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Bitter vegetable curry challenge

chuckleschuckles
edited February 2010 in Local discussion
Has anyone ever tried the bitter vegetable curry in Jai Krishna? If you don't know, Jai Krishna is the brilliant vegetarian curry restaurant on Stroud Green Road where two people can eat very well for under £20. I have been going there for over 20 years but only ordered the bitter vegetable curry for the first time recently. This dish turned out to be so bitter that one mouthful each was all that me and my girlfriend could take. It is made from bitter melon which is a fruit that can be purchased from a number of shops on SGR. Maybe we got a particularly bitter version but I wonder if anyone has ever managed to successfully finish this dish and I would like to issue a challenge to anyone who hasn't tried it to give it a go and see how far they get.
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Comments

  • ColetteColette
    edited 3:28AM
    I've had it. It's the only thing I've ever had from JK that I have not been able to finish.
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  • tosscattosscat
    edited 3:28AM
    i want to try it now My sister makes me do the JK challenge
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  • tosscattosscat
    edited 3:28AM
    it's a £10 challenge.
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  • dorothydorothy
    edited 3:28AM
    Yes, I've had it once, years ago. My boyfriend ordered it for me as part of a take away and said it just about summed up my personality. (Probably after a weekend of arguing about DIY). No I didn't finish it. I'm surprised it's still on the menu.
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  • taff bachtaff bach
    edited 3:28AM
    If your talking about guvar curry I'm afraid I love it, together with a bit of dudi dal for balance.
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  • chuckleschuckles
    edited 3:28AM
    No, I don't mean guvar curry. That is a bean curry. The curry I am speaking of is made from the bitter melon.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon

    Get yourself into Jai Krishna and try it. I doubt it you will love it taff bach
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  • JenowlJenowl
    edited 3:28AM
    The bitter vegetable curry is very difficult to eat. I would never order it again. Having found the veg itself impossible to eat, I tried to eat some of the sauce with my other dishes, but the sauce had absorbed the bitterness. If you look at the pic of the bitter melon, you'll see it also looks offputting which is probably part of its defensive tactics to deter animals from eating it.
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  • bennyfromtheblokbennyfromtheblok
    edited 3:28AM
    Never tried it...but I will now as love bitter things, though from everyone's reaction here I doubt I'll finish it. Glad you sent the pic as I'd always thought those things were non EU regulation cucumbers.
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  • mattmatt
    edited 3:28AM
    I echo Colette's opinion. It almost turned me inside out.
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  • doctorlalloodoctorlalloo
    edited 3:28AM
    It's a vegetarian dish that my mother used to make when we were kids and I absolutely hated it. It's called 'Karela' (pronounced kar-rhel-lah) and I don't blame you lot for not being able to finish it.

    I remember we had to eat it with potatoes and my grandmother used to force us to eat it at least twice a month as it had some magical healing/medicinal properties, it damn sure tastes like medicine.

    Anyway, I've been boycotting JK, as I find the staff quite rude. I also usually speak in Gujerati to them (which I know they all speak as I've heard them converse with each other), but they answer back to me in English!
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  • TallboyTallboy
    edited 3:28AM
    If this bitter melon is so bad, why are restaurants using it? Has anybody had a good experience with it? Who is buying it from those shops on SGR? Perhaps they're not cooking it but have found an alternative use for it? Somebody must like it?!
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  • mattmatt
    edited 3:28AM
    It's an acquired taste ;)
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  • crouchend tigercrouchend tiger
    edited 3:28AM
    I wonder if the bitter melon was the inspiration for the snozzcumber which the BFG eats in Roald Dahl's book - a revoltingly bitter knobbly cucumber type thing.

    I love the idea of Stroud Greeners tucking into snozzcumber curry in our local eateries.

    All we need now is a good source of frobscottle.
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  • TallboyTallboy
    edited 3:28AM
    I ate at JK last week for the first time. Intrigued by this vegetable, but couldn't even see it on the menu. Not that impressed by the food I did have - bland.
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  • MarquisMarquis
    edited 3:28AM
    I had the Karela curry last night with a friend, and we both thought it was quite edible, nice even. I will be more than happy to show eat it should anybody insist on it (and be prepared to pay).
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  • tosscattosscat
    edited 3:28AM
    Mmmm, I fancy a curry.
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  • woollywoolly
    edited 3:28AM
    It is possible to put together a bland meal in Jai Krishna if you end up ordering a bunch of curries that all have the same tomato-based gravy. But I'd never call their Jeera Aloo, Sabji Bahar, Patra, Bhel Poori, Spinach Bhajias or Rasam anything other than delicious. The food stands up really well to posher places serving similar dishes.

    I've never found them rude, though it's not a sit down and be pampered sort of place, as reflected in the prices.
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  • taff bachtaff bach
    edited 3:28AM
    Great news, the owners are putting pani poori on the menu next time they change. Rejoice!
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