Midhi Pavakkai | Baby Bitter Gourd

HI PASSIONATE COOK!
I am Zohara Beevi, and I warmly welcome you to my website. Your interest in this topic led you here, and I hope to provide you with valuable information.
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Inside The Post -

What is Midhi Pavakkai? | Baby Bitter Gourd Uses | Kuruvi Thalai Pavakkai | Midhi Paagal | Kakarakaya | Baby Karela

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• BITTER FOODS
• BITTER GOURD
• BITTER GOURD VARIETIES
• WHAT IS MIDHI PAVAKKAI?
• APPEARANCE OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURD
• FEW INDIAN REGIONAL OR VERNACULAR NAMES OF BITTER GOURD
• FLAVOUR OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS
• INDIAN CULINARY USES OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS
• TIPS TO BUY MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS
• HOW TO STORE MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS?

BITTER FOODS

Bitter-tasting food is one of the foods we sadly tend to avoid or completely eliminate from our diet. However, according to Ayurveda, bitter-tasting foods are cooling and light to the body and create space by draining out excess fluid and also clearing toxins from the body. Hence, it is very important to include bitter-tasting food in our diet to keep ourselves healthy.

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.

BITTER GOURD VARIETIES

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.

As I already shared one of the Indian Bitter Gourd varieties on this blog. I request you to check out it by clicking the below link -
🔗Indian Bitter Gourd

In this article, I have shared the lesser-known and very rare variety of bitter gourd - "Baby Bitter Gourd/Midhi Pavakkai".

Keep reading to explore the lesser-known baby bitter gourd/midhi pavakkai.

WHAT IS MIDHI PAVAKKAI?

Midhi Pavakkai is a Tamil word named for baby bitter gourds. It is also known as kuruvi thalai pavakkai and midhi paagal in Tamil and baby karela in Hindi. It is a lesser-known and rare variety of bitter gourd.

Midhi Pavakkai Plant is a short-living luscious vine. It is a tropical climber with alternate dark green leaves and yellow flowers. Baby 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.

APPEARANCE OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURD

Midhi Pavakkai/Baby bitter gourds can be easily identified by their distinctive appearance. They are small and round shaped 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.

FEW INDIAN REGIONAL OR VERNACULAR NAMES OF BITTER GOURD

Hindi name – Karela.

Tamil name – Pavakkai/Pavakka/Paagal.

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.

FLAVOUR OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURD

As indicated by the name, bitter gourds are renowned for their pungent perfume and disagreeably bitter flavour. Cucurbitacin, an extremely bitter chemical component, is what gives it its disagreeable flavour.

In contrast to typical bitter gourds, midhi pavakkai has a milder bitter flavour.

INDIAN CULINARY USES OF MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS

The bitter gourd is a well-known ingredient that is frequently used across India's cuisines. Despite being a fruit, bitter gourds are considered vegetables. Typically, bitter gourd is consumed fresh, roasted, or sun-dried. It is frequently used in savoury recipes but hardly ever in desserts.

Like a regular bitter gourd, you can use this midhi pavakkai/baby bitter bitter gourd to make a variety of delectable recipes. You can cook stir-fries, curries, deep-fried food, pickles, and many more dishes. Baby bitter gourds can be used in a wide variety of recipes.

For Example

Midhi Pavakkai Poriyal (Baby Bitter Gourd Stir-Fry), Midhi Pavakkai Pitlai (Baby Bitter Gourd Curry), Baby Karela Fry (Baby Bitter Gourd Fry)

As I've already mentioned, one of the least favourite things in our diet is anything with a bitter flavour. Sadly, we avoid it or eliminate it because of the severe flavour. Midhi Pavakkai is a native variety of bitter gourd and in contrast to typical bitter gourds, midhi pavakkai has a milder bitter flavour. So whenever we get a chance to buy this vegetable we should buy and include it in our diet.

All right, I keep repeating that baby bitter gourd has a mildly bitter taste in this post. You can also reduce its mildly bitter taste furthermore by following the below techniques -

1. You can cook midhi pavakkai/baby bitter gourd in tamarind-based recipes.

2. You can also pair it with bland ingredients like potato and dal and also with sour ingredients like curd, amchoor or amchur.

3. Deep frying them also will greatly help in reducing the bitterness.

The above is some of the recipe ideas using Midhi Pavakkai/Baby Bitter Gourds. You could innovatively use these baby bitter gourds in your cooking.

TIPS TO BUY MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURDS

Midhi Pavakkai/Baby Bitter Gourds is a rare vegetable and also a seasonal vegetable. It is available only in seasons. During the season, you can buy them from Indian vegetable sellers, organic vegetable sellers and also in online markets.

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

HOW TO STORE MIDHI PAVAKKAI/BABY BITTER GOURD?

You can store midhi pavakkai/baby 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.