Simple Bitter gourd curry | Hagalkayi Palya

Bitter gourd is the one vegetable I dreaded earlier but is very dear to me now, lol. Although it tastes extremely bitter, various studies have shown that its a highly beneficial vegetable if consumed regularly.
Being on a journey of eating better every day, my husband and I try to include a variety of vegetables and greens in our diet, and bittergourd is always on our bi-weekly grocery list. We usually eat it as a curry, either with chapatis/rotis or as a side dish with rice and plain dal/rasam.
Bitter gourd curry/stir-fry or Hagalkayi Palya(in Kannada) has a lot of flavors going in it – bitter, sweet, spicy, and tangy. However, the bitterness of the vegetable overpowers the others. So including ingredients like tamarind and jaggery helps to curb this bitterness to a certain extent and makes it so tasty.
I hope you try this recipe and enjoy!
Simple Bitter gourd curry | Hagalkayi Palya
Equipment
- Cooking pan with lid preferably a wide bottom pan
Ingredients
- 4 small bitter gourds
- 4 tbsp cooking oil
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- curry leaves
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 ½ tsp coriander powder
- ¼ tsp cumin powder
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced
- 2-3 tbsp tamarind juice
- 1 tsp jaggery powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Slice the bitter gourd into thin pieces and remove their seeds. Soak them in water along with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes. Then drain out the water completely and squeeze out the excess water from them and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a cooking pan on medium heat.
- Transfer bitter gourd slices into the pan and sautƩ them until light brown (this may take up to 5 minutes), then remove them into a separate bowl.
- Add cumin seeds into the same oil on low heat and allow them to sizzle.
- Add curry leaves, minced garlic, and sautƩ for 10 seconds.
- Maintaining the heat on low, add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and cumin powder, sautĆ© them for another 10 seconds( ensure that the spices donāt burn) and add the tamarind pulp along with jaggery powder.
- Transfer the fried bitter gourd slices into the pan, add onions plus salt, and mix together.Ā
- Cook this for 4-5 minutes on low heat until bitter gourd tender, while stirring continuously.Ā
- Turn off the heat and serve bitter gourd curry hot with chapatis/rotis or on the side with rice/quinoa ā dal/rasam.
Let me know if you tried this recipe by tagging a picture of your preparation on my Instagram @swaadista and using #swaadistarecipes.
Happy cooking, happy eating!
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