Hello Foodies!
Today, I’ll be showing you all how to make a very simple stuffed bitter melon soup my mom would make for us growing up. Yes, I do love bitter melon! I know some of you don’t like bitter foods, but maybe someday you might outgrow it 😉 This version is different from the Vietnamese one since it doesn’t contain clear bean tread noodles or wood-ear shrooms. There’s a ton of ways to make stuffed bitter melon. My mom would make this dish with a lot of herbs and boiled in a simple chicken and lemongrass broth. We will be using chicken for this recipe to keep it light. I love it because it’s super clean, simple, light and quite healthy during this time of the year. Hopefully you all give it a try someday and to all the bitter melon lovers out there… thanks for appreciating bitter melons 🙂 Let me know what you like to add into stuffed bitter melon. Happy Cooking.
Main Ingredients
The seasonings: Fish sauce, oyster sauce, black pepper, and salt
The herbs: Fresh cilantro, green onions, shallots, and lemongrass.
Aromatics: Fresh lemongrass stalks and slice peppers
Hollowing out the bitter melon
Put chicken filling in a piping bag for easier filling
Boil
Serve 
Eat with rice
Enjoy!
-CHawjCreations
Ingredients
- ---FILLING---
- 1.5 lbs ground chicken (or meat of your choice)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 shallot chopped
- 1 lemongrass chopped
- 3-4 bitter melons
- ---SOUP BASE---
- 8 cups water
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 4-5 chili peppers
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chicken boullion
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
Making the filling
In a bowl, add in the ground up chicken thigh meat, all the chopped herbs and seasonings. Mix well and set aside to marinade while you hollow out the bitter melon. [put meat filling in a piping bag for easier filling if you desire to do so]
Hollowing out the bitter melon
Wash the bitter melon well and then cut the tips off. Cut the bitter melon into 3rds or to your desire thickness. Take a butter knife or a small spoon and hollow out the seeds.
Once all the bitter melons are hollowed out, take the meat filling and fill it inside the bitter melon. Fill until all bitter melons are used up. Any leftover meat filling can be used to make little dumplings to put into the broth.
Making the soup
In a pot, add in 8 cups of water. Let it come to a boil and then add in all the stuffed bitter melons. Cover and let it cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add in the leftover meat filling (you can form them into little balls or pipe and cut them into the broth), lemongrass stalks, and slice up chili pepper. Cover and let it simmer for a good 5-8 minutes or until the meat is cooked and the bitter melons is soft to eat. Taste the broth for seasonings. I added 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon to taste. Serve hot alongside rice or over noodles if you desire.
-CHawjCreations
Notes
If you have a lot of meat leftover, save it to make little meatballs to be put into the soup or make patties with them and grill it up. Feel free to add other ingredients to the filling such as bean thread noodles/ shrooms/ carrots if you desire.
