Keema Bharay Karelay, or stuffed bitter gourd, or bharwa karela is a popular dish from Indian and Pakistani Cuisine. Here I am sharing my family recipe of keema bharay karelay (stuffed bitter gourd) filled with chicken mince, seasoned with freshly ground spices, and cooked in commonly used aromatics.
Karela is a vegetable that makes an excellent veggie-cum-protein dish with chicken mince or beef mince. People like this veggie but they cannot cook it perfectly. The reason is obvious. It has a strong bitter taste that many people do not know how to minimize.
In this recipe, I am going to share all the tips and tricks to minimize the bitterness of the karela. In three simple and easy steps, the bitterness of the karela will be almost zero. With my recipe, even a novice can make a delicious keema bharay karelay dish without any hassle.
Is Karela good for health?
According to health experts and nutritionists, a sufficient amount of iron, vitamin C, calcium, fiber, and many other useful nutrients are present in this vegetable. With its nutrients, it has amazing health benefits. Due to its bitterness, it is believed to be useful in diabetes.
Kerala is a summer vegetable. There is abundant use of karela in the summer season in the Indian subcontinent. We can use it in the form of juice, pickle, or curry.
People like this vegetable but due to not having a simple and easy recipe they cannot get benefits from it. In this recipe, I’ll tell you how to overcome the bitterness of karela and how to cook delicious keema bharay karelay dish easily at home.
Keema Bharay Karelay Recipe
This recipe of keema bharay karelay is specifically a staple of Punjabi recipes. It is very easy to prepare with minced chicken, aromatics, and some regular spice mix. The onions, ginger, garlic, and green chili are browned, then tomatoes are added before cooking the chicken mince in it.
In the next step, the chicken mince is seasoned with a spice mix and then the deep-fried karela is stuffed with this well-seasoned chicken mince and then cooked on the bed of this curry base. It has a great taste when served with roti, paratha, naan, or chapati.
To enhance its taste further, I give it a barbecue taste. Once you’ll taste keema bharay karelay or stuffed bitter gourd, made with this recipe, you’ll try this dish again and again due to its wonderful flavor. Let’s see how to make this dish quickly and easily with this recipe.
Preparing the Karela
Rinse the karela with fresh water. Scrape its outer layer with a knife or peel the layer with a peeler. By using the peeler, the outer layer is removed easily and evenly.
Most of the bitterness of karela lies in this layer. If you are ok with the bitterness of karela, you can cook it without removing its layer. With its layer, the karela is bitter but its nutrients remain intact.
Now slit the karela with a knife. Don’t cut through. Scoop out the pulp and seeds.
How to Minimize Bitterness of Karela?
After removing the outer layer, the next step in minimizing the bitterness of karela further is applying salt to it. Rub in salt inside and outside the karela. With this step, the bitter gourd will release its bitter juice. Don’t use salt in excess.
Rub the salt well. By rubbing well, the reaction will start immediately. The bitter gourds will start releasing the water. Set aside for 1 hour. You may keep the karela in sunlight, too.
After 1 hour, rinse the bitter gourds thoroughly and squeeze gently to drain off the bitter juice completely. This step is also necessary to drain the excessive quantity of salt. After washing, wipe them dry with the kitchen towel.
The next step is to deep fry them. This step will also help to minimize the bitterness further. Keep the flame medium. Fry them till light golden color. It will take 8-10 minutes. When karelay are fried, shift them to a plate.
Filling for Keema Bharay Karelay
Now prepare the filling. Take ¼ cup of cooking oil in a pan. This is the same oil in which we have fried the karela.
Add coarsely chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilies and fry on low flame till light golden color. Now add 1 sliced onion (first cut into two halves and then slice). Fry the onion on medium flame just to tender it. It will take 2-3 minutes. Add a big size chopped tomato and fry it for 2 minutes.
Now we’ll add spices; salt, red chili powder, and turmeric powder. Fry all the ingredients for 1 minute. Now add keema (chicken mince). I prepared it by hand. You may use machine-made keema. Cook it well for 8-10 minutes.
To enhance the taste of the mince further, season it with freshly crushed black pepper, cumin powder, and coriander powder and fry for 1 minute. Now mince stuffing is ready, turn off the flame. Remove the pan from the stovetop and let it cool.
Stuffing and Cooking
Now we’ll stuff the fried karela with mince. Fill one karela and then tie around the karela with a clean thread. Prepare all the karela in the same way.
