Titakerala Salad, an Assamese Recipe with Bitter Gourd

Upasana Sarma shares the recipe for a most unusual bitter gourd salad she inherited from her Aita, Meera.

Bitter gourd salad is something I’d never heard of. Atleast, until my grandmother, Aita, made me fall in love with it. Aita lived in Jorhat, Assam, and she passed away rather suddenly in 2017. I never actually got the chance to ask her if this was a recipe she developed on her own, or was something she learnt from her mother. Aita was gentle in her loving, resolute in her values. And she cooked the most authentic Assamese food when I’d visit in the summer from Guwahati. Aita introduced me to this recipe when I was a teenager, and I’ve loved it since.

The key to a great titakerala salad lies in slicing the bitter gourd rounds as thin as possible.

MEERA AITA’S TITAKERALA SALAD

Ingredients
2 bitter gourd, sliced into roundels
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 tomato, coarsely chopped
2-3 green chillies, chopped
3-4 tbsp peanuts, roasted
1/2 tsp ginger, julienned
3 tbsp mustard oil
Coriander, garnish

Method
Heat 1 tbsp of mustard oil until almost smoking, then lower the flame. 
Shallow fry the bitter gourd. 
Then add the onion. Fry until soft.
Then add the tomato, and green chillies. 
Then, add in the roasted peanuts and stir well. 
Finally, add the ginger, and 2 more tbsp mustard oil.
Remove from heat and garnish with coriander.

Upasana Sarma loves food, book, nature and celebrates life at every chance she gets.

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