I have a story to tell about the Chinese karela. Mr. Riaz at the begining of our relationship used to bring these home and actually showed me how to make karela gosht which is a Pakistani dish of bitter gourd with meat. I was blisfully unaware of the Indopak karela which is more bumpier and pointy, a darker green and more bitter.
That was until Appa Jahn who was my very sweet mother in law came here to Chicago and showed me the Indopak one and we brought it home after making groceries and I made for her karela gosht with that one.
I lost her to diabetes and kidney problems and I still feel very sad when I think about her because I miss her very much. Now to bring you back to the present and I seen this Chinese karela in the store again and I said I am using this for making a Chinese fusion dish because there are other people who eat this too like I seen in a YouTube video.
This man named Sonny, he goes all over the place and now he is an expat in Vietnam. He showed even Vietamese people eat it too and yes they have a large Chinese influence. The Chinese as you know travel everywhere.
I bought 2 Chinese karelas because they are so big and this is enough for the dish I am going to make. Take the 2 Chinese karelas which are less bitter, bumpy, a paler green, and a little larger then their Indopak counterpart. Actually this is a sub spiecies of karela I think. However both the larger Chinese and the smaller Indo pak has great health benefits too because it helps reduce blood sugar.
To prepare these, just cut in half and scoop the seeds out and chop in to cubes and add 3 handfuls of kosher salt and let sit 1/2 hour then rinse well making sure all of the excess salt is washed away. This was the trick my mother in law showed me which was more effective then boiling. I used to save the karela water to drink and it is bitter as hell. You can do it this way too if you want.
I prefer putting kosher salt on them to remove the bitterness. Add to the wok on high heat 1/4 cup of sunflower, safflower, peanut, avocado, vegtable, corn or canola oil. To this add 1 drop each of red chili and sesame oil.
Add the Chinese karela that you prepped and to be on the safe side the water must be completely drained from this vegetable. Place it in a hot wok and start cooking it for 15 minutes until it starts turning slightly red and add 5 green onions, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 Thai chilis which are red and green plus it doesn’t really matter because I want the heat, 1 small piece of ginger all chopped finely.
Add 3 pinches of small dried shrimp and or 1 kg or 1 lb of chicken, beef, veal, lamb, or goat cut in very tiny pieces. Add your choice of 2 drops either Panzu, tamari, soy sauce or dark soy sauce, 1 dab of either shrimp or crab paste, oyster sauce or 1 capful of fish sauce, 1 pinch of either turbinado or coconut sugar. Cover and cook the meat for 40 minutes if using or until tender.
Enjoy this on a bed of jasmine or other types of rice and topped with a fried or scrambled egg and or any type of canned fish with hoisin sauce and or siracha. Siracha is an Asian chili sauce that is kind of sweet.
You can also add 1 small can of fish on top of the Chinese karela on a bed of rice that is leftover if you have any. I also suggest you will have a cup of kawa which is green tea or perhaps oolong tea with this dish.
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