bitter melon me

I spent whole day yesterday cooking and this is one of the dishes. I usually cook for the whole week and store them into containers. Everyday, I'll make lunch box picking from a combination of dishes.

One of my week's lunch is bitter melon with shrimp. Easy peasy to make and it doesn't taste bitter at all. Some people don't like bitter melon because they complained its bitter! Duh. But I admit some are more bitter than others. The trick of picking bitter melon is the picking a bitter melon with bigger ridges, those that with ridges that are farther apart. Try this when you picking out bitter melon the next time.



Bitter melon with shrimp
2 - 4 bitter melon, about 1.5 lbs, (see tips below for cutting)
1 lb of shrimp, shelled and veined
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ground bean sauce
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

1. Heat up oil with medium heat. Add garlic and ground bean and stir fry until fragrant, about 5 mins.
2. Add bitter melon and stir fry for a few mins. Add water and close pan with lid. Let cook for 6 mins.
3. Add shrimps and stir fry until it turns pink. Add salt to taste. Serves with rice.

tips:
bitter melon - wash and trim off both ends. Cut into half and scoop out the middle (seeds and white part). Cut into thin slices.
shrimp - I prefer to use shrimp with heads for this dish. Shrimps will need to be shelled but the orange color part in the head gives a lot of wonderful flavor to this dish. Not to mention some nice reddish color too.