Daikon & Carrot Soup + Bittergourd Tempura

Daikon & Carrot Soup

A carrot and a daikon, with a meat for the umami taste and protein.  

The meat can be beef or pork.  Chicken is not recommended. 

Add in a few of dried scallop for extra flavor. 

Slow-cook from 8am till 6pm.  Add salt and aji-no-moto for flavoring.

Bittergourd Tempura

Slice a bittergourd.  Mix with a little bit of flour and chicken essence.

Heat the oil.  Deepfry the bittergourd till slight golden-coloured.

蒸酿苦瓜

可妮嫌弃（善意批评）汉堡肉酿苦瓜 味道不美味兼不健康（底下）。所以只好弃汉（汗堡肉），改用鸡胸肉 。

先把鸡胸肉去皮脱骨，然后绞碎。加入少许红萝卜碎、洋葱碎，少许盐调味。

要不要加粒鸡蛋？

（若要，快点搅匀）

黍粉？要就快点！

塞入苦瓜圈圈里。
开大火！！！蒸熟便可！

蒸几久？熟了便可！
如何知道熟了？吃了便懂！

Steamed Bitter Gourd Stuffed with Burger Meat 蒸苦瓜釀汉堡肉

The preparation of this dish is exactly the same as steamed bitter gourd stuffed with minced meat, just replace the minced pork meat with burger meat. 

Burger meat is easily available, cheap, and come with various brand and thus flavor.  The downside is that in Malaysia, burger meats are either of beef or chicken, never pork.  Although burger meats need no flavoring, the content of the burger meats may contain lots of artificial flavoring and additives thus may not be the ideal ingredient for those who are more conscious of what they put in their mouth.

Mincing own meat is not an easy task, especially for the amateurs.  Thus, burger meat is still the easiest option.  Still, easiest isn’t necessary the best option.

Steamed Bitter Gourd stuffed with Minced Pork 蒸釀苦瓜

First, cut off both end of a bitter gourd.  Then vertically cut it into a 2cm thick rings.  Without damaging the ring, remove the seeds with the spongy pith with a spoon or a small knife.  Keep aside.

Meanwhile, finely dice some carrot, dried shitake mushroom and onion.  Add into minced pork.  Seasoned it with a bit of salt, pepper, sesame seed oil and corn flour.   

Another lazy way to prepare the mixed minced pork is replace it with frozen beef/chicken burger meat.  It is readily flavoured, yet may not as healthy.

Then, arrange the rings on a ceramic/glass/metal plate.  Stuff the mixed minced pork into in bitter gourd rings.  Steam it for about 10 minutes.

Stir-fried Bitter Gourd with Eggs 苦瓜炒蛋

Mince some garlic, heat it over oil in a wok.

Crack 2 eggs into the wok, fry till cooked.

At the same time, with speed of light, cut into have a bitter gourd, remove its seeds and pulp.  Slice it length wise.

Add into the wok, stir for a while.

Add some water into the wok.  Turn the flame down, simmer till the bitter gourd is cooked.  By then, the water should had been dried up.  If not, turn the flame up and stir-fry until the gravy is reduced.  

Add salt to taste.

Braised Bitter Gourd with Pork Belly 苦瓜焖三层肉

First, slice pork belly for about 5mm thick.  Gently fry them over slow heat till browning. 

Alternatively, can also deep fry them.  But deep fry requires a lot more cooking oil, which is not very healthy, not to mention wasteful.  So I opted for  Ongrizinal green cooking

Meanwhile, I cut open horizontally a bitter gourd.  Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and the whitish core.  Then slice them into 2 mm thick.  Thinly sliced gourd are easier to cook.  By the time the pork belly are already nicely browned, put in all the sliced bitter gourd.  

Stir for a while, then add in some water.  After its boiled, turn the flame to minimum to simmer the ingredients for about 10 minutes, or till the bitter gourd is softened.  

Add salt to taste.

The bitter taste of bitter gourd is because of momordicin.  To remove the bitter taste, some would soak the sliced bitter gourd in a salt solution.  A faster way is rubbing the sliced bitter gourd with salt.  The salt would create a higher solute concentration compare to inside the plant cells.  Thus the water in the cells moves outwards the cell, bringing along the momordicin.