GL's Cooking : Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Bacon 苦瓜炒熏肉

GL's Cooking : Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Bacon 苦瓜炒熏肉

Looks very appetising !

My daughter, GL substituted the pork slices with 3 pieces of bacon. She cut the bacon into thin strips. She added 1 tsp of  taucheo and 1 tsp of oyster sauce to stir-fry.


My post :  Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Pork Slices

GL's cooking : Stir-fried bitter gourd with bacon slices

Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Pork Slices 苦瓜炒猪肉

Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Pork Slices 苦瓜炒猪肉

This is a simple everyday dish that many will find easy to cook and it tastes good as well. A traditional Chinese medicine practitioner once told me that bitter gourd is very effective in expelling toxins from the human body.

 

Ingredients

500g bitter gourd ( thinly sliced )
200g pork ( thinly sliced )
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic

Pork Marinade

3 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp shao hsing wine

Add wine to pork and mix well. Then add cornflour and mix thoroughly. Set aside for 15 minutes.

 Marinated pork slices

Bitter gourd

Preparing The Bitter Gourd

1.  In a pot bring 1 litre of water to the boil.
2.  Add 1 tsp of lye water ( Kan sooi in Cantonese )
3.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.
4.  Discard the water and rinse the bitter gourd under a running tap.
5.  Drain and set aside.

N.B.- Always choose light green or ripening ones with shallow grooves over dark green ones with deep grooves.

 

Seasoning Ingredients

2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Dissolve in one and a half Chinese rice bowls of water

Instructions

 

1.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok till hot.
2.  Reduce to medium fire, then add minced garlic and stir-fry till fragrant.
3.  Add in the 1 1/2 bowls of dissolved ingredients and bring to the boil.
4.  Add pork and stir and let cook for 3 minutes.
5.  Add bitter gourd and cook for another two minutes.
6.  Dish up and serve.

Bitter Gourd And Egg Soup 苦瓜煎蛋汤

Bitter Gourd And Egg Soup 苦瓜煎蛋汤

Recipe Source :  Cookbook - Traditional Chaozhou Dishes


This is a Teochew or Chaozhou dish. SK's late father used to cook this soup. It has been many years since I last have this delicious soup cooked by SK's family who are of Teochew descent.  I was very happy when I came across this cookbook called "Traditional Chaozhou Dishes" which I purchased promptly.

There are many more delicious dishes inside this cookbook, some of which look very familiar because SK's late father used to cook them. I regret that I did not learn and did not record down my father-in-law's recipes during my younger days. Back then I was only keen to eat and enjoy the good food!

Ingredients

300g bitter gourd (thinly sliced)
100g minced meat
4 eggs (whisked)
2 cups stock
2 Chinese rice bowl of water

Marinade For Minced Pork

2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour

Seasoning

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

 Bitter gourd slices, eggs and marinated minced pork

 Mix the minced pork and bitter gourd slices into the whisked egg

Method

1. Add marinade to the minced pork and mix well. Set aside
2. Cut bitter gourd into thin slices.
3. Put the marinated minced pork and bitter gourd slices into the bowl of whisked eggs.
4. Heat 1 tbsp of oil until hot. Pour half of the egg mixture into the wok to make an omelette. Flip over and fry the other side. Once both sides are golden brown, dish up.
5. Repeat the process with the other half of the egg mixture to make another omelette.
6. Pour the stock and 2 Chinese rice bowl of water into a pot and bring to the boil.
7. Add in the egg omelette and let boil for 5 minutes.
8. Add in the seasoning.
9. Dish up and serve hot.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #29: Heirloom and Local Dialect Recipes ( March 2013 ) hosted by FHL of Faith Hope Love

Bitter Gourd Soup 苦瓜汤

Bitter Gourd Soup 苦瓜汤

 

This soup is believed to be able to expel toxins from the body

Bitter gourd is believed to be cooling and helps expel toxins from the body. Regardless of its medicinal properties, the whole family just love bitter gourd dishes except for our youngest son who refuses to eat, not just bitter gourd, but all vegetables. We thank our lucky stars that we finally managed to persuade YS to start taking small portions of vegetable yesterday and today, he gallantly took big helpings of this bitter gourd soup willingly and without complaint!. Yeah, it is a victory of sorts for SK and I.

