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BITTER GOURD FRY

When I was a kid, I hated bitter gourd. My mom loves them. I never even tried to taste it. Later I got hooked to this vegetable when a friend of mine bought this dish to the office. It was just a simple fry with onion and tomatoes and it tasted so good. I got the recipe from her and started cooking this dish from then on. This is also good for health. Taking bitter gourd at least once a week for people with diabetes to purify the blood. My mother-in-law used to make a simple soup with bitter gourd. She used boil a whole bitter gourd in a cup of water with some salt and pepper. It is a healthy soup but it was not appetizing for me because of its bitterness. She used to prepare such healthy drinks all weak long ranging from gooseberry juice one day, plantain stem juice a day, and so on. In this recipe, I have used tamarind to take out the bitterness of the gourds. I like it this way. Here goes the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
Bitter gourd, medium-sized ones, 2.
Onion, small, 1.
Tomato, small, 1.
Chili powder, 1 teaspoon.
Tamarind, lemon-sized ball.
Salt as per taste.
Mustard seeds for seasoning.

PREPARATION:
Extract thick tamarind juice from the tamarind and keep them aside. Cut the bitter gourd into thin slices and soak them in tamarind juice for half-an-hour. Chop the onion and tomato into small pieces. Heat a kadai with some oil and add around ¼ teaspoon of mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutters, add the onions and sauté for a minute. Add the tomatoes later and sauté them for another minute. Then add the bitter gourd slices and around ¼ cup of water with some salt and cook them closed on a medium flame for 10 minutes. Another 1-2 spoons of tamarind juice can also be added depending on the bitterness of the tamarind. When everything comes out dry, add chopped cilantro leaves and curry leaves and turn off the stove. Serve them with rotis or rice.