"Why?" I asked.
"Because you will say the canteen doesn't have anything with bitter gourd in the menu. They will decide to have it, and we all will have a tough time," he replied with a smile.
He was joking. But I am quite serious about my love for the vegetable that is popularly hated -- bitter gourd, also called bitter melon; karela in Hindi and pavakka in Malayalam.
It is said that this vegetable has medicinal properties, and if at all anyone likes it, it is because they were forced to eat it, when some health issue cropped up, when they were in their mid-forties or later. But not in my case. I have always liked it, right from childhood.
Most of the recipes have a few steps to reduce or totally remove the bitterness. But since I have no problem with the bitterness, I like it as fried or put in some curry, or plain boiled, or as juice. I know very few people who like this vegetable.Much after I took a fascination for it, I learned that this vegetable, which is said to have originated in India, and is commonly used in many Asian countries, has a number of medicinal properties.
The most well-known is that it keeps the blood sugar level down, because it has a chemical that works like insulin. It works as an antioxidant, helps digestion, and is generally good for your well-being. Most of properties are attributed to widespread anecdotal evidences, and I am not sure if there is conclusive scientific proof to back them up.
It will be interesting to know if any of the readers of this post, has the same taste as I do.
(Know more about bitter gourd: Practo and WebMD)