Bitter gourd/Indian bitter gourd/Pavakkai/Karela

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What is Bitter Gourd?/Pavakkai Uses/Karela Uses/Indian Bitter Gourd Uses

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• BITTER FOODS
• TYPES OF BITTER GOURD
• BITTER GOURD
• ABOUT –INDIAN BITTER GOURD PLANT
• APPEARANCE OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD
• TEXTURE OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD
• FLAVOUR OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD
• FEW INDIAN REGIONAL OR VERNACULAR NAMES FOR BITTER GOURD
• INDIAN CULINARY USES OF BITTER GOURD/PAVAKKAI/KARELA
• TIPS TO REDUCE BITTERNESS FROM BITTER GOURD
• TIPS TO BUY AND STORE BITTER GOURD/PAVAKKAI/KARELA

BITTER FOODS

Bitter-tasting food is one of the healthiest and most necessary food, and that needs to be included regularly in our diet. However, we tend to avoid or mostly eliminate bitter-tasting food from our diet. But, according to Ayurveda, bitter-tasting foods are cooling and light to the body and create space in the body by draining out excess fluid and they also clear toxins from the body. So, it is very important to include bitter-tasting food in our diet to keep ourselves healthy.

In this article, I have shared the most commonly known bitter-tasting food - “Bitter gourd”. It is one of the most bitter-tasting foods popularly known in the culinary world.

TYPES OF BITTER GOURD

Before we get into this topic “Bitter gourd”, we must get to know the types of bitter gourd cultivated around the globe. There are numerous varieties of bitter gourds cultivated around the world, of that, the 2 primary types of bitter gourds are popularly known and used as fruit-vegetable in cooking. They are:

1. Chinese bitter gourd
2. Indian bitter gourd

Within India, there are numerous types of local and seasonal varieties of bitter gourds available. In this article, I have shared the most commonly used variant “INDIAN BITTER GOURD” including its few Indian regional names, flavour, culinary uses, and purchase and storage ideas. I hope to share all other local and seasonal varieties of bitter gourds in my future articles. So, kindly “SUBSCRIBE” to my blog for immediate updates on articles.

BITTER GOURD

Bitter gourd – known to botanists as Momordica Charantia – is a plant with yellow flowers and edible leaves and fruits. It is also variously known as bitter melon, bitter squash, bitter cucumber, bitter apple and balsam-pear. Interestingly, bitter gourd got its name from the taste of the plant’s edible leaves and fruits.

The bitter gourd belongs to the family of the Cucurbitaceae family (gourd family). The popular plants in the Cucurbitaceae family include cucumbers, gourds, squashes, zucchini, melons and pumpkins.

ABOUT - INDIAN BITTER GOURD PLANT

The bitter gourd plant is a short-living luscious vine. It is a tropical climber with alternate dark green leaves and yellow flowers. Bitter gourd, being a climber, needs support to grow healthy and with fewer insect attacks. For that, usually, climbers are supported by the trellis/pandal.

Bitter gourd vines begin flowering about 40-45 days after seedling. The brightest yellow blooms produce both male flowers and female flowers. Male flowers are short-lived, they bloom in the morning and fall from the plant in the evening. Female flowers have an ovary at the bottom of the bloom. Bees and insects naturally pollinate the female flower by transferring pollen from the male flowers to female flowers. This pollination process also can be done manually. Once the female is pollinated, they will begin to enlarge and fruit will appear. The fruit will be grown in 60-90 days and ready to be harvested.

APPEARANCE OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD

Indian bitter gourds can be easily identified by their distinctive appearance. They have a narrow shape with pointed ends and dark green colour exterior skin with spikes and ridges. Its interior has a thin layer of flesh with seeds and piths. Unripe pith has a white colour appearance and seed has a brown or white appearance.

TEXTURE OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD

Bitter gourd is harvested and cooked, when they are green. If it is not harvested on time, they soon become ripe and the colour changes from yellowish-orange to red. These changes greatly affect the texture and taste of the bitter gourd.

If the bitter gourd is harvested on time, the texture of the fruit is dark green, lightweight to hold and the skin is tender and the flesh is watery and crunchy.

FLAVOUR OF INDIAN BITTER GOURD

As the name says, the bitter gourd is known for its distinctive aroma and unpleasant bitter taste. Its unpleasant taste comes from the chemical compound named cucurbitacin, which is indeed very bitter.

TIPS

Bitter gourd is already a bitter fruit vegetable, storing them for a long time increases the chance of becoming very bitter. So, it is best to cook as soon as possible after buying.

