Are you looking for a quick and tasty dish to add to your dinner rotation? Look no further than this Bitter Melon Stir-Fry with Pork recipe! Combining the unique bitterness of bitter melon with savory pork slices, this dish is sure to tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving for more. With simple ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, you’ll have a delicious meal ready in no time.
Why Bitter Melon Stir-Fry with Pork
Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd, is a unique vegetable characterized by its bitter taste and distinctive appearance. While some may find its flavor too intense, likening it to a combination of cucumber and bitter greens, others appreciate its unique taste and potential health benefits.
Bitter melon, a staple in Asian cuisine, finds its way into various culinary creations such as stir-fries, soups, and salads. Whether it’s the classic bitter melon stir-fried with eggs or a refreshing bitter melon salad, its unique bitterness contributes to the depth and complexity of these dishes.
Despite its polarizing flavor profile, bitter melon is valued for its purported health properties, including potential benefits for blood sugar regulation and digestion.
Whether you love it or loathe it, bitter melon remains a fascinating ingredient in the culinary world, offering a bold and unforgettable taste experience.
In this recipe, I blanch the bitter melon for about 30 seconds, which not only helps to tenderize the vegetable quickly but also reduces its bitterness.
How To Lessen The Bitterness Of Bitter Melons
There are a few ways to make the bitter flavors of bitter melon more tolerable and enjoyable. The trick is to reduce its bitterness as much as possible. Here are three surefire ways to do it:
- Remove the seeds and jagged surface of the skin: It helps lessen the bitter flavors when you remove the seeds and jagged parts of the bitter melon’s skin. In fact, the jagged parts of the skin have the most amount of bitter flavors. It won’t completely remove the bitterness, but will surely lessen the strength.
- Marinate with salt: Salt draws out moisture from bitter melon, which helps release its bitter flavors as well. Rub some salt onto the bitter melon slices and let them soak for 15 to 30 minutes. Then, rinse off the salt by washing the bitter melon slices with water.
- Blanch with salt: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt. Once boiling, add the chopped and deseeded bitter melon slices and blanch for about 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Then, remove the bitter melon slices and soak them in cold water for a few minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain the water and set the bitter melon slices aside for frying. Additionally, I like to add some oil to the boiling water, which helps maintain the vibrant green color of the bitter melon.
A little more about Fermented black beans
A special ingredient for this recipe is fermented black beans, a popular ingredient in Chinese dishes. You will love its rich, funky, and umami flavors. Fermented black beans are made by salting and fermenting the black soybeans, eventually becoming dry and slightly soft salted beans. Once it is cooked, it becomes chewy and soft. This ingredient is optional.
- Where to buy: You may find this in stores in dry and whole beans labeled as fermented black beans, douchi, tochi, or salted black beans. It is usually available in Asian grocery stores or Chinese supermarkets and is packed in plastic bags, bottles, or jars. If you can’t find it in the store, try looking at online stores like Amazon. The varieties of fermented black beans are either salted or with added seasonings.
- Alternatives to try: You may find regular black beans in the store, however, these are completely different from fermented black beans. Regular black beans cannot be used interchangeably with fermented black beans since it has a different taste and does not offer the same funky flavors. So, make sure to check the label and that it says it is fermented. If you really can’t find fermented black beans, you can try using Chinese black bean sauce or paste.
Ingredients:
- 300g pork (8 parts lean, 2 parts fat)
- 1 bitter melon, approximately 300g
Marinade:
- 1 tbsp cooking wine
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Blanch:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp salt
Stir-Fry Sauce:
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp white granulated sugar
- Cornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water)
Stir-Fry:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 20g fermented black beans
- 20g garlic, minced
Instructions:
Begin by preparing the bitter melon. Cut off the ends and halve it lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds from the inside. Then, halve each half lengthwise into two pieces. Finally, slice the pieces diagonally into thin slices, with the skin side facing up, at a roughly 45-degree angle.
Slice the pork into thin slices. Then, marinate the pork slices with cooking wine, salt, light soy sauce, and cornstarch, giving them a thorough massage to ensure they are evenly coated. Allow the pork to marinate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the blanching ingredients: cooking oil and salt. Blanch the bitter melon slices for 30 seconds, then remove them and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce: light soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch slurry. Stir until well combined, and set aside for later use.
Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Add the marinated pork slices and stir-fry until they are 70% cooked.
Add the minced garlic and fermented black beans to the pan, stirring until fragrant.
Now, add the blanched bitter melon slices to the pan, followed by pouring in the prepared stir-fry sauce.
Stir-fry everything together over high heat until the bitter melon slices are evenly coated and cooked through.
Once everything is cooked and well combined, remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.
Bitter Melon Stir-Fry with Pork
Ingredients
- 300 g pork 8 parts lean, 2 parts fat
- 1 bitter melon approximately 300g
Marinade:
- 1 tbsp cooking wine
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Blanch:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp salt
Stir-Fry Sauce:
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp white granulated sugar
- Cornstarch slurry 1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water
Stir-Fry:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 20 g fermented black beans
- 20 g garlic minced
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the bitter melon. Cut off the ends and halve it lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds from the inside. Then, halve each half lengthwise into two pieces. Finally, slice the pieces diagonally into thin slices, with the skin side facing up, at a roughly 45-degree angle.
- Slice the pork into thin slices. Then, marinate the pork slices with cooking wine, salt, light soy sauce, and cornstarch, giving them a thorough massage to ensure they are evenly coated. Allow the pork to marinate for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the blanching ingredients: cooking oil and salt. Blanch the bitter melon slices for 30 seconds, then remove them and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce: light soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch slurry. Stir until well combined, and set aside for later use.
- Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Add the marinated pork slices and stir-fry until they are 70% cooked.
- Add the minced garlic and fermented black beans to the pan, stirring until fragrant.
- Now, add the blanched bitter melon slices to the pan, followed by pouring in the prepared stir-fry sauce.
- Stir-fry everything together over high heat until the bitter melon slices are evenly coated and cooked through.
- Once everything is cooked and well combined, remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.
