- Servings:
- Drying in the sun time: 4-5 hours.
- Preparation time: 2-3 minutes.
- Stuffing time: 8-10 minutes.
- Drying in the sun time: 8-10 days.
- Total time: 13 minutes.
Bold, zesty, and surprisingly addictive; “Karela (bitter gourd) pickle” is known as “Karele ka Achar”, is a unique Indian condiment that turns the naturally bitter karela into a delicious accompaniment.
Prepared with mustard seeds, fenugreek, turmeric, chilli powder, and a generous amount of oil, the pickle beautifully balances bitterness with tangy, spicy flavours.
Often enjoyed with Rotis, Dal–Rice, or Parathas since ancient time. For those who love strong flavours on their plate! The karela soaks up a vibrant mix of spices and oil, mellowing its sharp bitterness and turning into a pickle that’s tangy, spicy, and packed with character.
Just a small spoonful can jazz up a simple meal into generous meal. Bitter gourd is not liked by all, but I loved all the recipes made with bitter gourd like Karela Do Pyaza, Bitter Gourd Potato Bhujia, Stuffed Bitter Gourd with Mango Powder, “Royal Stuffed Bitter Gourd“, Stuffed Bitter Gourd with Dry Coconut, Karela Maharashtrian Style, Bitter Gourd South Indian Style, Stuffed Karela with Onion Masala and many more… check out Indian Cooking Manual…
Bitter gourd when pickled its bitterness reduced and a nice tangy flavour appears, try and enjoy…
It’s a perfect example of how Indian pickling traditions turn even the humblest vegetables into a treat.
Ingredients:
- Karela (bitter gourd): 500 gm
- Salt: 30 gm
- Black rock salt: 5 gm
- Funnel seed: 10 gm (roughly grind)
- Ajwain: 10 gm
- Fenugreek seed powder: 10 gm
- Onion seed: 5 gm
- Asafoetida: 1 pinch
- Turmeric powder: 5 gm
- Red chilli: 5 gm.
- Garam masala powder: 10 gm
- Mustard powder: 30 gm
- Mustard oil: 200 gm
Preparation:
- Clean and wash bitter gourd. Dry those in the sun for 4-5 hours, slit it keep aside.
Method:
- Take a big mixing bowl. Put all powder masala in it; mix well with some amount of oil.
- And make thick paste. Now stuffing is ready.
- Fill this masala paste into each bitter gourd carefully and properly; Put this stuff bitter gourd to dry into the sun for 4-5 hours. After that dip this into oil, one by one and store it into the glass jar, put remaining oil. Cover it with thin cotton cloth.
- Next day put this jar outside into the sun for drying for another 8-10 days.
- Note: shake the jar daily, so that oil coating is going all around the bitter gourd.
- Now, mouth watering bitter gourd pickle is ready to serve.
- Remove the cotton cloth and put the lead.
- This you can serve with “Aaloo paratha“, “Dost Paratha“, Steamed Rice etc.
Karela (bitter gourd) pickle by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.