Roasted chickpea flour coated Bitter Gourd Chips - Oven Roasted

Bitter Gourd is one of those vegetables that is not only good when eaten in any form but I do agree it has to be made agreeable to some of the palettes. We have one such in our household. DD2 is not very fond of it though she eats whatever is made out of it. But there is one preparation that does not need prodding. It is this roasted bitter gourd chips. To most of the bitter goud preparations I add a small quanity of sugar mostly jaggery to cut through the bitterness.

What is unique about this recipe is that it does not has any added sugar but the crunchiness makes it a picker upper as you would any crunchy snack. If we are being honest about it the bitter gourd chip is far superior to the over rated potato chip. I just cook this and put it on the counter top and it disappears in an hour and the person who has enjoyed it most is DD2 :)

I have been roasting bitter gourd chips following this recipe - broiled bitter gourd or using the same ingredients and transferring the contents to a baking sheet and oven roasting them fully. So over the summer a friend sends me a picture of her oven roasted bitter gourd chips coated with rosted chickpea flour (powdered pottukadalai or dalia ). What a fantastic idea. So glad she mentioned it.

So whenever I have excess bitter gourd, or ones that are starting to ripen, they quickly become chips :)The most time consuming task if you ask me is the cutting part. If you do not mind the seeds the process is much simpler but if you want to remove the seeds it becomes a slightly time consuming task.

Recipe in pictures,

Cut the bitter gourd to rounds and clean the seeds.
Spread them out on a cookie sheet to air dry for about 5-10 minutes.
Take roasted channa dal with dried red chilies in a coffee grinder or blender and powder them.
Take the clean bitter gourd pieces in a wide mouthed vessel and add the spices to it.
Add the powdered chickpea flour and toss, add the rice flour and toss.
Spray a cookie sheet with oil or spray and then spread the coated bitter gourd .
Place the cookie sheet in the preheated oven and roast for about 15 - 20 minutes.

This is a fantastic as a side dish or a snack by itself.

Roasted chickpea flour coated Bitter Gourd Chips - Oven Roasted
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time:20 - 30 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 lbs of bitter gourd
2. 1 cup of roasted chickpeas (dalia, pottukadalai)
3. 1/4 cup of rice flour
4. 4-5 red chilies
5. 2 tsp turmeric powder
6. 2 tsp of chili powder
7. 2 tsp salt or to taste
8. oil as required

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. I used convection roast setting. If you are not using convection, increase the temp to
2. Wash and dry the bitter gourd and let it air dry.(See Note:) Cut the end of the bitter gourd and cut them into thin rounds.
3. Remove the seeds from the bitter gourd if you want else leave it be, the seeds also roast to a crunch.
4. Spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry if need be else transfer them to a wide mouthed vessel big enough to toss them with teh spices.
5. Add the turmeric powder, salt, chili powder and toss with the cut bitter gourd.
6. Add the powdered chickpea flour, followed by the rice flour and the oil.
7. Use your fingers to mix all together or toss to coat the bitter gourd.
8. Use a cookie or baking tray, line with aluminum foil, spray with oil and spread the coated bitter gourd pieces in one layer. This is very important for crisp chips.
9. Roast for 15 minutes. Open flip them around and roast for another 10-15 minutes. The time depends on your oven, the thickenss of the bitter gourd, so check for a few minutes. I left for a few minutes extra and it got dark brown.
10. Note:It is best to wash the bitter gourd the previous night and let them air dry on a kitchen towel.

Serve as a side to any rice dish or by itself. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!