Ok so this recipe doesn’t use actual black beans because I don’t have them in my kitchen, but it’s a yummy way to cook bittergourd and pork ribs! I would have preferred it if I had soft bones, but all I had were 500g of ribs which I had intended to cook in a soup. Works anyway!

Don’t be afraid of fat. The ribs look fatty here, but you do need some fat in a stew. Don’t use pork loin or lean meat in this unless you love tough cuts! Don’t be afraid of the liquid too. It might look like a lot before simmering, but by the time the dish is done, it would have reduced beautifully. And you can see that the sugar we added to the liquid has caramelised the ribs perfectly.

The essential ingredient in this black bean dish without actual black beans is this black bean soy sauce paste that my mum introduced to me. We were at her home for lunch one day and the sauce that she coated her salmon cubes in was sooo delicious. She mixed some of this sauce with kewpie sesame sauce. Yes, the sesame sauce we often use in salads! The combination is amazingg. Who would have thought this would work! I got this from Fairprice extra. AAA Premium Black Bean Soy Sauce Paste 黑豆酱油膏 $6.95. It’s super versatile. I use it to marinate chicken wings, or use a bit in vegetable stir fry, or in gravy for steamed fish. If you can’t get this, I guess you could substitute with normal black bean paste + dark soy sauce.

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Bittergourd is a vegetable that you either love or hate. I hate it. LOL. But everyone else in the family loves it, including the husband. So although I don’t like to eat bittergourd, I often cook with it. I can’t remember if I’ve shared my pork rib bittergourd with fermented black bean sauce recipe before, but my aunts actually said it reminds them of THEIR mom’s cooking. Wow they just propelled me to another level wtf I don’t deserve this.

I shall cook that dish again one day and make their day.

I ordered a crazy variety of vegetables from Opentaste.sg that day (don’t miss their $15 off first order offer. punch in my code ‘240D2E’ at checkout), and added a few bittergourds to my cart. My aunts were quite happy. And it certainly came into good use the week Amber (and I) fell sick and all I could manage was real simple cooking.

How do you choose bittergourd if you’re buying it from the market? If you prefer something more bitter, choose one that’s darker in colour, or better yet, get those baby ones. For less bitter taste, get one that’s light green. Depending on how you slice it, remove the seeds either by scraping them off (together with the white part) with a spoon (if you’re slicing them length-wise), otherwise slice into circles and push the white part out with your thumbs. That’s what I do anyway and I sometimes find it faster than using a spoon or knife.

To reduce bitterness, soak sliced bittergourd in saltwater for 15 minutes, then drain, rinse and pat dry. Why eat bittergourd if you don’t want it to be bitter? Beats me, but that’s why some people do anyway.

For an easy extra dish on the dining table, cook this. 10-15 minutes from start to end if you don’t soak, and that’s perfectly fine. Bought too much? Use them in stews or a simple soup. Those who love them really do.

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The post Stir Fried Bittergourd with Egg 苦瓜炒蛋 appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.