Carillla bitter, but ‘e sweet fuh soh
THE CARILLA (or ‘corilla’ as it is sometimes spelt) may not be a favourite ‘greens’ amongst the average Guyanese because of its medicinal bitterness, but we at the Sunday Chronicle know of one surefire recipe, in which the vegetable features rather prominently, that fairly makes the mouth water.
Here in Guyana, it is simply called ‘Stuffed Carilla’, but in most other places like Trinidad, where the vegetable is well known and grown in abundance, it is called ‘Callonjie’, which is not to be confused with ‘Kalonji’, the seed of the Nigella sativa, which is used as a spice in many Asian countries.
We’d like to share that finger-licking recipe with you, with the help of the Carnegie School of Home Economics’ popular cookbook, ‘What’s Cooking in Guyana’.
Here goes!  

CALLONJIE

How to prepare:

·    Scrape corillas, slit and remove seeds.
·    Remove corilla from around seeds.
·    Grind or blend garlic, onions and peppers.
·    Blanch corillas in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain.
·    Place ½ tablespoon oil in pan and heat.
·    Add 1 tablespoon of the blended garlic mixture and fry for 1 minute.
·    Add corilla that was removed from around seeds with ½ teaspoon salt, and fry for 5 minutes.
·    Add fried shrimp/fish/beef/chicken and blend well.
·    Stuff blanched corillas with shrimp/fish/beef/chicken mixture and tie securely.
·    Heat the remaining oil in a pan until very hot.
·    Add stuffed corillas and fry until lightly brown. Remove.
·    Pour off most of the oil from pan, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
·    Make a massala paste with the remaining garlic mixture, curry powder, massala, 1½ teaspoons salt and dye.
·    Replace pan on heat and leave until very hot. Add massala paste and fry.
·    Add corillas and turn occasionally. Add coconut milk and allow to cook for about 10-20 minutes. Taste.
·    Quartered tomatoes can be added and cooked for 2 minutes.
·    Serve hot with rice.
Enjoy!

Editor’s Note: Some interesting facts about the carilla
Momordica charantia, also known as bitter melon, bitter cucumber or balsam pear, can be found in many a cuisine of tropical south China and most of South East Asia.
Truly bitter, due to the presence of quinine (an anti-malarial substance), the bitter gourd may take the Western palate some getting used to. The deeper green and younger they are, the better, as they toughen with age.
When young, it is possible to eat the melon in its entirety, seeds, pith and all.
The bitter gourd may be eaten raw, as a salad, or fried and made into a sambal (a chili-based sauce normally used as a condiment)with onions and chili. In either case, it is advisable to first de-gorge them by slicing thinly, sprinkling with salt (or a mixture of salt and turmeric) to draw out the liquid and some of the bitterness, then drying them on paper towels before proceeding with the recipe.
If your melons aren’t as young as they should be, the seeds will be hard and need to be removed.
Although it is an acquired taste, the bitter flavour can be very attractive in combination with spices. It makes a popular pickle in India. In Sri Lanka, it is much sought after as a sambal when sliced and fried crisply before being dressed with coconut milk, sliced chilies and eschalot (or shallot as we here in Guyana call it).
It is also cooked into a curry. In Burma, it is eaten raw, finely sliced and salted to draw out some of the bitterness, then mixed with sliced onions and garlic.
In Chinese cuisine, it is usually stuffed with minced pork and served in a strong-flavoured black-bean sauce that can stand up to the bitter flavour. Sometimes it is blanched to remove some of the bitterness, then fried with eggs.
The tender shoots and leaves, rich in vitamin A, are blanched and served with a savoury dip made from chili and shrimp. The leaves may also be lightly fried with chili and salt, or cooked as a ‘white vegetable’, meaning simmered in coconut milk.
A cousin of the bitter gourd is the spiny bitter gourd (Momordica cochinchinesis), which looks like a prickly, yellow-green kiwifruit on a long green stem.
Known in India as kantola or kakrol, tumbakaravila in Sri Lanka, teruah in Malaysia, Fak-khaao in Thailand, mokube-tsushi in Japan and buyok-buyok in the Philippines, it is not quite as bitter, but used in the same way as bitter gourd.
In the same family, there is also a balsam apple (M.muricata) and another species (M.subangulata).
When purchasing, buy shiny, fresh-looking bitter gourds which are green without any trace of yellow, a sign of age. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, but not for more than a day or two, as gourds will continue to ripen, and instead of a tender centre, the seeds will develop and become hard.
To prepare, slice crossways — thinly for salads and frying; thick so it can hold a filling if it is to be stuffed. Rub over with salt and turmeric, leave for 20 minutes, then fry until golden. For a milder flavour, the pieces should be blanched to remove some of the bitterness.
Like so many Asian foods, the bitter gourd started out as a medicine, to purify the blood, counter diabetes and replenish the milk of nursing mothers.
The leaves were used to treat sore eyes in elephants. It is one of the few ingredients stocked by Chinese herbalist that is sold fresh, as opposed to dried.
The bitter gourd tops the list of bioactive ‘herbs’, according to scientists in the Philippines, and other spin-offs of eating it include increased energy and stamina.
The latest studies indicate that the bitter gourd is an invaluable dietary supplement for those with immune system damage.

Source: The Internet