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Garlicky Lemony Bitter Gourd Crisps

April 2, 2008 |

Bitter gourd, also called Bitter melon, Balsam Pear, karela (Hindi), foo gwa / ku gua (Chinese), balsamina (Spanish), assorossie (French).
Botanical name: Momordica charantia.

One half of the Jugalbandits did not like karela (bitter gourd), while the other loved it. However, as in the past with the Sambar post, this too has a happy ending.

It is not called Bitter Gourd for nothing. I have never liked it, while B practically grew up on it. It could be because I ate a piece of raw karela when I was a yard tall and was indelibly scarred for life. Or maybe that was just a convenient made-up story. Nevertheless, all the medical benefits notwithstanding, I could not stand karela - not even in sambar! So we rarely cooked it …

All of that changed when B made these wonderful karela crisps couple years ago. Now it’s a regular on the menu.

These are the best crisps I have eaten (or maybe they tie with the lotus root crisps). Not bitter, just all around excellent. But then again, I could just be getting old.

GARLICKY LEMONY BITTERGOURD CRISPS

Bittergourds cut into thin rings (we don’t scrape the skin)
salt, turmeric and cayenne powder to taste
garlic powder
lemon/lime juice
1 tbsp of oil per cup of sliced bittergourd

Preheat the oven to 400 F or make these while baking some bread.

Spray oil on a metal baking sheet, sprinkle salt, turmeric and cayenne powders. Toss the bittergourd pieces around until coated.

Bake for 15 minutes on one side, then turn over and bake until it starts to get crisp and brown.

Really brown - borderline burnt.

Sprinkle garlic powder and lemon/lime juice and eat right away.

Garlicky Lemony Bitter Gourd Crisps go to Pooja @ My Creative Ideas for Vegetable of the Week, which is Bitter Gourd.

ACCESS JUGALBANDI ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE

We tested the service on a Blackberry. The main page appears like the pic on the left ….

To enter the blog, simply press the “return” key. Scroll through the page to get to any specific link or post. Please let us know the experience on your phones.

- Jai

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38 Comments so far

  1. Homecooked on April 2, 2008 8:45 am

    Wow….looks good! Great entry.

  2. Dee on April 2, 2008 9:14 am

    I love the pictures and I havent tried these flavours on karela…. looks yummy!!!

  3. Kalai on April 2, 2008 9:42 am

    Wonderful idea! Great entries… Will have to try this on my husband who can’t stand bitter gourd! :)

  4. Cham on April 2, 2008 9:53 am

    Great bitter crisps :yes:

  5. Pooja on April 2, 2008 10:36 am

    Wow, lovely Entry with bitter gourd. :yes: . Send it soon.

    Looks great, Never tried bitter gourd this way , as you said Jai if it removes bitterness of it , I am just gonna try it :tongue: .

    I will check Jugs on D’s blackberry and let you know. :idea:

  6. Manasi on April 2, 2008 10:49 am

    Hmm… can try, like u (past tense) J, I too NEVER eat karela .. but if u say this is yum.. lemme try!

    Question: do u have to peel/ scrape off the spiky outer cover at all , or just wash and make slices? I can see some spikes in the cooked chips..but not very sure.

    we don’t scrape them.

  7. rachel on April 2, 2008 11:11 am

    I loved this and will continue to love it as well!These crisps were made at home as well.. but with fried sliced onions .

    For less bitterness, buy bittergourds that are lighter green in shade..the darker greens ae said to more bitter…It hasn’t failed me…

  8. Simona on April 2, 2008 11:48 am

    I don’t think I have ever seen bitter gourds: they look really cute. If I find some, I want to try your recipe.

  9. musical on April 2, 2008 12:18 pm

    Love these crisps. Though, aren’t bitter melons and bitter gourd different from each other. The bitter melons are longer and have smooth waves, unlike karela which has sharp serrations.

    different varieties - same family. the name is used interchangeably. the correct name for both types is bitter melon, ‘cos it is a member of the cucurbitae family.
    http://www.bittermelon.org/

  10. Sam on April 2, 2008 12:38 pm

    Jai, you literally read my mind! I was trying to access your page from my b’berry two days back while sitting in the airport and was stuck in an endless “requesting” mode and gave up. Just tried it again and it works splendidly! THANKS!

    Thanks for the feedback.

  11. dhivya on April 2, 2008 1:21 pm

    :yes: love those pictures

  12. Latha on April 2, 2008 1:36 pm

    loev these! and we love bittergourd, we’re with B on this!

  13. Mansi on April 2, 2008 1:51 pm

    NO amtter what! I don’t think anyone can get me to eat karela!! :nono: but your pics look good :)

  14. enjay on April 2, 2008 2:24 pm

    Wow..this is exactly my kind of thing. Hated karela as a child, can’t live without it now. Will make these on the weekend. Thanks!!

