Pavakkai Kari

Paavakkai (Bitter Gourd) is one of the few vegetables I don't like. I used to like the small, deep fried  bitter gourds. I would carefully peel off the skin and eat them. However, my friend in grad school loves 'em, makes 'em almost every day and raves about 'em incessantly. This kicked off my, now popular, crave-O-neurons and I must say I have perfected in making this while hiding the strong odour and taste typical of Bitter Gourd.

Things Needed

• Microwave
• Microwavable Bowl
• Bitter Gourd - 1
• Tamarind - 2 Tbsp
• Jaggery - One medium chunk powdered (3 Tbsp)
• Asafoetida- Generous Pinch
• Red Chilly powder- 1 Tsp
• Sambar Powder- 1 Tsp
• Red Chillies - 3
• Oil - 1 Tsp
• Mustard Seeds, Urad dal - 1 Tsp each

Ze Microwaving part

• Cut Bitter Gourd first into rings and then into small pieces. Remove the seeds while in the ring form
• Put the tamrind paste, the cut pieces of the vegetable, 2 TbSp of Jaggery, 1 Tsp Chilly powder,1 Tsp Sambar Powder & half a cup of water in a Micowavable Bowl and Microwave it for 5-8 mins in high

On stove 

• In a pan (I always prefer non-stick), heat oil and add Mustard seeds, Urad dal and broken red chillies. Wait for the quintessential splutter
• Put the steamed vegetable into this along with the gooey sludge, now containing all good things in the world, from the bowl to the pan
• Add one more tsp of Sambar powder, 1 Tbsp of jaggery and some more Asafoetida into this
• Mix it all up
• Wait for the sludge to become thicker and thicker until there is less of the sludge and more of the vegetable. The sludge forms a layer around the vegetable and hardens when it is settles down
• Eat!

Side Notes

• You can mix it with rice or eat it as a side dish
• You can also pressure cook instead of microwaving

Actual Picture