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