7 ways to make bitter gourd less bitter

Kitchen hacks to do with bitter gourd

Bitter Gourd or Karela is a power-packed vegetable that offers a plethora of health benefits, right from boosting immunity and helping those with diabetes to detoxifying the liver and combating cancer, Karela is a must-have vegetable for people of all age groups. If you have kids at home, then you might have had some hard times while making them eat Bitter.

  Scrape off the skin

  The rugged surface of the bitter gourd contains the maximum amount of bitterness. To cut down on the bitterness, just take a knife and scrape, use a peeler to remove the layer.

 Use jaggery

   The taste of dry Bitter Gourd sabzi gets accentuated with the addition of jaggery. It not only gives a glossy appearance to the sabzi but also balances out the flavours perfectly. All you need to do is, take a chunk of  jaggery, grate it and add it to the sabzi. You can increase or decrease the sweetness as per your taste.

  Deep-fry

  If you are going to use bitter gourd to make pagodas, then the job of removing bitterness is anyway done. Deep-frying tones down the bitterness while simultaneously cooking the vegetable evenly.

  Get rid of seeds

Always make sure that the seeds of the bitter gourd are removed before using it in recipes. If you like gardening or have a kitchen garden at home, you can use these seeds to grow Bitter Gourd plants.

  Salt marination 

    Another simple way to make bitter gourd less bitter is by marinating it with salt. Just take the bitter gourd, scrape out the seeds as well as the outer skin. Now sprinkle a generous amount of salt on it and rub it all over the bitter gourd. Repeat this step with all the bitter gourds. Place them in a bowl and set them aside for 30 minutes. Now just wash the gourd and pat them.

Soaking method

   In a bowl, add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 tbsp sugar. Soak the chopped bitter gourd in the mixture. Let them soak for at least 20 -30 minutes. Now drain the water and wash the gourd under running water. It is now ready to be used for cooking.

  Blanching

   Boil 2 -3 cups of water in a pot. Add 1 tsp salt to it. Once the water comes to a roaring boil, add chopped bitter gourd to it. Cook on high flame for 2 minutes and then take out the bitter gourd. Dip immediately in cold water for 2 minutes. Now drain all the water and the bitter gourd is ready to be used.

Green chili

  Take a bowl of milk and pour into a pot. Keep on low heat and once it is lukewarm, pour into a bowl. Take two into the lukewarm milk. The green chilies should have the stems intact and must be completely dipped in the milk. Cover the milk bowl with a lid and set it aside for 12 hours.

 Lemon

You might have used lemon several times to make paneer from milk. But have you ever used it to set curd? Here is how you can do it. Take lukewarm milk in a bowl and squeeze out the juice of half a lemon into the milk. Give a gentle stir and cover the bowl with a lid. Wrap it with a cotton cloth and set it aside for 12 hours. Wrapping the bowl with a cloth will keep the bowl warm.

  Red chili

  Dry red chilies work in  similarly manner as green chilies. To set curd using dry red chilies, take lukewarm milk in a bowl. Dip the dry red chilies (with stalks) into the milk. Cover the bowl with a lid and set it aside for 12 hours to let it set completely. Once set, you can use this curd as a starter to set a larger batch of curd.