You either love it or hate it … it can leave you feeling better or bitter. Hint – this is a vegetable riddle and there are no prizes for guessing correctly because I know that hardly anyone will get the answer wrong.

Yes I am speaking of the much loved/hated Bitter gourd or Bitter melon (Momordica charantia), known as Karela in Hindi and by several other names in other Indian languages.

This vegetable with its distinct bitter flavor, presents itself in quite a few variants which include the dark green, sharp ridged, long ones, the pale green, whitish ones, the stumpy short and rotund ones, the smoother skinned Chinese ones and the tiny, mini, thumbnail sized ones, just to name a few.

I was introduced to the last variety, the Mini, a few years ago, while on a visit to Ramnathpuram near Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Being quite a favorite vegetable of mine (yeah I thrive on bitterness :-D), I was very excited to see this miniscule little non-conformist and I bought a bagful to take back home to Bangalore.

So here is one more interesting vegetable to enhance my (currently sadly neglected) series on unusual produce. Check out the rest in this section on Fruits and Vegetables.

Karela/Bitter gourd – 

The karela plant is a tropical vine and the vegetable belongs to the family of Cucurbitaceae which is the gourd family, also known as cucurbits.

Medicinal properties of the karela –

Well when you are told that this vegetable contains numerous properties that are beneficial to health, then you may feel a bit more benevolent towards it (or maybe not) 😀 but the fact is that it is rich in nutrients and fiber and is said to lower blood sugar and cholesterol and also possess cancer fighting properties.

Mini Karela – 

Called midhi pavakkai in Tamil, and ucche in Bengali, this mini karela can be cooked in a variety of ways, right from the standard stir fries and sabjis, to a delectable deep fried and crisp version.

(Do let me know in the comments below, what you call this mini version in your language).

My neighbor’s cook introduced me to this calorie filled variation which quite negated its medicinal properties but greatly pleased the palate … at times one owes the palate some pampering too! I unfortunately did not document that recipe (something I have regretted ever since) but I think it involved just sprinkling a bit of besan (chickpea flour), some rice flour and salt and chilli powder and rubbing them into the whole vegetable and then deep frying. I have only the picture to show you the end result.

I later on created another simple stir fry with sesame seeds, onions, garlic, fresh chillies and peanuts, which you will see in the reel below.

Many of the pictures have been clicked by me years ago and hence may look amateur! (just absolving myself :-D)

View this post on Instagram

And before ending this post, I just want to show off my Karela art, made with the regular sized ones 😀

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Do let me know in the comments below if there is any specific ingredient or rare fruit or vegetable that you want me to write about in future.

For more pictures see My Facebook – Bitter Gourd Mini (coming soon)

Also catch me on My Facebook, My Facebook page, My Twitter and My Instagram

I would really appreciate your feedback and comments in the comment box below.

Oct 17th, 2025