Bittermelon Recipe ( Momordica charantia) - Bitter Gourd, Ampalaya

 Cooking, me and the Bitter Melon

If cooking a boiled egg is a cooking skill, then I am a skilled cook. If it take more than five ingredients, I am not gonna pass it.

However, I am a great gardener, with a thumb and fingers that can grow any plant. Watch out for my windows this summer, you can see vines coming out as I open them. Yes, my house is full of edible plants, meaning anything we can eat. No, I am not vegetarian yet, but I eat vegetables most of the time, that I never plan to go all vegetables. Where is the fun in that? I want sausage and hotdog for summer BBQ.

Also, I am from the Philippines with tropical weather, so even in Zone 5B Ottawa, I grow my own tropical vegetables: eggplant, alugbati (Basella rubra), ampalaya (Momordica charantia). So, unfortunately I have to learn to cook my vegetables. Hey, I never followed any recipe, I sautee everything, add salt and pepper. Remember, if it is more than 5 ingredients, I am bound to mess it up.

So, I have to search for people who are better at me when it comes to recipe. Who else? Fellow Pinoy's who can cook, right?

So here are 2 recipes that I found online, and I am bound to try them, but no guarantee that I will not mess it up. My only guarantee is that I am a great gardener, and pretty much I can grow ampalaya, bittermelon, (Momordica charantia) in Zone 5B.

LOCAL NAMES: AMPALAYA (TAGALOG), PALIYA (BINISAYA)
In some English texts the plant or the fruit may be called by its local names, which include kugua (Chinese: 苦瓜, pinyin: kǔguā, "bitter gourd"); parya (Ilokano), pare or pare ayam (Javanese and Indonesian), Pavayka or Kayppayka (Malayalam:പാവയ്ക്ക, കയ്പ്പക്ക ), goya (Okinawan: ゴーヤー) or nigauri (Japanese: 苦瓜; although the Okinawan word goya is also used in Japanese), paakharkaai (Tamil: பாகற்காய்), "Hāgalakāyi" (Kannada: ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿ), "ma'reah" (Khmer: ម្រះ), "Kaakarakaya"(Telugu), Korola (Bengali), ampalaya (Tagalog), muop dang (Vietnamese: mướp đắng) or kho qua (Vietnamese: khổ qua). It is also known as caraille or carilley on Trinidad and Tobago, carilla in Guyana, and cerasee, "cerasse" or cerasse in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, including parts of South America (although if known in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking areas, will most probably be know by the Okinawan or Japanese names). It is karela in Hindi - and Urdu-speaking areas."कारले (karle)" in Marathi. It is known as तीते करेला (Tite Karela) in Nepali. In Suriname, it is known as sopropo. The fruit is called Kudret Narı in Turkey. "Faaga" in Maldives."Karavila" in Sri Lankan(Sinhalese).


So, here are the recipes: Try it at your own risk, you might like it, and it is good for you, especially if you have diabetes.
RECIPE 1. Ginisang Ampalaya Recipe
Ingredients

    * 2 pieces ampalaya, cleaned and cut into thin slices
    * 1 tbsp garlic, minced
    * 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
    * 2 tbsp salt
    * 2 raw eggs
    * 18 ounces luke warm water
    * 1 large tomato, sliced
    * 1 large onion, sliced
    * 3 tbsp cooking oil

Cooking Procedure

   1. Place the ampalaya in a large bowl
   2. Add salt and luke warm water then leave for 5 minutes
   3. Place the ampalaya in a cheese cloth then squeeze tightly until all liquid drips
   4. Heat the pan and place the cooking oil
   5. Sautee the garlic, onion, and tomato
   6. Add the ampalaya mix well with the other ingredients
   7. Put-in salt and pepper to taste
   8. Beat the eggs and pour over the ampalaya then let the eggs cook partially
   9. Mix the egg with the other ingredients
  10. Serve hot. Share and Enjoy!

RECIPE 1 = Source: Panlasang Pinoy.com, Visit his blog for the video of how to cook bittermelons: Panlasang Pinoy

RECIPE 2. Ampalaya Con Carne ( BitterMelon with Sliced Beef)
Ingredients:

1/4 kilo of beef sliced thinly

2 to 3 big Ampalaya

3 big eggs

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 onion sliced

2 tomatoes cut in cube

some cooking oil

half a cup of beef broth (beef bouillon dissolve in half a cup of hot water)

salt & pepper
Procedure:

The most important part of cookign this dish is taking off the bitterness of the ampalaya.

Start by cutting it into two and taking off the seeds with the help of a spoon. Slice them

thinly diagonally.  Boil some water and pour this over the sliced ampalaya.  Add one big

spoonful of rock salt.  Let it stand for few minutes until the water has cooled down and you

can handle with your hand the ampalaya.  Squeeze off all the water from the ampalaya with

your hands.  Heat off the pan with cooking oil then add up the garlic, onion and tomatoes.

Stir them well add the beef as if you are stir-frying all the ingredients.  Put the ampalaya

, add the water and cover.  Do not stir it for the first five minutes.  Add the eggs beaten

like an omellette.  The turn off the fire.  The eggs will be cooked by the heat of the

vegetable.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Saying has it that stirring the ampalaya during

the cooking process (once they are added) makes this dish even more bitter.  Its up to you

whether you will stir it or not. My advise, do not stir it, for this strategy always work

for me.

RECIPE 2. Source: FILIPINO FOOD STORE : Ampalaya con Carne Recipe at

http://www.filipinofoodstore.com/recipes/ampalaya-con-carne.html