Dinner Idea: Stir-fried Bitter Gourd with Anchovy and Tempura tempeh

 

Dinner idea: stir-fried bitter gourd with anchovy, tempura tempeh, and Japanese rice with furikake - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

Have you ever heard about bitter gourd, also known as bitter melon? Instead of being sweet, its taste is bitter. That's why many people do not want to eat this kind of vegetable. But you have to know that we can make it as great taste in the right ways. Of course, it depends on how you cook it. Furthermore, by consuming it you will gain benefits for your body.

I would like to say that bitter gourd is a common vegetable in my hometown in Indonesia. But like I said before many people do not want to eat it because of the bitter taste. Some others using salt to eliminate the bitter. After peeling off the skin; covering the bitter gourd with salt and let it for about 1 hour. For me, that method doesn't work well because I don't like the extra salty taste on it. Another reason, I don't want to wait for an hour 😒 So, I figure out how to cook it without consuming my time yet the taste is good by adding anchovy and cooking in my ways.

What kind of benefits we get by consuming this veggie? Any idea? Well, in my hometown villager believed it good for people who have high blood pressure. The high blood pressure will be decreasing by eating this vegetable. Others believed it good for diabetes and breastfeeding mothers. This knowledge is past down from one generation to generation. Unfortunately, the new generation doesn't want to learn instead they love eating sugary and many unhealthy foods. These habits lead them to health issues such as high blood pressure and also diabetes at 30-an.

Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

Many people think that a bitter gourd dish is a "kampung" food. "kampung" means village and embarrassing to some of the villagers who call themselves "rich". It same as the tempeh image, only for the poor. Because of this image, today's generation would rather eat -they called- "rich's people" foods rather than eat this dish. It was such a weird phenomenon for me. Why? Because food is related to someone's status in society or community. Buying meat almost every day, eating meat every day means they have a lot of money and rich. That's how villager shows their status in the community because common villager eats meat only in the festive season.

Anyway, I loved living in my hometown and learned about the food that we ate. Mostly I learnt from my grandma by listening and observing their behaviour. One of my grandmas used to eat sweet potato leaves, boiled sweet potato, young mango and guava leaves etc. My other grandma loved to grow flower especially Jasmine flower. She also had the skill made her own oil from coconut. My grandma was the one who taught my father that we could still eat tempeh even if they have a black/ grey spots. What my grandma believed that it was good to increase appetite. And this knowledge past down to me. Maybe someday I will write the recipe.

Speaking of which, are we talking about the recipe or what? All right then, let's rock!

Ingredient:

• bitter melon - I use 2 small bitter melon
• a handful of anchovy - wash before cook
• 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1 red onion - cut it
• 4 cloves of garlic - cut/ chop them
• 5 g of low sodium salt
• 5-7 g of garlic powder
• 5-7 g of onion powder
• 7 ml of oyster sauce

These are what you do:

• Peeling off the bitter melon skin; wash and take out the seed inside
• Cutting them in thin-slice
• Prepare the pan, add olive oil, add garlic and red onion that you cut. Turn on the stove on medium-low flame. Saute for about 3 minutes

Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

• Add bitter gourd/ bitter melon. Stir for about 5-7 minutes

Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

• Add anchovy, mix them; add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and oyster sauce. Stir for about 3-5 minutes. Turn off the stove

Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

• Stir-fried bitter gourd is ready

Arrange dinner:

• Place Japanese rice with furikake on it
• Place stir-fried bitter gourd
• Place some tempura tempeh
• Add cherry tomato
• Do not forget to eat fruit!

Dinner idea: stir-fried bitter gourd with anchovy, tempura tempeh, Japanese rice, an apple, and a glass of berry tea - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

Easy, right? You still can the bitter taste but the bitter is different; maybe bitter savory😁 I love to eat with Japanese rice and tempura tempeh. And about tempura tempeh, I wrote it on my book, whether using tempura batter or another substitute. 

Thank you for reading my article, I appreciate that. See you in another article and bye for now 😘👌

Note:

• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Do not copy this article without permission
• Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permission