One more try…

Honestly, I think that those of you who hate bitter gourd should give it one more try. Other than the medicinal benefits of the vegetable, it can actually taste nice. My daughter never touched it until she tried the dish at Ruby. There, they fry it with salted egg…and the end result is fantastic. Crunchy, tasty…and not bitter at all! I think if I blindfold you, you will never be able to tell that it is bitter gourd.

Anyway, yesterday, I decided to cook some as I had a bitter gourd in the fridge. However, I did not have any salted egg in the house so I decided to use my own recipe instead – bitter gourd with cincaluk. Now, here are the ingredients…

Wash and cut the bitter gourd into halves, remove the seeds and slice it into thin pieces. Slice some chillies and pound a bit of ginger. Get ready a bit of cincaluk as well…and now you are ready to roll. Fry a bit of oil in the wok, put in the ginger and stir till it turns golden brown, add the cincaluk and then add a bit of water. Instead of msg, I added half a tablespoon of ikan bilis (anchovies) stock. Then, in go the chillies and the bittergourd and simmer until cooked. The dish is ready…

Cilaka! The lady told me that the bitter gourd would not be bitter, but thank goodness…the strong taste of the cincaluk was able to drown out the bitterness, so it actually tasted VERY nice!!! Yum! Yum! Now what about a protein dish for a balanced meal? Yesterday, being a Friday, I guess some of you would not be able to have this…

Ooo…I have loved luncheon meat since I was a kid – Ma Ling Brand in the orange and blue tin…but lately, that brand has become totally inedible!!! Still that didn’t stop me…and as the ones from other countries are a bit too expensive, I tried some of the other alternatives (despite all that they say about canned foods from China!). I find the Gulong Brand quite nice, not as nice as Ma Ling in the past…but less salty and not so much fat!

Anyway, if you are abstaining from meat, how about some sardines? Sometimes I would fry it with Bombay onions and add some more tomato sauce so it would taste nicer. Otherwise, you can do what I do! Open the can of sardines and put them in a plate…cut some shallots and chillies and put them on top of the fish, then cut some lime/kalamansi and squeeze the juice over everything! You will get a nice sourish spicy taste…and the lime will remove a bit of the canned sardine taste. Give it a try! I’m sure you’ll like it…

Well, the weekend’s here! Cooking anything special?…..Do have a pleasant weekend, everybody!