Hello, good evening! How's everyone? Southwest monsoon is currently on a break and now it's too warm and dry. I hope it drizzles for a while at night to make the weather cool at least. I've also caught colds and cough last weekend and still suffering from it right now. I think it isn't allergy (I hope so) and wish it goes away soon because I might be going out with friends this coming weekend.
Anyways, this lady in her decades of existence has never dared to eat bitter gourd or "ampalaya" in Filipino.
Story time!!!
One lunch time back in high school, the dish that was cooked was bangus sinigang (milk fish sour soup). It's one of my favorite dishes ever! Bangus belly is to die for! Lol. And because I was so hungry from school, I got a lot of the belly and scooped lots of the soup and poured it over the heap of warm rice. I was so excited, like "Hallelujah! My favorite sinigang! Yum!". I had my first bite and I instantly spat it when I tasted the very bitter taste. I drank water and checked the pot. There I found ampalaya leaves mixed in the sinigang. I think I threw the rice and got another serving. I ate the sinigang without the soup.
The end.
And that started my fear with bitter gourd. When someone mentions that the food has bitter gourd in it, I immediately decline. However, an acquaintance online mentioned that there's a technique to remove the bitter taste and swore to it because she does it too. I just said 'okay' because I have zero interest eating it.
Then just recently, a friend sent a photo of his food—ginisang ampalaya. It's like an omelette with tomatoes, onions, and ampalaya. That sparked my curiosity with bitter gourd and remembered what my acquaintance told me six years ago.
I actually forgot the procedure, so I looked online and did exactly what it said.
- Remove the white flesh or the spongy pith because it is where the bitter taste is concentrated. Scrape until the green skin of the ampalaya appears.
- Slice thinly.
- Place the slices in a bowl and pour generous amount of salt and massage it until the salt is distributed well on the ampalaya.
- Leave for 30 minutes, then squeeze until the liquid is removed from the ampalaya. Throw the green water then rinse the ampalaya with water to remove the salt. Repeat steps 3 and 4 again.
- Then soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes, then squeeze and rinse and squeeze again.
- Last, squeeze the ampalaya with paper towel to completely remove the liquid in it. This will also help remove the remaining bitter taste.
I've also read not to mix it often while cooking and don't overcook it. It's already good once it turns bright green or a bit yellow green. I added the eggs next and continued with my usual way of cooking scrambled eggs.
I only made two servings on my first try because I'm scared and unsure whether this will turn out right. But to my surprise, there was no even slight taste of bitterness when I tasted it.
Success!!!
There's still some hotdogs left on the fridge so I pair the scrambled eggs I make with it.
Few days later, I used the remaining half of ampalaya and made another batch of scrambled eggs. This time, good for three servings.
Now I can say that I can finally eat bitter gourd, as long as the bitter taste is completely removed. I'll still probably hesitate or doubt if it was cooked by someone else though.
I've also read that the bitter gourd is still nutritious despite removing the spongy white thing and bitter taste, so it's still good. I'll just have to make sure to rinse it thoroughly to remove the salt.
I'm really glad there is a way to completely remove the unpleasant taste and to have finally tried the technique.
Well, now I can say...
Achievement unlocked! Haha!