Bitter gourd chips using Air fryer method – An Easy, Healthy and Crispy masala coated bitter gourd chips fried in Air fryer. Pavakkai chips or Karela chips or Kakarakaya chips is traditionally coated with masala and deep fried in oil. The same masala coasted bitter gourd slices are air fried here in this recipes instead of deep frying. It just uses a tablespoon of oil instead for the huge oil quantity required for deep frying.
As we air fry the bitter gourd slices, it is very healthy and low in calories. It can be treated as a healthy snack for kids, adults. It is diabetic friendly too. It is slightly dry compared to the deep fried bitter gourd chips but it is an expected thing when using an air fryer. Air fried food became dry quickly. So you can spray little oil before air frying the food.
We soak the bitter gourd in salt for 30 minutes which helps to remove the bitterness to some extent. Thinly sliced bitter gourd gives very crispy bitter gourd chips. You can use slicer if it works out to you. Make sure to remove the seeds. if the bitter gourd is tender then no need to remove the seeds. In this recipe, the bitter gourd slices are heavily coated, so that the bitterness is slightly balanced and it tastes less bitter.
Basic information:
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Idle time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 to 25 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
2 Bitter gourds, thinly sliced
3 tbsp gram flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
little less than 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tbsp oil
1 or 2 tbsp water
Video Recipe:
Method with step by step pictures:
1. Wash the bitter gourd well.
2. Cut into thin slices.
3. Sprinkle salt. Rub it well so that the salt coats all the Bittergourd well.
4. Cover it and keep aside for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, take a portion of the Bitter gourd and using your palm, squeeze out the juice out of it. Repeat this step and squeeze out the juice from all the Bitter gourd slices to remove the bitterness.
6. Add gram flour, rice flour, red chilli powder, salt to taste, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and oil. Make sure to add salt carefully as we have initially added salt to remove the bitterness.
7. Mix well first so that the flour and masala mixes and coats well to the Bitter gourd slices.
8. Then sprinkle 1 tbsp water at a time and rub it to uniformly to coat the masala to the bitter gourd slices. you may require 1 or 2 tbsp water totally.
9. Arrange the slice in air fryer bowl.
10. Keep the bowl in airfryer for 20 to 25 minutes in 350F temperature.
11. In between, take out the bowl and toss or mix the Bittergourd slices using spoon, so that the bitter gourd slices fry evenly. Keep the bowl back to the air fryer.
12. Fry the Bittergourd slices till it becomes crisp. Make sure to keep an eye after 15 minutes, check the crispness and increase or decrease the air frying time.
Serving suggestions:
1. Serve it as a snack for adults, kids and people who are diabetic.
2. Serve it as an evening snack along with tea.
Notes:
1. Instead of soaking the Bittergourd slices in salt, you can soak it in tamarind water also to remove the bitterness.
2. Adjust the spiciness according to your personal need.
3. Oil is must otherwise it tend to give raw taste even after air frying. If you are not mixing the oil along with masalas, spray the oil just before air frying.
4. Uniform sliced Bittergourd slices gives best results.