FEW INDIAN REGIONAL OR VERNACULAR NAMES OF BITTER GOURD

Hindi name – Karela.

Tamil name – Pavakkai/Pavakka.

Kashmiri name – Karel.

Urdu name – Karela.

Sindhi name – Karelo.

Gujarati name – Karelu.

Punjabi name – Karela.

Nepali name – Karelo.

Marathi name – Karel.

Konkani name – Karate.

Assam name – Kerela.

Bengali name – Korola.

Malayalam name – Pavakka/Kaippakka.

Telugu name – Kakara.

Kannada name – Hagalakayi.

Odia name – Kalara.

INDIAN CULINARY USES OF BITTER GOURD/PAVAKKAI/KARELA

Bitter gourd is a popular Indian ingredient used commonly across different cuisines of India. Though bitter gourd is a fruit, they are treated as a vegetable. Generally, bitter gourd is used in raw form, cooked form, or sun-dried form. Bitter gourd is widely used in savoury dishes and very rarely in sweet dishes.

Bitter gourd can be used to make a wide range of delicious dishes. You can make stir-fry, curry, deep-fry, steam or boil, stuff, pickle, health drinks and many more. The culinary use of bitter gourds is unlimited.

FOR EXAMPLE

Pavakkai varuval (bitter gourd chips), Bharwan karela (stuffed bitter gourd), Pavakka Thoran (bitter gourd stir-fry), Pavakkai pitlane (bitter gourd curry), Shukto (mixed vegetable curry with bitter gourd)

In the picture - Pavakkai Pitlai Recipe

For the detailed Pavakkai Pitlai Recipe. Kindly, click the below link to check out -

🔗Pavakkai Pitlai Recipe

In the Southern parts of India, bitter gourd is mostly used in tamarind-based recipes. Tamarind, being a sour ingredient helps to reduce the bitterness of bitter gourd.

On the other hand, Northern parts of Indians use bitter gourds with potato, amchoor or amchur (dried raw-mango powder), dal and curd.

Bland ingredients like potato, dal and sour ingredients like tamarind, curd, amchoor or amchur pair very well with bitter gourds and they also help to reduce the bitterness from the bitter gourds.

Bitter gourds can be sun-dried. In fact, sun drying is a traditional way of preserving bitter gourds to use in the off-season or during the rainy season.

In the picture - Pavakkai Chips Recipe/Bitter Gourd Chips Recipe/Karela Chips

For the detailed Pavakkai Chips Recipe/Bitter Gourd Chips Recipe/Karela Chips. Kindly, click the below link -
🔗Pavakkai Chips Recipe/Bitter Gourd Chips Recipe/Karela Chips

TIPS TO REDUCE BITTERNESS FROM BITTER GOURD

First, wash, dry and chop the bitter gourds into the desired shape or according to the recipe. Then use any one of the tips mentioned below to reduce the bitterness from a bitter gourd –

• Take chopped bitter gourds in a bowl, add some salt and turmeric, mix well and allow to soak for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, squeeze the bitter gourd to remove the bitterness.
• Instead of salt and turmeric, use buttermilk to soak the bitter gourd, after 10 minutes remove the bitter gourd from buttermilk water and use them directly in cooking.
• Final tip: Use bitter gourd along with sour ingredients like tamarind, amchoor or amchur and curd.

The above tips are most frequently followed by many Indian to reduce the bitterness from the bitter gourd.

Bitter gourd is one of the healthiest ingredients, which has been in use as a food and as a medicine for a long time. So, whenever possible try to include bitter gourd in your diet.

The above is some of the recipe ideas using Indian bitter gourds. You could innovatively use bitter gourds in your cooking.

TIPS TO BUY AND STORE INDIAN BITTER GOURD/PAVAKKAI/KARELA

Bitter gourd is easily available around the year. You can buy them from Indian vegetable sellers, organic vegetable sellers and also in online markets.

Within India, bitter gourd is ubiquitous. You can buy them from the street vegetable shops, vegetable-fruit markets, and also in online markets.

When buying bitter gourds, look for freshness and moisture-free bitter gourds and always buy the dark green colour and light-weight bitter gourds.

HOW TO STORE PAVAKKAI/BITTER GOURD/KARELA?

You can store bitter gourds in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. But I recommend you to use it within a day of purchase or a maximum of 2 days. Because storing them for many days creates fungus on the skin as well as it will ripe and make it very bitter and unpalatable to cook or eat.

HAPPY COOKING!
with better ingredients for better food.

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