Vegetarian recipe · lunch, dinner
Crispy bitter gourd
பாகற்காய் வறுவல் (paagarkaai varuval)
Serves 3 · 30 min
Thin bitter gourd rings, salted to draw out bitterness, then crisped with chilli and onion.
Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central and Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 values for the raw ingredients. Real numbers vary with brands and portions.
Ingredients
- 300 g bitter gourd, thin rings (பாகற்காய்)
- 40 g onion, sliced
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
- chilli powder, turmeric, salt
Method
- Toss rings with salt and turmeric, rest 20 minutes, then squeeze out the juice.
- Fry in oil on medium until crisp, add onion and chilli powder, and cook 3 more minutes.
Bitter gourd is often promoted as a diabetes cure. A 2019 meta-analysis reported that bitter gourd preparations lowered blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, but the trials were small and used different products and doses C[1]. Enjoy it as a vegetable; do not use it in place of your diabetes medicine.
Recipe credit: tamilpaleorecipes.com.
Sources on this page
Every source below was checked against its PubMed, DOI or publisher page. Grades and how we use them: evidence grades.
- Peter EL, Kasali FM, Deyno S, et al. (2019). Momordica charantia L. lowers elevated glycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: Systematic review and meta-analysis.. J Ethnopharmacol 231:311-324. PMID 30385422 · doi:10.1016/j.jep.2018.10.033 - Meta-analysis of small trials