Karela Sabzi (Bitter Melon Vegetable)

I’m excited to feature my first karela recipe! I only start cooking karelay (bitter melon or bitter gourd) with some regularity the past year or so. I rediscovered them at the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market a couple of years ago. Luckily, at that time my mom was visiting so we had an opportunity to make them together. I had them again in Calcutta where they were thinly sliced and deep fried, much like the okra featured here. They were phenomenal. The recipe below is an adaptation of my mom’s and Rushdie’s pyaaz walay karelay (bitter melon with onions) from her book.

Karela is a vegetable that is native to South and Southeast Asia. Even though it’s a bit of a novelty in the US, many cultures have grown up eating it and relish the bitter taste. In Cambodia, I have had bitter melon soup, and at Japanese restaurants, fried and served by itself. I’m not sure about other regions but in South Asia, you always take steps to mitigate the bitter taste of the vegetable. This can be done by soaking it in salt or tamarind water, or slicing and salting it for a couple of hours before cooking it. That’s what I have done in the recipe here. It is definitely time intensive but for many, karelay are well worth the effort. Enjoy.