Bitter Gourd Chips / Karela Chips

It’s quite evident from the name bitter gourd (karela), that not many people would be a fan of this vegetable. Apart from the health benefits, if made well, it can be transformed into amazing snacks. When they take the form of crispy fries, the humble bitter gourd can become a delicacy. The mild bitterness blends well with the spices and makes it a good tea time snack or side dish along with dals, sambhar and rasam.
Recipe Details :
Serves: 3-4 pax
Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients :

• 4 small sized bitter gourds(karela)
• 4 tbsp rice flour
• 3 tbsp besan
• 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Oil – to shallow fry

• Wash the bitter gourd, discard the ends, and cut it into uniformly thin rounds. Then pat-dry the pieces using a cloth. I did not de-seed them, but you can choose to do so if you are using the longer bitter gourds.



• Once dry, take the cut bitter gourd pieces in a bowl and add all the spice powders and mix well. Add 1-2 tsp of oil so that all slices are coated with the spices. Alternatively, you can sprinkle some drops of water but you have to take care that the mixture doesn’t turn soggy.



• Heat oil in a pan on medium low flame. Since the size of my bitter gourd pieces was small, I just shallow fried them. Add the pieces one by one into the oil in batches.
• Flip the pieces so that the pieces fry evenly on both sides. Remove them from the flame when they turn crisp. Drain the excess oil using a paper towel.
• Serve them hot to munch, as snacks or during tea time.

Tips:

• The older and bigger bitter gourds will have the more bitter seeds. I would recommend removing them.
• You can sprinkle some aamchur / chat masala on the chips once you take them out of oil while they are still very hot.