Baked Bitter Melon Crisps

 I am addicted to salty food.  Its easy for me to say no to chocolate, but give me an olive soaked in brine or a mango pickle and I cannot resist. I am now trying to cut out the sodium in my diet and consciously trying to avaid salt for health reasons. I happened to see this recipe on a reel in instagram and decided to make my own - salt and oil free. 

I made it today and though the salt is missing, the crunch factor is big and for that this will be a regular in my cuisine from now on.  Simply because it adds the interest to my bland meals of late., I guess.

Though I say it is salt free, I must admit there is a tiny bit of salt in there and also a tiny bit of oil.  But it is better than the amount of salt I normally add and definitely better than deep frying.

Ingredients:

5-6 tablespoons of chickpea flour

2 teaspoons chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon asofoetida

1/2 teaspoon tablesalt (two lots of 1/4 teaspoons)

2 or 3 teaspoons of olive oil

1 large bitter melon, washed and cut in roundels

Soak the bitter melon in salted water for about 30 minutes.  Use 1/4 teaspoon salt for this purpose.  Then drain it well using a colander.

Mix the chick pea flour and all the spice powders well together. 

Place your bitter melon slices on the flour and coat them well on both sides.

Place them on a lined baking tray and bake in a 200 deg oven for about 10 minutes - until they are evenly browned on both sides.

Once browned, drizzle a couple of teaspoons of oil over them and just place it back in the oven for another 2 or 3 minutes and then they are ready to be eaten.

When cool, store them in a jar for later use. You can even add it to spiced yogurt instead of the fried eggplant as mentioned in https://kitchenanugraha.blogspot.com/2020/04/eggplant-with-yogurt-brinjal-pachchadi.html

I had it with rice, dal, bitter melon pickle and green jackfruit stir fry for dinner.