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The best stuffed pavakkai (bittergourd) ever

This is a gorgeous Andhra-Telangana recipe adapted from Shravani’s Mudda Kakarakaya and Sweta’s mother’s more Gujarati version. Each variously combine all the nuttiness of peanut and sesame, the sweet of dry coconut and jaggery, sourness from either tamarind or aamchur, and plenty of garlic—and so this recipe is the best of both. Guaranteed to make you love the bitter pavarakaya!
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Equipment

  • Cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pan to roast spices and later finish
  • Bamboo or other flat-based steamer
  • A charcoal stove or roti grill to flame-roast

Ingredients
  

  • 8-10 tender Indian bitter gourds; see note.

For the stuffing

  • ½ cup roasted peanuts
  • ¼ cup sesame seeds
  • ½ dry coconut or
  • 3-4 red chillies/ ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds/ ½ tablespoon coriander powder
  • 1 tablespoon jeera seeds/ ½ tablespoon jeera powder
  • 1/3 cup besan (gram flour or sattu maavu (black chana dal flour)
  • A small lime-sized ball of deseeded tamarind
  • 12 garlic cloves, roughly crushed
  • 1 tablespoon jaggery or to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • 1-2 tablespoons peanut oil

For the finishing

  • Up to ¼ cup peanut oil
  • 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
  • 5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 medium sized red onions or shallots, sliced

Instructions
 

Prepare the bittergourds

  • Wash the gourds and pat dry.
  • With a sharp knife, make an incision down the length of each gourd. Gently pry the gourd open and insert your thumb, pushing inside to scrape out all the pith. Remove as much as you can. Don’t worry if the gourd tears a little, but it’s usually strong and leathery enough to withstand such incursions! Set aside.

Prepare the stuffing

  • In cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pan on a medium-low flame, dry roast the peanuts, sesame seeds, dry coconut and whole spices (if you are using the powders, do not dry roast, but simply add them later). Keep mixing to prevent burning and/or uneven roasting, and remove from heat once they are fragrant.
  • Transfer to a blender jar/food processor and allow to cool.
  • Meanwhile, in the same pan, dry roast the besan or sattu flour just for a minute or so.
  • Add to the awaiting blender jar and pulse until you have a coarse powder.
  • To the same blender jar, add the tamarind, garlic, jaggery, salt, turmeric powder and any spice powders you’re using (if you did not use the whole spices in the first stuffing step, that is).
  • Pulse again until the tamarind is well incorporated and the mixture is becoming powdery. A little chunky and not completely uniform is completely fine.
  • Adjust taste—you want an intense mixture of nuttiness, spice, salt, and sour-sweet.
  • Transfer to a bowl and add 1-2 tablespoons of peanut oil, or just enough to make the mixture clump together more readily.

Prepare the bittergourds

  • Stuff the gourds with the prepared peanut mixture. Be generous and pack them in! But do set aside 2-3 tablespoons of the stuffing for the finishing step that comes later.
  • Now get a steamer ready and place the stuffed gourds in 1-2 layers on the top rack. A bamboo steamer or metal vegetable steamer equivalent is best; idli steamers will be cumbersome to work with. Steam at a full boil for about 10-15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, light up the charcoal stove or prepare your roti grill (if indoors). You can skip the fire-roasting step if you like though it adds much to taste – and skip ahead to finishing.
  • Once the bittergourds are mostly tender from steaming transfer them gently to the roti grill or charcoal layer of the stove. Keep a close eye on them and move them around every few minutes or so or they will burn. Rotate them as much as you can—but avoid getting the stuffing in direct contact with any flame.
  • Once the gourds are nicely charred, transfer to a plate.

Finishing the dish

  • In the same pan you used earlier to roast spices, heat a few tablespoons of oil. If you skipped the fire-roasting step earlier, be generous with the oil.
  • Drop in the cumin/jeera, follow quickly with garlic and then the sliced onions. Fry until translucent, and then spread the onions out a little and add the bittergourds on top in a single layer, stuffed side up.
  • Sprinkle any remaining stuffing/the stuffing you set aside earlier on top. Reduce the flame to low and roast, turning the gourds and mixing in the onion-garlic and stuffing powder with the bitter gourds so it all coats the outsides of the gourds nicely.
  • The gourds are done when you can poke a knife through with minimal resistance. They are never going to get very mushy, so don’t aim for that!
  • If you’ve fire-roasted, then finish this last frying quickly. If you haven’t fire-roasted, then go slowly on this step, allow the gourds to char a little alongside onions in the pan. You may want to pile the onions on top of the gourds while mixing so they come in direct contact with the heavy pan and its heat for a few minutes here and there.
  • Transfer to a plate and serve with hot rice and a nice simple dal.

Notes

  • Do not use the more cuke-like Chinese bitter melons. The Indian bitter gourds can be longer or shorter-and-plumper, but they should be tender and they will always have a thick leathery skin that’s easy to empty of its seeds and stuff. These also stand up to the heat of a charcoal stove much better than any other variety.
  • You can if you wish substitute the red chillies, coriander and cumin for their equivalents in powders—estimate roughly and adjust to taste.
  • Tamarind can be substituted for amchoor, for a different (less Andhra, more Gujarati/Maharashtrian) souring taste