A wonderful combination of cream cheese and pineapple with a graham cracker crust. Pull up a seat when it’s time to serve, then take a bite.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ice cubes
- 1 bitter melon, seeded and sliced
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce, divided
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ounces beef, sliced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon black bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 pinch white sugar, or to taste
- ¾ cup water
- 1 teaspoon water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a bowl with ice; add enough salted water to make an ice bath. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook the bitter melon in the boiling water until tender yet firm, about 2 minutes; strain the melon. Place the melon into the ice bath; allow to sit until bitterness is extracted, about 1 hour. Drain melon.
- Whisk 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add beef and toss to evenly coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Heat wok, or a large skillet, on high until smoking. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Lay beef evenly across the bottom of the wok; cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Remove beef. Pour in 1 teaspoon of oil; allow to heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger; cook and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in bitter melon; cook until combined, about 1 minute.
- Stir black bean sauce into melon mixture. Stir in remaining soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Pour in 3/4 cup water; cover and let simmer until flavors combine, 2 to 3 minutes. Uncover and mix in remaining cornstarch and 1 teaspoon water and stir until thickened.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 141 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 8 g |
| Cholesterol | 23 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 340 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
a favorite dish since childhood. mom and grandma grew their own bitter melon. I like it as bitter as it can be (an acquired taste), so skipped the melon prep. this came very close to my normal recipe, which includes a few hours of marinating the beef in a ginger/garlic/sherry/corn starch/oyster sauce baggie. this recipe is done before the rice in the rice cooker is finished. very quick. start the rice first.
This is the 2nd time I’m making this recipe. The flavors are spot on, though I added some mala sauce because I like a hint of heat. I also did not precook the bitter melon; I simply let it soak in salted water for 20 minutes then drained… After flash cooking the beef, I put it aside then cooked the vegetable on the same pan. Once the melon was medium done, I added the beef back with the sauces. Quick stir and done!
I would give this recipe a 4.5 if I could. I’m asian and a huge snob when it comes to cooking with bitter melon. A recipe like this found on allrecipes.com is uncommon, and that’s probably why there’s only 3 reviews. I decided to try it anyway. It’s very similar to how the generations in my family cooks with bitter melon and black bean sauce. However, it’s a really good recipe and I’ve used it a few times. You must be fond of bitter melon to want to make this. I loved it!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Bitter melon is bitter so following the prep instructions are important to help reduce the bitterness. I heard bitter melon is good for diabetics which is why I tried this recipe. It was easy and quite delicious. I didn’t have any beef but used some boneless pork sirloin chops. I followed the same marinade instructions including the baking soda which helps tenderize the meat and the recipe turned out perfect.
To combat bitterness I add about 2 teaspoons sugar to the blanching water too. Then also add more sugar to the corn starch slurry , try perhaps 1/2 teaspoon. As for the use of baking soda, I use about a heaping teaspoon in 3 cups water and marinate the sliced beef for 15 min. Then rinse the beef thoroughly under running water with a strainer. Now use this tenderized beef in the recipe.
Overall, this recipe is very delicious! I’m hoping the author of recipe can add a review (give the recipe 5 stars) to explain how much salt to add for water bath method and what the baking soda is for. My husband actually liked the bitter melon prepared this way with the black bean sauce (only his 2nd time trying it; I grew up with it and have acquired taste for it). For those who don’t know, bitter melon (or gourd) is bitter! Do not skip step one because the salt is going to reduce the level of bitterness, but step 1 was not very clear for me—I have no idea how to make salted water for an ice bath—how much salt to water? 🙁 There are a few methods to reduce bitterness. Simply, parboiling does not reduce the bitter enough for us. I halved the bitter melon, remove seeds, slice, and place slices in colander (over a bowl). Added 1-2 tsp kosher salt over the slices and combined with hands, set aside for 1 hour. You need to use Kosher or Sea Salt…NOT table salt. Rinse and drain off excess water. Prepare your ice water bath. Blanch the bitter melon slices in lightly salted water for 1 minute and place in ice water bath to stop further cooking. Continue with recipe. I also omitted the baking soda because I couldn’t figure out the need for it, but I suspect it further reduces bitterness. I had 2 melons, hence doubled the recipe. I felt the amount of water was a little too much, but hey…more sauce is always good! I loved this recipe and will be making it again!