hagalakaayi gojju

 Recipe: Hagalakaayi Gojju

Contributor: Karthik 

1 cup thinly diced bitter gourd

Half cup shredded coconut

1 table spoon Gojjina pudi

half cup tamarind juice

half cup jaggery

4 tablespoon oil

1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

1. Heat 4 tablespoon oil in a kadai and fry diced bitter gourd.

2. Keep frying till bittergourd starts to turn red and turns bit crispy. (first step of minimizing bitterness).

3. Remove the excess oil from the kadai if necessery. keep a tablespoon as is. the oil will be bitter and can't be used further.

4. Add tamarind juice and cook on a low heat. (second step in minimizing bitterness).

5. Wet grind coconut and gojjina pudi to a fine paste and adjust consistency of the paste.

6. Keep the kadai on low-flame thoughout.

7. After 5 miniutes of cooking in tamarind juice, add the ground paste.

8. Adjust the consistency now itself by adding extra water to the ground paste.

9. Do not add water later as it'll turn the gojju bitter. (very important)

10. Add jaggery and salt. gojju starts to thicken.

11. Keep stirring and bring to a boil. cook for 5 minutes of low heat.

12. Ready to serve. :)

PS: My version of gojju is a tad sweeter compared to other bitter gourd gojju. adjust jaggery as required.

PS2: I am trying to put this in a video. I can share it later if required.