Bitter Melon Fritters | Karela Fry | Best Bitter Melon Recipe

5 from 9 votes

Bitter Melon Fritters | Karela Fry | Best Bitter Melon Recipe

Bitter Melon Fritters are crispy and crunchy, easy-to-make finger food prepared using rice flour, bitter gourd (karela), and chile powder. Serve this as a side for lunch with dalitoy and steamed rice for a traditional Konkani meal.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 83kcal

Author: Kushi

Equipment

Ingredients

2 Bitter Melon Karela or Karate
½ cup Rice flour little more for coating
1 to 2 teaspoon Red chile powder
¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Hing powder
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Water approx ½ cup

Instructions

Preparation

Wash the bitter melons and chop them into around 2 to 3 mm thick circles. If you want to avoid bitterness, cut it into very thin circles.
2 Bitter Melon
Sprinkle salt over these chopped melons and keep it aside for 15 minutes.
Salt
Add rice flour, hing, red chile powder, and salt to a bowl and mix well. Now add water little by little to make a thick, smooth paste. Taste check and adjust all spices.
½ cup Rice flour, 1 to 2 teaspoon Red chile powder, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, Water
Add the bitter melon circles to this paste and mix well so the slices are well coated with the paste prepared. If the paste becomes dry, sprinkle water; if it becomes thin, adjust with more rice flour.

Crispy karela fries (karate podi)

Heat oil in a pan or kadai for frying.
Oil
Add a little rice flour to the plate and coat each slice of the melon with the rice flour. (this makes the outer layer super crispy)
Once the oil is hot, add the melon slices, cook on medium flame, and flip it occasionally till it becomes crisp and brown on both sides. That is, the fritters should come up and start floating.
Transfer it to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil, and repeat the process for the remaining melon slices.
Serve hot and enjoy.

Video

Notes

If you want to avoid the bitter taste and make it taste like chips, then you can chop them into very thin circles.
If the paste is dry, adjust water, and if the paste prepared is thin, then add more rice flour.
Do not overcrowd the pan. They will stick to each other and will not cook uniformly.
If you like the bitter taste, then remove it before it turns crispy.
If the oil is too hot, it will become dark soon, and if it's too cold, it will absorb excess oil.
To check if the oil is hot, add a piece of melon and check if it sizzles and comes up. (frying temperature is approx 350 degree F).
For Mangalorean rava fry, instead of coating it with rice flour before dropping it in oil. Coat with semolina or sooji (check out pagila podi video).
In a similar way, you can fry kantola (pagila), yam (suran), drumsticks (mashingasanga), banana(kele), sweet potato (kanang), pointed gourd (goint), etc. Check our post on popular konkani podi fritters, seasonal pagila podi, kadgi podi, jeev kadgi podi.

Nutrition