baked bitter gourd chips (or rather, “better” gourd chips!)

Some time ago, I posted a curry recipe with bitter gourd in gravy, and after that I’ve been experimenting with making a simple, ‘bitter-less’, dry curry with the green vegetable. And baking provided a solution- hey, it always makes things simple, doesn’t it?

I’m very thrilled with this recipe because it was an instant success. Even my son, who does not eat bitter gourd in any form, grabbed the bowl of freshly made chips and emptied it!

I used a very great tip that I learnt recently- to marinate vegetables in an acidic sauce before baking/broiling to retain nutrients. It worked well in this case to alleviate the bitter taste. So, here’s the recipe…

Preparation time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

fresh bitter gourd- 1 medium

tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp.

red chilly powder- 1/4 tsp.

turmeric powder- a pinch

salt- to taste

canola oil spray

Method:

* Cut the bitter gourd lengthwise and de-seed.

* Chop into slices as thin as possible.

* Prepare the acidic sauce by dissolving tamarind paste in 2 tbsp. of water and adding turmeric powder, salt, red chilly powder.

* Add the bitter gourd in, and stir to coat. Let it sit for a few minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 425 °F. Drain excess liquid. Toss onto a baking tray (I use aluminum) lined with parchment paper, arrange so that they do not overlap each other. Lightly spray with canola oil.

* Bake for 18 minutes. If you want it very crisp, you could bake it for 2 minutes more, but be careful not to burn. Halfway through the baking process, gently shake the tray/rearrange the pieces with a ladle.

Enjoy right away. You could use some ketchup/dipping sauce, but they are delicious as is!