Karela Besan Sabzi Recipe, How to make Besan Karela Sabji

Karela Besan Sabzi Recipe – Step by step recipe of bitter gourd curry cooked with gram flour, onion and tomato.

Like many of you I and my dear hubby are not big fan of karela recipes or bitter gourd. Somehow we never developed the taste and liking for this vegetable. However once a while I do prefer to cook karela sabji in different variations. I have already shared bharwa karela recipe with besan.

So today let me share another variation that I cook for lunch – karela besan sabzi. The stuffed karela recipe is quite popular, however its not easy to prepare. As its a bit time consuming, you might wanna try this recipe of karela which is easy and requires no pre preparations.

Also check: stuffed karela | stuffed parwal | stuffed bhindi

A lot of people ask how to remove bitterness of karela (bitter gourd). Well, its simple. Cut the bitter gourd and apply salt evenly on its surface and keep aside. Once soaked, squeeze and remove all the bitter juices. Throw away the water. And we are ready to cook the karela sabji.

Recipe of Karela Besan Sabzi with Step by Step pictures

To make this easy karela besan sabji we will need ofcourse the bitter gourd, gram flour (besan), sugar, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, onion, tomatoes, oil, cumin seeds, hing and salt to taste. Check the recipe box at end of this post to know exact quantities of each of these ingredients.

Peel and cut the bitter gourd in thin slices. Chop the tomatoes and onions. Add a little salt to karela, mix well and keep aside for 20-30 mins.

Once properly soaked in salt, the bitter gourd will ooze out water and become soft.

Take a portion of karela in your palm and squeeze between your palms. Squeeze as much as you can. This will help to remove some of the bitterness from karela.

In the below picture you can see water is nicely squeezed out from karela. Now karela is ready for cooking.

Heat oil in a non stick pan, once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and cook for about 30 sec.

Then add hing to the oil.

Now add finely chopped onions to the oil and cook till the onion become soft.

Then add tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes becomes soft.

Add Indian spices such as turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt to taste.

Mix all the masala well and cook for about 2 min or till all the spices blends well with onion tomato mixture.

Then add the karela to the gravy.

Mix well and cook for about 3-4 min or till the karela cooks well.

We are adding sugar to the sabji to balance the bitter taste of the sabji.

Add basen to the sabji and cook the besan and the keral both are cooked well.

Press the karela with spatula and check if its cooked.

Basen karela sabzi is ready to serve with phulka roti, paratha or will any Indian flat breads.

Karela Besan Sabzi Recipe