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This is another Dry curry which is my husband's favourite, every time I get pavakka, I have to do this for at least one Bitter Gourd, My daughter & me both of us Bitter gourd Gojju, so when we buy this vegetable we share it!!!!. This dry curry is cooked in marriages & ceremonies also!!!, but with different vegetables. Here is the Recipe, again, as Raji from RAKS Kitchen says where is the photo of dry curry, Then it will look interesting to taste, Raji, I am sorry dear next time when i cook i will post the picture, I remembered that i forgot to take the photo after we were half way through eating !!!! :)
PAVAKKA PARAP ARACHHA KARMAD

















Ingredients :

• 1 Bitter Gourd or Karela (medium sized)

To Grind :

• 1/2 cup Channa Dal (soaked)
• 2- 2 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi )
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• Salt to taste

Seasoning:

• 2 to 3 tbsp of oil
• 1 tbsp Urad Dal
• 1 tbsp of Channa Dal
• 1 sprig of curry leaves

METHOD :

1. First of all soak channa dal for 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours
2. Then cut the Bittergourd into pieces as shown in the photo, sprinkle little bit of salt mix and keep it aside for some time.
3. About an hour or so, the Bitter gourd separates out water from it, If you do not like too much bitterness you can squeeze the water out of them & throw the water away, I do not throw the water away but use it as it is. The water is very important & it is which has the qualities which is good for lowering the sugar levels, people suffering from Diabetic drink this water to reduce the sugar level.
4. Take a wok, heat a tbsp of oil, Season it with mustard seeds, urad, channa Dals & sprig of curry leaves & turmeric powder, after they change colour, Add Bitter gourd & fry in a low flame until it becomes soft & gets cooked sprinkling little water bit by bit or u can fry with little more oil , see to it, that it should become soft & crispy too !!
5. Now Grind soaked Channa Dal, chillies, asafoetida into a coarse paste do not add too much water, try to grind it without water.
6. In the same wok where you had already fried Bitter gourd, after it got cooked add this coarse paste to it, mix well & allow it get cooked by sprinkling water little by little in a low flame until the Dal's get cooked & a nice aroma comes out of it
7. Or else you can increase the quantity of oil to 4 to 5 tbsp to the same wok after the bittergourd is cooked and allow 2 or 3 minutes, oil gets heated up, then add the coarse paste, mix well and allow it get cooked. Actually, the taste is great when you cook it like this, but I have stopped doing so, as we will be using more oil this way, But, My mom-in-law always said If I cooked like this, it tasted like her mom's cooking, She also loved this dry curry.
8. After all of them get evenly mixed & cooked, you can serve it with plain rasam or it goes very well with Seraga-Molag Rasam (Jeera-Pepper Rasam), or you can mix it with plain hot Rice and eat it.

Variations:

You can use this method to cook dry curries with:

French Beans, Clustered Beans, Runner Beans, Plantain, Plantain Flower & chow-chow.

Note: For Plantain & Plantain Flower the vegetable need not be cooked separately, Mix the coarse paste with the vegetable , Then oil should be heated, fry the seasonings & then add the plantain-Dal mixture and roast until the vegetable gets cooked.

METHOD II

You can mix Channa Dal & Tuvar Dal to make this or Use Tuvar Dal instead of Channa Dal, but the method is same as above.