Bitter guard​ Curry

Bitter guard Curry Recipe

This item is a South Indian dish. The vegetable itself is very bitter when you try to eat it raw. But with the necessary ingredients, it can transform into a nice spicy Curry which can be consumed with hot White Rice.

Ingredients

Bitter guard -2 to 3

Jackfruit seed if you have

Toor dhal – 1 cup to be pressure cooked

Tamarind paste

Tumeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon

salt to taste

Masala for the curry

Coriander seeds – 1 1/2 tablespoons

Dry red chilly – 3 to 4

jeera – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper – 1/2 teaspoon

dry channa dhal 1 tablespoon

curry leaves – about 4 to 5 leaves

fresh coconut – 1/2 cup grated/ frozen coconut

Water

Step-1

I have used 3 fresh Bitter guards for my recipe, but you could use 2 or even 1, based on how many people you are making it for. When you cut through the Bitter guard, you will see, there is a lot of seeds, which are the most bitter parts of the vegetable to be removed completely, by scraping through them. After removing the seeds then cut them into small pieces.

Step-2

In a small plate gather all the items listed under Masala for the curry as shown in the first picture. Then take a medium saucepan and add some oil, then add the items on the plate to be roasted. When the lentil and coriander seeds are roasted then add the fresh grated/frozen coconut in the pan. When the coconut is lightly roasted, have them transferred to a plate to cool. Don’t keep them in the pan, because the coconut will continue to cook and burn out. The items for the Masala has to cool down since we are going to grind them.

Step-3

While doing the first step of cleaning the vegetable and cutting them, make sure to pressure cook 1 cup of Lentil, with about 2 cups of water. Along with the Jackfruit seed. In the picture below, you see the dry lentil, then while pressure cooking, the lentil will look like in the picture. The third picture is when the cooled lentil is blended.

Step-4

In this step, you add the cut Bitter guard from the first step into a Bowl, then add the cooked jackfruit seed from step 3, where you can have the curry completed in. If you don’t have the jackfruit seed, you can skip it. In a small cup of water add 2 tablespoons of Tamarind paste and mix well and pour it into the Bowl which has the vegetable. Add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. Boil the vegetable until soft.

Step-5

While the vegetable is cooking, add the cooked masala from step -2 into a blender and add very little water and blend the ingredients into a smooth paste.

Step-6

Add the ground masala into the vegetable cooking in step 5, Mix well. Allow the masala mixture to start boiling then add the ground lentil from step 3 into the saucepan. Allow all the ingredients to boil and cook well. Add the required salt.

Step-7

Serve hot, with cilantro for garnishing and have it with hot white rice.