  15. Meera on April 2, 2008 2:45 pm

    I love the recipe. I love your pictures. & I love the word “jugalbandits”. :yes: +

  16. roopa on April 2, 2008 2:45 pm

    Wow I love this:) We call it phodi in konkani :) Lovely crisps :drool: I will make it next time i buy bitter gourd:)

  17. Siri on April 2, 2008 3:19 pm

    Jai - U ate a *raw* Karela… :dance: I ate
    one too, when I was 4 during one of visits to my village.. since then I have not touched karela… :hammer: may b will not… EVER.. :notlisten

    Siri :yak:

  18. Meena on April 2, 2008 3:38 pm

    Karela is one of my favourite vegetable, and I often find it hard to convince others to eat - so I usually make a tangy dish out of it. This recipe looks like a wonderful change to my old, boring one. Will defitely try it out and let you know! :)

  19. Shibani on April 2, 2008 5:22 pm

    Bee , u always have very nice way of presenting even the bitter things.
    I have bookmarked and going to try it soon.

  20. Ramya's Mane Adige on April 2, 2008 5:25 pm

    Naveen loves karela!!! And I am always on the look out for variations in karela recipes… thanx for this one

  21. RedChillies on April 2, 2008 7:53 pm

    Bitter gourd crisps are a favorite in our house. I usually make it in the microwave.

    Question about the CLICK event ( sorry, not sure if this is the right place to ask, but asking anyway). Can I send in a picture that I clicked a while ago and already posted on my blog or should it be a new one?

    make a new post with the old pic and link it to the event announcement. - b.

  22. Lakshmi on April 2, 2008 7:58 pm

    Loved those crisps J&B. A new way to make Karela next time. We love garlic so karela n garlic combo should rock.Bee, I have answered your question my blog.

  23. richa on April 2, 2008 8:01 pm

    will be tried soon in my kitchen :D

  24. Cynthia on April 2, 2008 8:28 pm

    I think that it was Shilpa’s blog where I’d first seen bitter gourd chips. Tell me, how do the seeds taste in the chips? In these parts, whenever we’ve cooked it, we always take out the seeds.

    if it’s really crisp, they get nice and crunchy. if you are making a curry or something, it’s better to take them out.

  25. Nags on April 2, 2008 8:30 pm

    i stay away from bittergourd. Period.

    Btw, when do we start voting for click?

  26. revathi on April 2, 2008 10:22 pm

    simple yet tasty way to eat bittergourd. Cool pics. But cooler is the fact that ur blog is fone-accesible !! Kudos guys..

  27. Pel on April 2, 2008 11:06 pm

    Also “mara” in Thai. :-D These look fab people, and when they’re so brown, hardly any bitterness is left! Yummy seeds!

  28. sia on April 3, 2008 2:21 am

    no karela sambar???? common Jai… i like it 2 ways, tangy karela saaru and baked chips(next i am gonna have it with lemon and garlic). next on my list is stuffed karela :D

  29. Helen on April 3, 2008 4:58 am

    I’ve always been scared of the bitter gourd as I’ve heard so many bad experiences! I’ll take your word for it that these are delicious though and next time I see one I’m going to buy it and try it!

  30. Priya on April 3, 2008 6:03 am

    I have never liked karela..used to hide them under my plate when I was a kid :)

  31. sandhya on April 3, 2008 7:07 am

    Crisps looks great…. i love bittergourd but never tried it with garlic…

  32. Miri on April 3, 2008 7:23 am

    HA! I am one up on you - I have accessed Jugalbandi on my piddly Nokia via GPRS`many times :yes: :yes: :yes:

    I love bitter gourd and since I logged on now for the lotus crisps, I think its pure telepathy that you have posted this recipe - two crispy fries for tonights dinner then! :)

    Miri

  33. Seena on April 3, 2008 10:23 am

    Put them in the curd and take with rice, so delicious! My D wants that only with rice.. :)

  34. Zlamushka on April 3, 2008 11:53 am

    very very interesting chips. they look so festive. bitter gourd is a very elegant veggie.

  35. Nandita on April 3, 2008 8:44 pm

    Good stuff…i tried something interesting with bittergourds from an Ayurvedic cookbook and it was quite delicious…i think i shall post it in time for the VOW event.

  36. Núria on April 4, 2008 9:11 am

    Never ever heard about this veggie! First time I see it too! It’s beautiful, though but I sure I would like the taste :(

  37. Madhuram on April 4, 2008 6:35 pm

    I have always wanted to try this, but not yet. Recently I did it with okra, it also came out well.

  38. sandeepa on April 5, 2008 7:45 pm

    See this is what I said…you try to do so much to karela crisps, in Bong homes it will just be turmeric & salt. I am not a karela fan either but have got used to it

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