Karela Kaju Kishmish

The CC has posted this particular recipe before but he finds it impossible to invent new tricks each time so you will have to be content with a "show-n-tell" instead.

Ingredients

4-5 small karelas, cut into rounds
1/3 cup peas (frozen is fine.)
1/3 cup cashews (broken)
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric (optional)
4-5 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp poppy seeds
salt to taste

Recipe

The mise-en-scène; from left clockwise: raisins, peas, broken cashews.

Karela's (bitter gourds)
Peeled karela's
They look like naked mole-rats, don't they?

Cut the bitter gourds into rounds, cover with salt, and mix.

Add water, and soak for at least an hour. The goal is to leech out the bitter part via osmosis. (Don't worry about the salt; you can always control the recipe later.)

Rinse them thoroughly, and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Dry thoroughly.

First, we pan-fry the bitter gourd rounds.

When they look fried, add the brown sugar, and let it caremelize.

Watch how everything turns dark brown.

When they are fried, drain them using paper napkins. They should be thoroughly dry before the next step.

Dry roast equal proportions of coriander seeds and cumin. When it gives off a fragrant smell, pulverize it into a powder (dhanajeeru.) The CC just uses a coffee grinder.

Fry some oil, add the asafoetida, fry, add the above dhanajeeru; the red chilli powder, the fried bitter gourd, the raisins and the cashews. Add a tiny amount of water.

Add the peas, and the poppy seeds towards the end. If it looks too wet, let it cook uncovered. You want it to be on the dry side.