Chinese and Indian Bitter Melon/Gourd Fry (Kakarakaya Vepudu)

I had 2 Chinese bitter melons and 2 Indian bitter melons/gourds in the refrigerator and I decided to cook up an Andhra style fry/vepudu using them both. You could use all Chinese bitter gourds or Indian bitter gourds for this recipe.

Software
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• 2 Chinese bitter melons/gourds
• 3 Indian bitter melons/gourds
• 1 tsp jeera/jeela karra
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds/aavalu
  
• 1 sprig curry leaves, chopped fine
  
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
  
• 2 tsp chili powder/mirapapodi/lal mirchi
  
• 1 tsp coriander powder/dhaniya podi
• 2 tbsp chick-pea flour/besan
• 2 tsp turmeric powder/pasupu/haldi (to marinate)
  
• 1 tbsp salt (to marinate)
  
• salt, to taste (for the fry)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• chopped cilantro leaves
  

Hardware
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• 1 medium sized mixing bowl
• 1 non-stick fry pan

Method
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• Pile them all up in the mixing bowl, add the turmeric and the salt. Cover and leave aside for a minimum of 1 hr. You could marinate if for a little less time too. I usually just marinate it before I leave for work in the morning so it is ready by the time I get home.
• After the marination is done, take handfuls of the bitter gourd pieces (wear kitchen gloves if you don't want yellow color on your hands for atleast a day :-)) and squeeze the juice out of the gourds. The more juice you squeeze out the better.
• Put the non-stick pan on medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the bittergourd pieces and fry on medium heat until they are half cooked. Add the onions, curry leaves, jeera, salt and mustard seeds and fry everything until the bittergourd pieces are completely dry and the onion is cooked. Add the besan and stir.
• Turn off the heat, add the coriander powder and the chili powder and stir. Add the cilantro.

Serving Suggestion: This goes really well with sambhar/rasam and rice.