Bitter Gourd Chips (Karathe Fry)

Don’t like bitter gourds? Wait until you try these crispy, spicy bitter gourds. You won’t be able to tell they are bitter gourds. These bitter gourd chips are that crunchy and delish. I can munch on them all day long! :)  

Have guests coming over and need a quick starter, side dish? Here’s a 15 minute recipe for you. These crispy, spicy, bitter gourds are a must make. It’s one of those wow-your-guests treats that requires almost no effort. They are super quick and super easy to make too. Give them a try and I'm sure even bitter gourd haters will fall in love with them. :) None of your guests will be able to tell they’re bitter gourds chips. They turn out that tasty. You can also enjoy these crispy bitter gourds with your cup of evening tea.

Choose bitter gourds that are not too bitter if you can't stand bitter gourds. Bitter gourds that are white, light green in colour are slightly less bitter than dark green bitter gourds. 

I call these crispy bitter gourd chips karate fry at home. Karate means bitter gourd in Konkani. My family loves bitter gourd. I also love devouring on these easy to make, quick, shallow fried bitter gourds.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized bittergourd
• 1 tablespoon of rice flour
• 2 tablespoons of gram flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Deep frying time: 10 minutes

Preparation Method:

1. Finely slice bitter gourd. Make very thin slices so that you get super crispy bitter gourd chips in the end.
2. Add salt to the slices and toss them well.
3. Keep them aside for 3 minutes. By then bitter gourd slices give out water.
4. Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, mix well flours, red chilli powder and little salt.
5. Add in bitter gourd slices kept aside, to the bowl. Toss and mix well such that all the slices are uniformly coated with the flour mixture.
6. Get your oil heated up for deep frying.
7. While your oil heats up, keep flour coated bitter gourd slices aside, so that the moisture in the bitter gourd slices soaks up all the flour mixture and the flour mixture sticks well to the slices.
8. Once the oil’s rolling hot, add in coated bitter gourd slices one by one into the hot oil. Dust off excess flour present on the slices before you drop them into oil, the flour that isn’t sticking to your bitter gourd slices. Otherwise they pile up in your oil.
9. Fry them on medium heat until they change in colour and crisp up.
10. Remove them off heat and similarly fry rest of the slices.
11. Serve them hot. They tend to lose their crispiness over time.

Serving suggestions:

Serve them as a starter, side dish for lunch, dinner. 

You can also serve them as a tea time snack if you like. 

I can munch on them all day long! :)

P.S: You can also follow the same procedure and make potato chips. 

If you love bitter gourds there are more bitter gourd recipes on this website for you:

Pan Fried Bitter Gourd (Karathe Fry)

Bitter gourd, hog plums in a coconut gravy (Karathe, ambade gashi)

Tags: karathe fry, bitter gourd, bachelor, easy recipe, quick recipe, bitter gourd fry, bitter gourd chips, GSB Konkani recipe, vegan, vegetarian recipe, snack, starter, side dish, lunch, South Canara Konkani recipe, Konkani cooking, GSB Konkani cuisine.