Karelay Qeema

 Karelay also known as bitter gourd is a natural blood purifier and has numerous benefits. Although they do taste a bit bitter as obvious from their name but still this vegetable is liked by many people around Pakistan, especially when cooked with meat/mined meat. There are 2 ways of cooking bitter gourd with minced meat, one is where we stuff the bitter gourd with spicy cooked minced meat and then fry them, and the other way of making them is by cutting them in to thin slices, frying then adding them in to cooked minced meat…

Ingredients:

300 gm minced meat
 1 kg bitter Gourd (Karela)    
3-4 medium Onion (sliced)
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste                    
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp red chili powder

3 -4 tbsp yogurt
3-4 medium tomatoes (chopped)
2-3 chopped Green chili                
1 tsp cumin seeds

4-5 black pepper corns

2-3 cloves

1 big black cardamom
chopped fresh coriander
1/3  cup oil (plus a bit more for frying the bitter gourd)

Method:

1)      Peel the bitter gourd, slice them in half length wise, scoop out all the seeds and chop them (1/2 inch slices). Take 1 tbsp of salt and rub it on the bitter gourds, leave the salt on for 2-3 hours. Wash them with water 2-3 time and squeeze the water out.

2)      Heat the oil in a pan add half of the sliced onions fry till they get translucent, add cumin seeds and ginger & garlic paste, stir for 2 minutes then add tomatoes, yogurt, salt, red chili powder, black pepper corn , cloves and black cardamom,  fry it well until the tomatoes are almost dissolved (sprinkle some water if you need to in between).

3)      Add minced meat in and fry for further 8-10 minutes. Then add in ½ cup of water, cover the pan and let it cook on low flame.

4)      Mean while in a frying pan or anyother cooking pan, heat about ¼ cup of oil and add in the sliced bitter gourds, fry on medium low flame get, stirning in between until they get golden brown anf turn off them flame.

5)      Now add the fired bitter gourds along with the oil we fried them in, half of the remaining onions, chopped green chiles, garam masla powder, dhania powder, and chopped fresh coriander, give it a stir cover the pan and let it cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes and turn the flame off. Serve with roti, green chutney and salad.