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Stuffed Karela

Karela is also commonly known as bitter gourd. As the name suggest it is very bitter in taste and so not many people are big fan of Karela's. But unlike others I love karela. I have also eaten Karela chips in India, they were crunchy and salty and simply delecious. 
I make 3-4 different varieties of karela sabzi and one of them is stuffed karela. Today's recipe is inspired by North Indian cuisine. It is little bit time consuming but made with minimum ingredients. 

Ingredients
5 small Karela's
1 tbs + 2 tbs canola oil
2 large onions 
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dry mango powder/amchoor
Salt as required
Twine or white cotton sewing thread to tie the karelas

Method
While picking karela's from market look for small one's, almost the size of your finger or slightly bigger than that. Little karela's will cook faster. Wash Karelas and make a slit lengthwise, remove all the seeds in between. Salt the slit karela's pretty nicely and keep aside for maximum hours or overnight if possible.

This step is quite important to cut down the bitterness of karela, though it will not completely go away. Wash karelas with fresh water water and keep aside until they are ready to be used. 
You can make masala a day ahead. Cut onions in quarters and grind them into a smooth paste. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a kadhai and fry onion paste nicely until it's brown in color. I would recommend using non-stick pan while doing this. It will take quite some time as we don't want raw onion taste to this masala. After frying the onion paste, add coriander powder, chili powder and amchoor powder, mix it. 

Stuff karelas with onion mixture and tie it with thread so that filling does't come out. 
Now add these tied up karelas in remaining 2 tbs oil and cook covered until they are soft and little bit charred. If you have leftover mixture add it during the last cooking process of karelas so that it doesn't burn.


Remove thread before serving.

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