Keema Bharay Karelay Recipe
Keema bharay karelay recipe is a Punjabi style recipe from Indian and Pakistani cuisine. Bitter gourd is stuffed with chicken mince that is seasoned with freshly ground spices and cooked in commonly used aromatics.In this recipe, I am also going to share all the tips and tricks to minimize the bitterness of the karela.
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.
