When the pottery is creatively made and glazed by son, and the bitter gourd is home grown in balcony, the pride and joy can make even the karelas  taste sweet :)) 

Or can it ?? 😛

What vegetables have you grown yourself and cooked these past few months ??

Ingredients:

1. Tiny baby bitter gourds 8 – 10 
2. Onion 1 small
3. Tomato 1 small
4. ginger/ garlic pounded 1 tsp
5. Mustard Oil 1 tsp
6. Cumin seeds 1 pinch
7. Fennel seeds 1 pinch
8. Salt to taste
9. Dry mango powder 1/2 tsp
10. Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
11. Turmeric powder 1 pinch
12. Garam masala 1 pinch
13. Coriander powder 1 /2 tsp
14. Peanut powder 1 tsp – optional ( roasted, skinned and crushed)

Method :

1. Wash the karelas and make a long slit going half way down, length wise. It is ideal to rub a little salt and leave them to sweat for a bit, but since I am using fresh home grown ones from a balcony pot I have skipped this step totally.
2. Take flat bottom pan with a few drops of oil on medium flame and roast the bitter gourd till slightly brown and cooked. Keep aside.
3. In the same pan, take the remaining oil , add cumin seeds, fennel seeds and then grated or finely chopped onions. Roast till golden brown, then add ginger garlic paste and finely chopped tomato with salt. ( if you have rubbed salt as in step 1,  be mindful of not using too much now )
4. Cook this for a bit and add all the remaining spices. Turn off the flame and allow to cool slightly. You should have a semi dry masala with you. Divide this filling into portions and fill each karela with this stuffing.
5. Put it back in the same pan, cover it and on low flame cook it for 5 mins, so all the spices get cooked with the karela, and it gets slightly crisp. Stir occasionally. 
6. Serve with paratha / roti / naan or plain white rice, the way I like it !!