Few days back, I got a comment here from Dr K. B. Malya. Through the link given in his comment, I reached his site Mangaloreworld.com (which does not look like working anymore). I found an amazing amount of information including many recipes on the site. The thing which took me back again and again to the site was the great enthusiasm by which Dr Malya (fondly called as Baab) is presenting the information about so many things, people, and recipes of Mangalore. I saw this Karathe Kismuri recipe on that site. It was one of those forgotten recipes at my home.
My family is not very fond of bitter gourd. But this is one dish that they don’t complain about. V even buys bitter gourd and asks me to make this. It is such a simple recipe, so I have been making it regularly.
Pictorial:
Cut bitter gourd into thin pieces and fry them till they are crispy.
 
In a bowl, mix coconut, coconut, chilli powder, tamarind, salt. Mix well. While serving, add the bitter gourd.
 
Bitter Gourd Chutney (Karathe Kismuri)
Ingredients
- 3/4 bitter gourd karela/karathe
- 1/2 cup onion cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 tea spn chilli powder
- 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Cut the bitter gourd into small squares, add salt to it and keep aside for 30mins (Even the frozen bitter gourd can be used). Squeeze the water to remove bitterness. Add some water and squeeze the pieces again. (By doing this, we are removing the bitterness, along with it we are discarding some of the medicinal values of bitter gourd. So if you can tolerate the bitter taste, do not squeeze the water from the vegetable).
- Heat oil in a pan and fry the bitter gourd pieces till they become crispy.
- In a bowl, mix onion pieces, chili powder, tamarind, coconut and salt. (mix well with hands).
- Just before serving, mix fried bitter gourd (do not mix before, because the bitter gourd should be crispy to get the best taste of kismuri).
Shilpa….You made me try some more side dishes (kind of salad too). My mom makes this too. Try with yam (suran). You need to cut it into very small peices and fry them in little oil. I know you dont get fresh yam here, even i havent tried with frozen yam. In native place the papad one which you mentioned is made with happolu, the red one roasted. Thanks for sharing.
That’s very interesting, i love fried bitter gourd rounds with some chilly powder dusted over, will give this recipe a try. Thank you
Archana!
Next time try coating the bitter gourd rings with mixture of chilli powder, rice flour, little asafoetida and salt and then fry them!
I am sure Shilpa has done this!
Baab
Thanks Aruna, Archana for the comment.
Doc, though I have tried karathe fry with chilli powder, asafoetida and salt, I have not tried using rice flour in it. Its completely new to me, Thanks for sharing it :).
Dear Shilpa,
Thanks for the recipe but please tell me how do u fry with only 1/2 tsp of oil.
Shilpa: Shubhada, I use real good non stick tava for frying these kind of things. I fry them on medium heat so that they don’t get burnt. For all the such frying, I use minimum amount of oil. You can use more oil if you think you cannot fry it in so less oil.
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this recipe seems to be good but can we grind it finally to give a chutney effect ? good fact that bitterness in bittergourd has medicinal value.nice that u have highlighted .many people are unaware of the fact that those food that r not tasty r healthy!!!
Shilpa: It may become very bitter if you grind the bittergourd pieces. Also, they give nice taste and crunch if you add the pieces.
good but can we grind everything finally to give a chutney effect?.nice that u have highlighted the fact that ,those foo dwhich r not tasty are really healthy .many people r unaware of this!