Ingredients

1.5 litres chicken stock
300g bitter gourd ( cut into thin slices )
150g pork slices
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp shallot oil 

A near-ripe bitter gourd does not taste bitter

Marinade For Pork Slices

1 tsp Shao Hsing wine
2 tsp cornflour

In a Chinese rice bowl, add wine to the pork slices and mix well. Then add the cornflour to mix thoroughly. Ensure the pork slices are coated with the cornflour evenly.

Instructions

1.  Boil the 1.5 litres of chicken stock in a pot
2.  Add the bitter gourd into the simmering chicken stock and let it cook for 5 minutes
3.  Stir in the marinated pork slices and let it boil for another 5 minutes
4.  Add salt to taste
5.  Ladle the soup into a big bowl
6.  Add in 1/2 tsp of shallot oil

How To Choose Bitter Gourd

How To Choose Bitter Gourd

 

Choose bitter gourds that are free from dents and bruises
Look for bitter gourds that are thick and nice.
Select those that are greenish yellow in color as they will not be too bitter

Pick those that are half ripen as they taste better

The grooves on the bitter gourd should be far apart which means that these bitter gourds will not be too bitter as compared to those that are narrow and dark green in color

Stewed Pork Belly & Bitter Gourd With Fermented Black Beans 苦瓜焖三层肉

Stewed Pork Belly & Bitter Gourd With Fermented Black Beans 苦瓜焖三层肉

Mouth-watering!

  

SK loves porridge. This dish goes well with rice and  even better with porridge. Add this tasty gravy to the piping hot porridge and............. "mmmm"............you'll  get a wonderful home-cooked meal

 

Ingredients

1 kg bitter gourd

600g pork belly

30g fermented black beans ( Tau See in Cantonese )

Sauce Ingredients

3 Chinese soup spoon oyster sauce

4 Chinese soup spoon black soya sauce

2 tsp salt, or to taste

4 tsp sugar

2 litres water

 Instructions

 

Clean the pork belly and cut into cubes

Cut the bitter gourd length-wise into 2 halves

Remove the seeds and pith

Cut them into sections of 3 cm x 4 cm pieces

Fermented black beans ( Tau see in Cantonese )

Cooking Instructions

1.  Put the pork cubes and bitter gourd pieces into a pot

2.  Add in the fermented black beans

3.  Add in the 2 litres of water

4.  Add in the sauce ingredients

5.  Boil for 1 1/2 hours 

6.  As it boils, skim off the scum that floats to the surface

7.  Switch of the flame after 1 1/2 hours

8.  Dish up

This dish goes very well with porridge

Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Shrimps 苦瓜炒虾

Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd With Shrimps 苦瓜炒虾

 

Tastes heavenly with porridge on a hot and sunny day

 

Bitter gourd is not a popular vegetable with many people because of its bitter taste. However,  my family loves this dish especially my daughter and my eldest son. Both of them tend to specifically request for this home-cooked dish of stir-fried bitter gourd with shrimps in oyster sauce, whenever they came home after a stint abroad. This dish goes very well with rice and even better with porridge. We Chinese believe that the bitter gourd has medicinal properties of cleansing the body and ridding it of  toxins. On top of that, it has a "cooling " effect on one's body.

Sharing tips and pointers as I prepare the ingredients......

I bought this very fat, nice and half-ripen bitter gourd which is free from dents and blemishes.  The grooves are far apart which means this bitter gourd will not be too bitter as compared to those which are narrow and green.  I prefer half-ripen bitter gourd as it tastes better, well to me anyway!

Ripe or half-ripen bitter gourds have red seeds inside. Cut the bitter gourd into two halves length-wise and remove the seeds and  pith

Slice the bitter gourd into very thin slices

Next, remove the shells of the shrimps.....

Then you cut a slit along the back of the shrimp and remove the vein

Ingredients

500g bitter gourd

200g shrimps ( nett weight after removing the shells )

1 tbsp minced garlic 

3 tbsp cooking oil

Sauce A

3 tbsp of oyster sauce

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

Dissolve the above 3 ingredients in 1 rice bowl of water

Thickening solution

Mix 1 tsp of cornflour with 1 Chinese soup spoon of water

Cooking instructions

1. Heat wok till very hot

2. Add in cooking oil

3. When the cooking oil is hot, add in the minced garlic

4. Saute until fragrant, add in the shrimps and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes

5. Add in the sliced bitter gourd and stir fry quickly to mix evenly 

6. Add in sauce A and let it boil until the bitter gourd turns soft. If the water is insufficient just add more

7. Add in the thickening solution and stir well for another minute

8. Dish up and serve

The combination of flavours is unbelievably good