Bite On It!

I knew that not many people likes the taste of bitter-gourd… that includes my PiggyBeng. He was pouting when I told him there were slices of bitter-gourd in the egg omelette I just prepared.

Well, bitter-gourd don’t taste that bad if one knows how to get rid of the bitterness. I learned this from my mom. She taught me that before slicing, make sure to clear away the seeds and the entire ‘white cottony’ area. Then sliced it thinly. This will somehow limit the bitter after-taste if there’s any. Sometimes, I don’t even taste the bitterness at all!

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Ingredients

• 1/2 Bitter-gourd (medium size)
• 3 pcs Eggs (beaten)
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with 2-3 tbsp oil.
2. Stir-fry bitter-gourd slices until it beginning to turn brownish (sprinkle with some salt midway)
3. Beat eggs with some salt and pepper and pour onto the fried bitter-gourd slices, fry till golden brown.

Almost every week I will buy some spare ribs for soup. Then I realised, besides using these ribs to boil soup, I can use them for other dishes too! Though they are not the ‘correct’ part of the ribs but the meat texture is almost the same.

I love this yummy dish as it’s so good to go with rice… extremely appetising! Also, I can use up the remaining preserved black beans I bought previously. An easy dish to prepare.

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Ingredients

• 200-300g Spare ribs (get the butcher to chop them into small pieces of 1.5″)
• 2 Red chilies (chopped finely)
• 1 Chili padi (optional)
• 7-8 cloves Garlic (chopped finely)
• 1tsp Preserved black beans
• 1/2-2/3 cup Water
• 2tsp Corn flour (to marinade the ribs prior to cooking)

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Methods

1. Marinade ribs with corn flour for 1/2 hours.
2. Heat up saucepan with some oil, saute the chopped garlic and chilies till fragrant. Add in the washed preserved black beans and stir.
3. Add in the ribs, stir, add water, stir, cover and simmer in small fire for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Note: If you like garlic, you can put in the entire bulb as it fragrant up the dish.

It has been a long time since I prepare this soup. This is actually one of my favourite too as I like the spongy yet crunchy feel of the white fungus.

I took a lot of white fungus during my pregnancy because my ex-boss was telling me that she took a lot when she was having her 2nd child and the girl actually have very smooth and fair skin…. Guess she is quite right as my Darrius does have smooth and fair skin…

So….. preggy mommies, remember to eat more white fungus if you want smooth and fair skin babies!

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Ingredients

• 50g White fungus (get those with slightly yellow tone)
• 300g Pork ribs or Chicken pieces
• 80g Lotus seeds
• 10pcs Red dates (pitted)
• 15g Chinese Wolfberry
• 2.5-3L Water
• Salt to taste

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Methods

1. Soak white fungus in water for 10 minutes till it soften and cut away the harden area at the bottom. ut into smaller clusters if it is a big piece.
2. When water is boiling, put in ribs or chicken pieces and let it boil for 5 minutes.
3. Add in fungus, lotus seeds and red dates and continue to boil on small fire for 2 hours.
4. When ready, just before you switch of the fire, add in the wolfberry and cover.

Notes: Do not boil wolfberry for too long or it will give a sourish taste to the soup.