Bitter gourd/Pagarkai chips

When I lived in Neyveli, my mom used to buy vegetables from the vegetable market (sandhai/sabzi mandi) on Tuesdays or Thursdays (unlike now, there weren't any daily markets in the 80's). The market held on Thursdays was somewhat close to our house and my mother used to walk 1.5 km just to buy those vegetables. She would return back from the market with two bags-one containing greens and tomatoes and the other bag containing onions and vegetables. Among them, bitter gourd is the regular visitor of my mother's cooking.

Whenever my mother prepared food during my school days, I would sit and do some chit-chat with her. While watching the food being prepared, the smell would make me *click* automatically record it instinctively in my mind. Unlike a typical boring teacher, she didn't teach me, "you have do this and do that" and blah blah, whatever.

She also prepared pickles out of  unripe fruits picked from those trees in our own garden like lemons, mangoes and gooseberries, etc.

After marriage, I actually came to know and see the existence of some different and exotic vegetables, fruits and spices such as squashes, broccoli, persimmons, etc. in Michigan and Texas which were not available in the town we lived in. I still continue my quest to discover some amazing hybrids of the veggies, fruits, spices and all.

Coming back to the story of bitter gourd, mother always prepared varuval (fry) or puli kuzhambu (tamarind sauce). Knowing the nutritional value of the gourd, she never squeezed out the juice just to remove the bitterness (I follow the same technique now as well). However, my tongue would repel the taste of bitterness and I only consumed the gourds in a minuscule amount.

In March 2012, I prepared these chips. My parents, who were visiting me, enjoyed it to their hearts' contents. I learnt this recipe from a magazine and made a few changes to our tastes.

Now on to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Bitter gourds - 5
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tsp. (or as per taste)
Gram flour besan - 3 tbsp.
Rice flour - 1 tbsp.
Corn flour/starch - 1 tbsp.
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp. (or as per taste)
Salt (to taste)
Fennel seeds - 1.5 tsp. (coarsely powdered)
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp.
Oil (to deep fry)

Method:

Wash the bitter gourd.

Slice the bitter gourd into thin pieces. Remove the hard seeds.

Add the sliced bitter gourd pieces into a big bowl. Add pepper powder.

Add coarsely powdered fennel seeds.

Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, besan, rice flour, corn flour and salt. Mix well.

Sprinkle little water and continue mixing.

Heat the oil. When the oil becomes medium hot, add the bitter gourd to the oil. Every slice should be separate.

Fry till they become crisp and golden brown in colour. Remove and place them on absorbent paper. Continue with the remaining bitter gourd slices.

Serve with sambar rice or rasam rice.

Posted in: Snacks