the salt. Set aside for 2 mins, then squeeze
out the water.
Heat 3 x 15ml of the remaining oil in a pan. Add meat and stir fry until
changes colour.
Remove from pan using slotted spoon. Heat remaining oil in the pan. Add the garlic and stir fry until turns brown. Add the black beans. Stir fry one second then add the bitter melon
and stir fry one minute. Stir in sugar and water. Cover and cook for 3 mins until melon is tender. Add meat and stir fry a few seconds. Serve hot.
If desired pan juices can be thickened with 1 x 5ml cornflour dissolved in 1
x 15ml spoon water before serving.
Last updated
February 16th 2004
Back to Encyclopaedia Umratica page
Back to Umra page
Back to Home page:
