"Karate'- Ambuli Koddel/ Bitter Gourd- Raw Mango Curry" ... delicious aromatic garlic seasoned curry from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine prepared when kairi/ ambuli/ raw mangoes are in season ... tastes awesome served with rice ... Yummilicious ....
** Karela/ Karate’/ Bitter Gourd though bitter in taste can be prepared in many varieties with tantalizing tastes that one ends up liking them. I am sure everybody is aware of bitter gourd benefits, so no point in repeating myself often here or one can always google for more information if need be. The only thing I would like to repeat in all my posts is a simple point of not trying to scrape the outer skin full of nodes of bitter gourds, by doing so you are actually disposing of medicinal properties of the same.
** Now coming to applying salt, resting, squeezing out later supposedly to remove bitterness of the veggie is a matter of choice. Here too I would like to ask if it is wise to do so?? you are once again throwing out nutrients etc. from it. Just give it a thought today or sometime, if it was not supposed to be used/ consumed as it is why would God create nature as it is done so. Why would there be seasonal fruits or veggies, again which human beings have played with and made them available all round the year.
** Everything has a purpose and that is supposed to be the necessity for human body. Though I have no knowledge much of Ayurveda, I do know about taste buds that need to exercise all types of the same, be it sweet, spicy, bitter, astringent, off course all in certain limits. While we enjoy all types of tastes happily, why is it that we detest bitterness? A little bit is necessary to be introduced early in life so that it is not shunned upon, again, you can balance it a little bit while cooking to bring out taste in dishes.
** Karela/ Karate’ (Karathe)/ Bitter Gourd is green colored veggie available in small, medium and large size. Again the color of the gourd also varies from light to dark green. It is believed that the lighter ones are less bitter than the darker shaded ones, however it is believed that darker the color more the nutrient levels. In Mumbai we get lovely tender light green ones easily and I purchase them often and this time too here I have used the lighter shaded bitter gourd though you can use any.
** All said and done, one needs to enjoy all types of seasonal veggies and fruits locally available because nature always gives them to us appropriate to be had during that particular season. Off course it is one’s individual choice, here I have prepared the traditional curry by and large prepared with bitter gourd along with hogplum by replacing raw mango in place of hogplum as the purpose of addition of these is to bring in tartness to the curry which either of the veggie serves the purpose to the curry.
** Once again I would like to mention here that the raw mango is added to bring that khatta/ tangy/ tart/ amshe taste to the dish and therefore any veggie that serves the purpose can be added. You can add on bimbul (tree sorrel fruit), hogplum (ambado), karmbala (starfruit), kokum, kodumpuli etc. also to the curry for the same as per individual choice. I have actually shared a few in different combinations in blog before that can be check via common link to recipes shared at the bottom of this recipe.
** here is my recipe for "Karate'- Ambuli Koddel/ Bitter Gourd- Raw Mango Curry" ... my style derived from our own traditional recipe ...
** Slice off edge portions of Karela/ Karathe’/ Bitter Gourd and cut them into rings/ roundels or 1/4 inch thick slices. You can retain or remove the seeds from within. Do not scrape the nodes/ outer skin of bitter gourd as they contain all nutrients. (Check Picture below). Put cut pieces in a colander and rinse under running water, remove and keep it aside for excess water to drain off completely.
** Wash, wipe dry and then slice off the stem edge portion of one medium sized raw mango/ ambuli/ kairi/ mavina kayi. Slice it lengthwise into strips of about 1 inch thickness and discard the inner seed. (Check Picture below).
** Add bitter gourd slices in a layer in a pressure cooker pan and top it with raw mango pieces on a layer. Add required amount of water say about 1/2 inch level above the veggie layer and pressure cook on medium heat to 1 whistle.
** Remove and keep it aside for the pressure in the cooker to fall on itself. Once able to open the lid, do so carefully and then add the cooker veggies into a stainless steel vessel and keep it aside ready while we prepare the masala.
** Masala to be Ground : Add 1 cup of freshly grated coconut (soyi/ nariyal) into a mixer grinder with 8-10 red kashmiri chillies (byadgi mirchi/ kumte mirsanga), a small marble sized piece of tamarind (chinchama/ imly) and grind to a fine paste. You can use veggies cooked water for grinding the masala too which is what I usually do. Also the masala should be ground to a thick and smooth texture without adding excess water which can always be added later if need be.
** Add the ground masala to the cooked veggies in vessel along with water as is necessary to bring it to a semi thick gravy consistency. Add salt (namak/ meeta) to taste and about 30-50 gms of grated jaggery (gud/ goda) mix well and bring to a boil on medium heat stirring often to avoid getting burnt. Lower the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes and then remove from and keep it aside while we prepare tempering.
** Note : I must mention here that you can skip or reduce the amount of addition of jaggery (gud/ goda), however in my view the taste of the curry will be lost if done so. If you need to do so for health reason, reduce it but add on a little bit coz. the taste of the curry as I mentioned is in balanced with sweet- spicy- tangy taste.
** For Tempering/ Pannaka : Heat 1 tblsp of oil (tel/ tela) in a small pan, when hot add in 10-12 peeled and slightly crushed garlic cloves (losun/ lehsun) and fry till they are evenly lightly browned in color. Remove and pour this over the curry, cover and keep this aside for 15- 20 minutes for flavors to seep in. You can retain the skin of garlic and crush the same and use in tempering too, it tastes more aromatic.
** "Karate'- Ambuli Koddel/ Bitter Gourd- Raw Mango Curry" is done and ready to be served. Though this curry tastes great served with rice as it usually is served, I must mention here that in my home we prefer to relish it with parathas or roti or even dosas. This is so because the curry gets a sweetish tinge with addition of jaggery along with tartness and spice levels, so it really does taste great with roti.
** In case you want to serve it with roti/ chapati too, do remember to keep the texture of the curry slightly thicker than you would do so while serving with rice and it just tastes great. Do try this curry and enjoy with your family and remember to always introduce children to all types of taste from childhood as that is the very time when tastes are developed for lifetime and with advancing of age it becomes that much difficult to do so. Life is all about a balance of sweet- spice and bitter taste, so go ahead and enjoy.
** Sharing a few common links below for convenience of easy browsing of recipes. It includes all types of "koddel recipes" in various combinations, "recipes with Karate' (Bitter Gourd)" and "recipes with raw mango (ambuli/ kairi)". Do go through in leisure and try them out as and when possible. Also, please do drop in a comment of feedback as it helps in doing that much more. Thank you ....
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