Kakarakaya Nuvvulannam (Bitter gourd-Sesame Rice)

One pot dishes are so convenient any time of the day. Being a South Indian most of my dishes revolve around rice, so a lot of one pot dishes I make are with rice. If I have leftover rice, it gets transformed into some kind of one-pot rice dish the next day. I'm sure all South Indians would probably say the same thing. Talking about rice lovers, I had an American co-worker who didn't like rice at all and I couldn't even imagine what it would be like without eating rice.

Today's rice dish is a new combination for me. I've never made a rice dish with bittergourd before. I saw the recipe on a Telugu Cooking show and the combination of bittergourd, sesame seeds and rice sounded very interesting. I was pleasantly pleased how good the dish turned out to be and was even more happy when the husband really really liked it.

Ingredients:
Rice - 2cups, cooked (I used basmati, but any cooked rice that is not mushy will work here)
Kakarakaya/ Bittergourd - 2 medium, chopped
Sesame seeds - ¼cup
Dry red chilies - 2
Garlic cloves - 3
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 8~10
Green chilies - 3, slit
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Boil or microwave kakarakaya along with salt and 2tbsp yogurt until tender. Squeeze out the water and set aside until ready to use.
• Dry roast sesame seeds and dry red chilies until lightly golden. Turn off the heat and add garlic cloves. Let the mixture cool a little bit and then grind into a powder along with some salt.
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan; add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add curry leaves and boiled bittergourd and cook until bittergourd starts to turn lightly browned around the edges.
• Add the cooked rice, ground sesame powder and salt. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.