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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Canh Kho Qua ( Stuffed Bitter Melon / Bittergourd Soup ) 越式酿苦瓜

Before CNY, my husband shown me a recipe and requested me to cook for him as he missed this stuffed bitter melon which he took good one at Ho Chi Minh Vietnam last time.



 
I find this way of preparing meat filling with addition of glass noodles is good..


 
Oh, love this, it was so refreshing and the meat filling tasted not greasy at all. If you love bitter gourd, you have to try this out. Actually it was not bitter at all, but instead 甘 ( bitter aftertaste sweet).
But next time, I must remember to remove the white flesh as much as possible, because it tasted it bit hard..Another important ingredient is the chicken stock, prepare a bit rich of stock.


Canh Kho Qua ( Stuffed Bitter Melon / Bittergourd Soup ) 越式酿苦瓜

15g glass noodles
 5g dried black fungus, soaked and cut into strips
 250g ground pork
 1/2 medium onion, chopped
 1tbsp fish sauce
 1tsp sugar
 1/2tsp salt
 ground white pepper
 1 egg (small)

 2 bitter melons / bittergourds, medium
 6 cups chicken stock
 Chinese chives, blanched in boiling water as this will be used as strings to tie the bitter melons
 coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method

  1. Soak glass noodles and black fungus separately in water till soften. Roughly cut the glass noodles into 1-1/2-inch pieces and place in a bowl with the pork, black fungus, chopped onions, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and the egg. Mix well and set aside.
  2. Cut a length wise an opening on one side of the bitter melon deep through the seeds but not through the other side. Using a spoon, scoop out the soft white flesh and seeds of the bitter melons.
  3. Fill the whole bitter melon with pork mixture. Tie the both ends of the stuffed bitter melons with the blanched chives.
  4. Put the chicken stock in a large saucepan. Season the soup to taste with a bit of fish sauce and salt and bring to a boil.
  5. Add the stuffed melon to the soup, return to a simmer, and cook for 25 minutes. The bitter melons are cooked when they turn from bright green to olive green.
  6. To serve cut in half or small discs, and garnish with the green onions, coriander and ground pepper.
Recipe adapted from here

28 comments:

  1. Wow...I love this as I frequently make bittergourd soup too. I should cook this one day to impress my hb too. Since the weather is terribly hot nowadays, having this soup is good for cooling our body. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. 哈!我有吃苦瓜的也。这个我把它记录下来。谢谢你 sonia

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  3. Looks good, but i don't take bittergourd...

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  4. 这个我爱!!!大爱!!!!

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  5. Sonia, this is very interesting! I must try this next time when I want to eat bittergourd.

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  6. 我家那天也做了酿豆腐, 临时我家老的提到少了苦瓜呢!

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  7. 甘中带甜... Very light and nice dish for a change

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  8. 苦瓜好苦,很难煮,但吃了对身体好哦!
    我老公不愿吃苦瓜的,他说他的命已经很苦了,不要再吃那么苦的东西了。哈哈哈。。。
    不过SONIA老师的这个食谱我要收住,这样越难式做法应该不会太苦吧,嘻嘻嘻。。。

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  9. Hey, this looks sooooo yummy!!!!By adding glass noodles is something new to me. Love to try, thank you, Sifu :)

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  10. saya mesti cuba resipi ini dan ganti dengan daging cincang atau ayam.pasti sedap kebetulan saya ada 2 biji peria yang baru di petik dari pokok.Thanks Sonia.

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  12. 苦瓜!我最爱!!谢谢你的分享^^

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  13. Oh i didn't know Vietnam always have stuffed bitter melon :)

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  14. Simply amazing and fulfilling to look at bitter gourd fillings.
    Deepa

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  15. Sonia, glad that you enjoy this dish! I'm Vietnamese, and here in Vietnam, we put glass noodles into meat-based filling (for spring rolls and essentially any thing 'stuffed') so that the glass noodles can soak up the juice from the meat and retain the flavor.
    Hence at the beginning the glass noodle shouldn't be soaked for too long so that it can soak up more juice later.

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  16. Oh, the way you stuffed the meat inside the bitter gourds look so cute! Normally I saw people only stuffed on cut melon, this is a very cool method! I had some bitter gourd last night but just "cin cai" stir-fry niak.

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  17. 谢谢有长知识了,
    又收藏多一道越南特色,感恩哦!

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  18. Sonia, this looks stunning. I've been making bittergourd soup these days to beat the heat!

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  19. Looks good! I will keep this in mind, for next time we harvest our bittergourd from garden.

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  20. uiks...new way wo...mean the sweet taste of the filling absorb into the gourd.

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  21. I love bitter melon and this is a new way for me to enjoy! I had no idea we can stuff bitter melon (and tie up). Great idea!

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  22. I like bitter gourd but haven't tried it this way yet :D This dish looks delish !

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  23. This is very popular dish in Vietnam (and in Thailand,too).My mom cooks it often but I can't eat this,too bitter for me hi hi :),can't bear the bitter taste

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  24. Ah Chi,
    You are awesome, even bitter gourd also can make it taste and looks so nice.
    My hubby loves bitter gourd, must try to cook this for him :)
    mui

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  25. Bitter Melon can also be consumed in the form of capsules, which are available in market by various brands.

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  26. Must chicken stock be used? Or just water is fine?

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  27. Megumi, just water is fine too, if lacking flavour, just add some chicken stock powder.

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