Chinese Bitter Melon Recipe

Hi , welcome to soup up recipes .

Today .

I'm going to introduce you to an interesting ingredient .

This is called bitter melon .

I'm sure a lot of you have wondered what it is and how to cook it when you see it in the Asian grocery stores .

So today I'm going to share the easiest recipe that you can cook it stir fry , bitter meon with garlic .

The name pretty much explains how it's going to taste like I am very tolerant and I enjoy bitter vegetables .

Maybe I'm just weird .

Please tell me that I'm not the only one this start to end .

First , cut it in half , then quarter it .

The white inside part has a spongy texture .

We want to remove it completely because it is the most bitter part .

Here is a fun fact .

If you leave the bitter melon to grow until the seeds are ripe , the spongy part would change to a bright red color and the texture becomes tender .

My grandmom used to grow lots of bitter melon .

I have tasted the ripe ones before and it is sweet like a fruit .

Use a rounded measuring spoon to scrape the last bit of the white part , make sure the edge of the spoon is sharp enough to work with .

Once it is clean , you can cut it with a 45 degree angle into a third of an inch thick slices , season it with one teaspoon of salt , right ?

For a minute or two .

The salt will draw out the moisture and reduce the bitter taste .

Let it sit for 15 minutes .

While waiting , you can prepare the red dried chilies .

Cut them open with a pair of scissors .

Remove the seed , using dried chilies will give the dish a slight smoky flavor based on that .

I also like to add a few fresh red chilies , roughly diced them , press three cloves of garlic through a garlic pressure .

Actually let me use two more and make it five cloves .

Garlic is always good .

Optionally prepare one teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns .

Now we can go back and check out the bitter melon .

Squeeze out as much moisture as you can look how much liquid we got out the debt .

We will rinse the bitter melon with cold running water .

Several times the cells will start absorbing some water and it will become crunchy again .

Drain it but doesn't need to be thoroughly .

A little bit of excess water will make sure the garlic doesn't burn as fast when they're frying .

Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok along with the Sichuan peppercorns , turn the heat too low as the temperature climbs up slowly the oil will be seasoned with the peppercorn flavor .

Once you see the color is getting dark , you can take the peppercorns out and discard them , turn the heat to medium , adding the bitter melon , fresh chilies , dried chilies and the garlic stir for a couple of minutes .

We did season the bitter melon with salt , but we also rinsed it .

So we don't know how much salt is left in there .

You should give it a taste and then add the salt to adjust the flavor .

I made this many times .

So I know exactly that a little bit less than a teaspoon will be perfect for this recipe .

Also be generous with the salt amount , especially if you have never tried a bitter melon before because the salt will suppress a little bit of the bitter taste .

Give it a final stir and you are done .

You can serve this as a side dish just so you know , even though we have done everything we can to cut down the bitter element , it will still taste a little bit bitter .

But in a pleasant way , I love the flavor .

I can just eat all these with some white rice .

The funny thing is when I was a little kid , I refused to eat it .

My parents always teach me by saying which means only those who injured most becomes the highest over time .

I just learned how to enjoy it .

I hope you give this a try soon .

If he did leave me a comment , let me know how it goes .

If you taste it and you hate it , don't blame me .

Ok ?

As always , don't forget to check the description where you can find all the links including the printable recipe , the related videos , the purchase link for special ingredients if you don't know where to buy them or the walk that I have used in this video .

Thank you for watching and I will see you next time .

Bye .