When I was in Pakistan over 20 years ago I had these wonderful yummy things. I used to go with my sister in laws and one of them lived right outside Ramdaz Bazaar.
Not only could you hear the donkeys making a lot of noise in the morning that you can hear the adhan too. Adhan is the call of prayer for us Muslims letting us know it is time for us to pray. When I went inside Asia Gate with one of my sister in laws, we went to this place that sold pakora. It was yummy, tasty, crunchy and melt in your mouth pakoras.
They came as in eggplant, potato, chili, onion and of course karela. The karela pakora at first I thought was fish. Ok if word gets back to my sister in law who is a constant tease, I know she would bother me a lot. Looooooool, any way I bother her right back and then some. At first I asked if it was fish because it looked like fried smelts at first. She told me it was karela (bitter gourd).
When I came back here I wanted to recreate this pakora from Ramdaz Bazaar from my memory and I remembered on what my taste buds was telling me at that time. They was so good that it lingered on in my memory.
I took from anywhere between 6 to 8 karelas (bitter gourds) and cut them in half first and removed all of the seeds. I cut them each in to strips and put 3 handfuls of regular table salt on them and rubbed them all over the place and let them sit as I am going to make the pakora batter.
Making the batter consists of 1/2 cup of besan (chickpea flour) 1 pinch each of pink salt, red chili powder and turmeric. In mortar and pestle I added 1 pinch each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds, ground them and added it to the besan mixture.
I added 1/4 cup of water, just a little bit at a time will do because you want a thick lump free batter. I took the karela and rinsed all of the salt off of them. These have to be washed very well and this is the proper way of cleaning karela. Some however boil first but you do not want to do this because then you have a too soggy karela that is hard to work with and this is what you do not want. The best way is to wash them in cold water using salt. This is more effective on getting rid of the bitterness. So what that the karela is crunchy. This is the best way to work with it.
I added all of these karela to the batter and with a pair of tongs that I was coating them very nicely. In my cast iron that I let get nice and hot. I added 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to the hot skillet and let it heat up. I kept mixing the pakora batter in to the karela as I was laying the pieces in the hot oil until they are golden and crispy.
If you are worried about the karela do not worry because that is getting done too. Just be sure to turn them frequently. When done drain them on paper towel and repeat until all of these karelas are finished.
Eat these with your chutney’s of your choice. Oops one thing I want to add karela (bitter gourd) is great for people who are diabetics. It helps normalize blood sugar. This is a tidbit for anyone not familiar with this vegetable and this dish is also vegan friendly.
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