A Bitter Melon Cooking Experience

I'm not exactly sure how it was revealed but I mentioned to my ohana at work that I ate bitter melons. I don't believe the word "cook" was ever mentioned (my experience with bittermelon aside from eating it was maybe choppiing it at the most), but somehow this tipped off one of my kuahine and she brought in what seemed like a couple of pounds of the bumby and bitter squash.

First, some background. I've been eating bitter melon for what seems like most of my life. As a young'un growing up in Texas, I dreaded having to eat it. I tried it again after a long haitus and somehow, someway thought it was delicious. My mom cooks it with her special mix of spices, which are basically turmeric, hot peppers and salt. Served with rice and a dollop of yogurt, this is probably one of the most basic dishes to prepare, but so complicated for the senses.

Perhaps it was during the time my father raised bitter melons as a cash crop that I began to appreciate the gourd. My dad would construct large trelises and grow the vines of the bitter melon across these structures. Even the pugent odor of the vines was so strong that you could pick it up some ways away from the vicinity of the actual plant. Just thinking about the smell recalls such fond memories such as hot oppressive Texas humidity, mosquitoes and other flying insects and my canine pal, Bosco. Enough of that for now.

So last weekend I decided to cook up a few bitter melons. I was actually spurred on to do this because I heard a cooking contest was coming up--the next day actually--I figured I could give it a shot. A few of my friends were gathering and everyone was preparing some international dish. Alas, the contest was cancelled, but still the cooking was a worthwhile experience.

So to detail the experience. FYI, I followed my mom's recipe. First, I cut the ends of the gourds off and chopped the rest of the vegetable into quarter-inch rounds, which you may be able to see in the photo to the right. One of the squashes literally "exploded" since it was too ripe; one end of it was curled wide open exposing it's red seeds, hence why the yellow pieces are not intact. I cut up some small Hawaiian hot peppers that I also received. I chopped up two thinking these little buggers ain't going to intimidate me...

I proceeded to "blanch" the bitter melon slices. However, I believe I put too much water in the pot so I probably created a mild stew of bitter melons in the process. When I attempt to cook these again, I will use way less water (maybe a 1/4 cup for each 1/2 pound) and will probably salt them at this point too. I should have also probably used a larger cooking vessel.

Next, I actually had to run to the grocery store since I found out that I didn't have ground turmeric. After returning from the store, I fired up the stove again and proceeded to sautee the sliced bitter melon and hot peppers.

At this point the details get a little fuzzy. For some reason, I decided that the dish needed a whole lot of turmeric, I added a little salt but not enough to complement the bitterness of the squash. As you can see, the consistency of the squash and spices is rather wet. This should not be the case; it's most likely a result of the poor blancing I performed. Also, the non-stick pan that I used probably required less oil than I added. I don't like using these types of pans, but that's all that was available. In hindsight, I probably should have done everything in the stainless steel pot I used in the previous step.

Well, it was a fine experience like I said. It was good and pretty hot thanks to those hot peppers; they may be small but they carry quite the punch. Combined with the monster portion of turmeric, the dish probably could have cured someone of the cold in a matter of seconds. When cooking with bitter melon, don't underestimate the need for salt...I didn't have any rice (doh! I was suppossed to buy some when I went to the store) so I ate it with bread. There was brown rice available, but I didn't have time to cook rice for 50 minutes. Next time, I'll do it up right with rice and yogurt.