Crispy bitter melon (or bitter gourd) stuffed with a spiced potato mash. Aside its numerous health benefits, bitter melon – an underappreciated vegetable with a blatantly bitter taste – is well worth exploring in terms of culinary potential.
Bitter melon can be quite a challenge for many people to eat but I personally find the bitter taste incredibly refreshing and tasty. When prepared properly, it can be quite palatable while still delivering all the exceptional health benefits.
I am pretty excited about today’s recipe for two reasons. For one thing, bitter gourd is my favourite vegetable ever since I was a child. Second thing is that today’s post and video are a collaboration with Lisa from The Viet Vegan.
Lisa is the fun and bubbly women behind the blog and YouTube channel – The Viet Vegan. If you haven’t had the chance to watch her videos yet, you should definitely go and check her out. Her vids are always so informative and entertaining to watch. It’s almost like watching a live cooking show where she explains as she cooks. She also shares other things like grocery hauls, what she eats in a day, taste tests which are sometimes pretty hilarious to watch, her partner Eddie sometimes makes an appearance and she talks about some other topics as well, all revolving around vegan food and lifestyle.
So for this collab, we’ve picked bitter melon as our main ingredient and we are each making a recipe with it. Whether you love bitter melons or you’re new to this vegetable, you will most probably find something interesting in both recipes.
My recipe is a Crispy Stuffed Bitter Melon preparation which is inspired from one of my mum’s recipes. I am making a variation with a crispy coating. The filling is a spiced potato mash which is pretty similar to a samosa filling. I think the creaminess contrasts well with the crispy outer layer. The spices kind of cushions the bitterness of the gourd resulting in a rather delectable dish which can either be served as a snack or with rice along with other side dishes like dal or curry.
Don’t forget to check out Lisa’s Vietnamese Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup.
You might also like this:
Watch the step-by-step video.
Our utensils and cooking equipment
Forged Cast Iron Chef Knife
Cast Iron Skillet
Cast Iron Hot Handle Holder
Burnished bamboo stir-fry spatula
Burnished bamboo all-purpose spatuala
Kitchen Food Scale
Crispy Stuffed Bitter Melon Recipe
Ingredients
To Marinate:
5 medium size bitter gourds
2 teaspoons salt
For Filling:
1 large potato, diced into 1.5cm (1/2-inch) cubes
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (how to make homemade minced ginger)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1 long green chili, chopped
1/4 cup frozen green peas
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves, picked from stems
5 – 10 long coriander stems with leaves removed
1/3 cup chickpea flour (besan or gram flour, all-purpose flour is also good), for coating
Cooking oil for shallow pan frying
Directions:
Lightly scrape the outer skin of bitter gourd and make a slit along the length. Don’t cut into halves.
Scoop out the seeds.
Place all the bitter gourds in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage a couple of times then cover with water and let soak for about 20 minutes.
In the mean time, prepare the potato for stuffing. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a pan or skillet.
Add chopped onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds then add the coriander powder and cumin. Saute a few minutes.
Add the potatoes followed by the turmeric powder.
Add a little salt and water. Stir and cover. Let cook on medium heat until potatoes are soft (about 12 – 15 minutes).
Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary.
Once potatoes are soft, mash them with the cooking spoon or a potato masher. Then add the chillies and green peas.
Cook for a few more minutes then add the coriander leaves.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, add the coriander stems in a saucepan and cover with some water. Bring the water to a boil for a couple of minutes. Remove the stems and place in a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking any further. This process makes the stems more flexible so that they won’t snap when we tie them into a knot.
Wash the bitter gourd and stuff the potato filling into each bitter gourd carefully. Tie each bitter gourds with the coriander stems so that the filling doesn’t come out while frying.
Roll each bitter gourd in some chickpea flour. Coat it well and tap to remove the excess.
Heat a pan or skillet on medium-high temperature. Add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil. Pan-fry the stuffed bitter gourds while occasionally turning them on all the sides.
Keep turning the sides for even frying. Once crispy and golden brown, remove from the heat and drain on some absorbent paper. Serve as snack or with rice or roti and other side dishes like dal or curry.
Crispy Stuffed Bitter Melon Recipe {Stuffed Bitter Gourd}
Ingredients
To Marinate:
- 5 bitter gourds, medium size
- 2 teaspoons salt
For Filling:
- 1 large potato, diced into 1.5cm (1/2-inch) cubes
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, make your own, see recipe notes below
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 long green chili, chopped
- 1/4 cup frozen green peas
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves, picked from stems
- 5 - 10 long coriander stems with leaves removed
- 1/3 cup chickpea flour, besan or gram flour, all-purpose flour is also good, for coating
- Cooking oil for shallow pan frying
Instructions
- Lightly scrape the outer skin of bitter gourd and make a slit along the length. Don’t cut into halves.
- Scoop out the seeds.
- Place all the bitter gourds in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage a couple of times then cover with water and let soak for about 20 minutes.
- In the mean time, prepare the potato for stuffing. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a pan or skillet.
- Add chopped onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds then add the coriander powder and cumin. Saute a few minutes.
- Add the potatoes followed by the turmeric powder.
- Add a little salt and water. Stir and cover. Let cook on medium heat until potatoes are soft (about 12 – 15 minutes).
- Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary.
- Once potatoes are soft, mash them with the cooking spoon or a potato masher. Then add the chillies and green peas.
- Cook for a few more minutes then add the coriander leaves.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, add the coriander stems in a saucepan and cover with some water. Bring the water to a boil for a couple of minutes. Remove the stems and place in a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking any further. This process makes the stems more flexible so that they won’t snap when we tie them into a knot.
- Wash the bitter gourd and stuff the potato filling into each bitter gourd carefully. Tie each bitter gourds with the coriander stems so that the filling doesn’t come out while frying.
- Roll each bitter gourd in some chickpea flour. Coat it well and tap to remove the excess.
- Heat a pan or skillet on medium-high temperature. Add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil. Pan-fry the stuffed bitter gourds while occasionally turning them on all the sides.
- Keep turning the sides for even frying. Once crispy and golden brown, remove from the heat and drain on some absorbent paper. Serve as snack or with rice or roti and other side dishes like dal or curry.
Video
Notes
You can find some of the ingredients in this recipe online.
Pin this recipe for later:
Leave a Reply