Stuffing bitter melon Soup

            After feeling sick for the whole week that’s why I couldn’t put up my blog. so I will make something to cheer myself up.  One of my favorite foods is bitter melon soup.

            Bitter melon?  What is that?  Ok this is not easy to find ingredients for like I usually say in every blog, but if you get to know it you might want to try it!!!  The bitter melon looks almost like cucumber, but it has the ugly bumps all over it.  For Thai cuisine we have 2 kinds one is smaller called” Ma-ra-ke-nok” we eat it with spicy dipping sauce.  For me this kind is not my favorite(too bitter), but the kind I will cook today we know as Chinese better melon which is bigger and the color is lighter too.  They both are good for you. 

Chinese bitter melon

In Thailand they always say “sweet taste is like a wind, bitter is a medicine”.  After I searched about the benefits of it I came out a lot more knowledgable than I was before.  Bitter Melons are rich in iron.  They have twice the beta carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, twice the potassium of bananas, and contain Vitamins A, C, B1 to B3, Phosphorus and good dietary fiber.  Bitter Melon – it can be a very powerful anti-diabetic!”; from The national bitter melon council.   According to this article bitter melon also has a lot more benefits in it.  That should be enough reason to make it, also I want to share the techniques that make this better melon taste less bitter so I will give you today the stuffing soup recipe and I have more recipes for bitter melon that some of the Thai folks don’t know!!!

Note: Technique to pick good Chinese bitter melon, pick the one that has a lighter color it will taste less bitter.

Ingredients

 2 Chinese bitter melons

½ lb ground pork

½ cup mung bean noodle, soften in the water about 5 minutes (optional)

1 glove minced garlic (optional)

5 tbsp. Soy sauce

Paper

Cooking instructions

1.      In the pot add 6 cups of water, bring it to a boil in medium high heat.

2.      Meanwhile cut bitter melon into 2 inch pieces (picture) then take the insides of the melon out.  Set aside.

3.      Mix ground pork and 2 tbsp. soy sauce, garlic, pepper and mung bean noodle till mixed well.

4.      Stuff the pork mixture into the bitter melon

5.      Add bitter melon stuffing into boiling water, add remaining soy sauce a: Don’t stir or cover it let it cook for about 1 hour.(Don’t touch them at all)

6.      Serve with rice now you will get bitter melon soup that is not too bitter, but good for you!!!