Again, place the pan (having leftover keema in it) on the stovetop. Add ¾ cup of water and mix it with a spoon. Now place the keema bharay karelay inside the pan. Cover the pan and turn the flame to low just to steam it for 8 to 10 minutes.
With this step, the karela will be soft and tender. Remove the cover and you see that the water has dried completely. Keema bharay karelay are fully prepared now. Garnish with two sliced green chilies. You can serve them at this stage.
Keema Bharay Karelay with Barbecue Taste
Here is an extra step. We’ll give the keema bharay karelay or stuffed bitter gourd a barbecue taste. Burn charcoal and place it in a steel plate or a small steel bowl and place it on the karelas inside the pan. Sprinkle some cooking oil over the charcoal with the help of a spoon. When it starts leaving smoke, cover the pan and leave it for at least 2 minutes.
In 2 minutes, the stuffed bitter gourd will have got a barbecue taste. Remove the cover and the charcoal. Shift the keema bharay karelay to the serving dish. Garnish the dish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and enjoy. Must try this recipe at home.
We can enjoy the great taste of this dish with roti, paratha, naan, or chapati.
Tips
- Don’t apply salt in excess to karela. If you use it in excessive quantity, it will not drain off completely even after rinsing the gourds thoroughly and ultimately there will be excessive salt in the dish.
- By removing the outer layer of karela, not only will you get rid of its bitterness but also it will help to cook the whole karela evenly.
- To have a nice aroma and great flavor, use freshly ground spices. Although you may use store-bought ground spices yet it is best to grind the spices at the time of cooking.
Keema Bharay Karelay Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ kg karela (bitter gourd)
- ½ kg chicken mince
- 1 onion (medium size) sliced
- 1 tomato (big size) chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger, garlic, and green chili coarsely chopped
- 2 fresh green chili
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp black pepper crushed
- ½ tsp black cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- cooking oil or ghee required for deep frying
Instructions
- Rinse the karela with fresh water.
- Scrape its outer layer with a knife or peel the layer with a peeler. Most of the bitterness of karela lies in this layer.
- Now slit the karela with a knife. Don’t cut through. Scoop out the pulp and seeds.
- After removing the outer layer, apply salt to it. Rub in salt inside and outside the karela. Rub the salt well then set aside for 1 hour. You may keep the karela in sunlight, too.With this step, the bitter gourd will release its bitter juice. Don’t use salt in excess.After 1 hour, rinse the bitter gourds thoroughly and squeeze gently to drain off the bitter juice completely. After washing, wipe them dry with the kitchen towel.
- The next step is to deep fry them. Keep the flame medium.
- Fry them till light golden color. It will take 8-10 minutes. After karelay are fried, shift them to a plate.
- For the filling, take ¼ cup of cooking oil in a pan. This is the same oil in which we have deep-fried the karela.Add coarsely chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilies and fry them on low flame till light golden color.Now add 1 sliced onion (first cut into two halves and then slice). Fry the onion on medium flame just to tender it. It will take 2-3minutes.
- Add a big size chopped tomato and fry it for 2 minutes.
- Now we’ll add spices; salt, red chili powder, and turmeric powder. Fry all the ingredients for 1 minute.Now add keema (chicken mince). Cook it well for 8-10 minutes.
- Season the mince with freshly crushed black pepper, cumin powder, and coriander powder, and fry for 1 minute. Mince stuffing is ready now, turn off the flame. Remove the pan from the stovetop and let it cool.
- Stuff fried karela with mince and then tie around the karela with a clean thread. Prepare all the karela in the same way.
- Again, place the pan (having leftover keema in it) on the stovetop. Add ¾ cup of water and mix it with a spoon.
- Now place the keema bharay karelay inside the pan. Cover the pan and turn the flame to low just to steam it for 8 to 10 minutes.
- With this step, the karela will be soft and tender. Remove the cover and you’ll see that water has dried completely. Keema bharay karelay are fully prepared now. Garnish with two sliced green chilies. You can serve them at this stage.
- To give a barbecue taste to keema bharay karelay or stuffed bitter gourd, burn charcoal and place it in a steel plate or small steel bowl and place it on the karela inside the pan.Sprinkle some cooking oil over the charcoal with the help of a spoon to produce smoke. When it starts leaving smoke, cover the pan and leave it for at least 2 minutes.
- In 2 minutes, the stuffed bitter gourd will have got a barbecue taste. Remove the cover and the charcoal.
- Transfer the keema bharay karelay to the serving dish. Garnish the dish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and enjoy.Serve this dish with roti, paratha, naan, or chapati, and enjoy its great taste.
