My wife bought this green knobbly thing this afternoon from a tiny shop that reminded her of the impossibly small shops in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
It is a kerala – the Indian sub-continent variety of the bitter melon.
The shopkeeper – who is Indian – advised her to peel it, soak it in salt water for several hours and then to pour away the salt and fry the melon.
As far as the name of the fruit is concerned, it seems more than coincidence that Kerala is also the name of a region in South India.
I hope it tastes good, but I wonder whether the full recipe might read like this:
-
1. Peel the kerala
2. Soak in strong brine for several hours
3. Pour away the brine and slice the kerala thinly
4. Fry lightly
5. Take the slices to the pedal bin and tip out.
I will take a photograph of the whole fruit and add that here. I was so mesmerised by the knobbly bits that I forgot to do so earlier.
I googled for images of the kerala, but none of the images has the graceful sweeping curves of the one in the kitchen here…
Click the image and then click again to see a bigger version
Kerala: Full View
Photograph Works 
It’s a great picture — love the green colour of it. It looks … intriguing 🙂 Please, keep us in the loop, whether #5 had to be added to the recipe.
I shot a picture of a, what I found out to be, dragon fruit in the grocery store the other day, with my BlackBerry. It turned out lousy. The colours of the fruit were awesome.
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I wonder what the first person ever to see a kerala thought?
I don’t believe I have ever seen a dragon fruit. I googled for it just now and the inside of the fruit is surprising.
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Wow. That thing is scary! I can NOT imagine peeling it. So–how was it?
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It exists still in its bought state 😉
We got out the peeler, however, so watch this space..
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So . . . you’re waiting for it to ripen?
We live in the Deep South–any chance we’re within dinner-invitation range? Ha.
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I think it is ripe. Not sure I would know whether it is or not 😉
We’re in Edinburgh, Scotland. If you can’t make dinner, I’ll ask the man in the shop to put some by for later…
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Scotland. Hmm, that would be a problem. I have another blog friend in Scotland, who is trying to make pancakes. The commute would be just too much.
Almost as daunting as peeling a melon, I suppose. 😉
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Ah, pancakes.
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