How to Make Crispy Bitter Gourd Fries (Fritters)

Cooking is one of my passions. I like to make nutritious and tasty foods at home without using preservatives and artificial colors.

A Delicious Way to Enjoy Bitter Gourd

The bitter gourd is a popular vegetable because of its many health benefits. Though there are many ways to include this vegetable in your diet, I believe that making fries is the best and easiest way to consume it. In this shallow-fried snack, you will not taste any bitterness. And as they are not deep-fried, they are healthier, too.

This dish comes together fairly quickly; it took me fewer than 20 minutes to prepare. I like to serve it as a side dish with tamarind rice.

Cook Time

Ingredients

• 1 bitter gourd, thinly sliced, seeds removed
• 4 tablespoons rice flour
• 1 teaspoon gram flour/besan
• 2 teaspoons corn flour
• 1 teaspon red chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or as per taste
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil, I used a non-stick pan for shallow-frying them
• 1 teaspoon sambar powder or rasam powder (optional)

Instructions

1. Wash the bitter gourd. Thinly slice it. Don't make the slices too thin; refer to the photo below. Remove the seeds from the center. Set the slices aside.
2. Take a mixing bowl. Add rice flour, cornflour, red chili powder, sambar or rasam powder, gram flour, and salt. Mix them. Adding sambar or rasam powder gives a distinct taste to these fries. If you don't have any, use some more red chili powder.
3. Add water little by little until the batter is neither thick nor thin. (Refer to the photo to see the proper consistency of the batter.)
4. Gently mix the bitter gourd slices with the batter.
5. Heat a pan for shallow-frying. I used a non-stick pan. If you use a non-stick pan, you can shallow-fry them in less oil.
6. Spread some oil on the pan. Place the batter-coated slices one near the other. Don't overcrowd them (again, refer to the photos).
7. Roast the bottom of the slices on medium-low fire. Add a few drops of oil on the surface. Flip each of them and roast the other side. Add a few drops of oil while cooking.
8. Shallow-frying a batch may take about 8 to 9 minutes on medium-low fire. Remove the completed fritters and place them on a plate.
9. Repeat the same process for shallow-frying all the coated gourd slices.
10. Serve as a snack or side dish. Enjoy the taste.

Photo Guide

Step one: Put rice flour, corn flour, red chili powder, rasam powder, gram flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. Dry-mix them.

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Comments

ShailaSheshadri (author) from Bengaluru on September 20, 2017:

Thanks Ashish. Your comments are treasured. These bitter gourd fries are shallow-fried on a non-stick pan. This way, you can lower the quantity of oil. For shallow-frying a batch(14 pieces) I used 1 1/2 tsp oil. The fries were not oily. I think you can use so much oil for a fried dish. Try it once.

ShailaSheshadri (author) from Bengaluru on September 20, 2017:

Thanks Cristina. I get nutritional information from the reliable sources on the net. It indicates serving as 1. That means, may be a small cup or 8-10 slices of bitter gourd fries. I shallow-fried them. You can very well make deep-frying or may be baking.

Cristina Vanthul from Florida on September 20, 2017:

Interesting! I would never have considered making bitter gourd fries (or rings). I bet you can bake them as well and make them even healthier. One question though - how many rings are in one serving?

Ashi on September 20, 2017:

@Shaila,

Wow, this looks delicious.

I loved this simple and easy recipe.

My only concern is that too oily?

Thank you so much :)