The garlic, scrambled eggs and tomatoes make this Filipino style scrambled bittermelon with eggs recipe (Ampalaya) humbly delicious. Such simple ingredients, yet lacking in nothing at all in the flavor department. If you’ve avoided cooking bittermelon because you’re afraid of the bitterness, I encourage you to give this recipe a try! After sprinkling the bittermelon with salt, the bitterness is barely noticeable and you are left with a slightly smoky flavored pepper kind of taste. Bitter melon with shrimp is probably my favorite and I will add in a new recipe when I get to making it.
Here goes the Picture Walk:
Ingredients
3 bitter-melons sliced about 1/4 of an inch thick
1 onion diced
5-7 cloves of garlic minced
7 eggs
2 tomatoes
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 or 1tsp salt (add more to taste)
Black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp chicken powder (optional)
Steps
1- Prep the bitter-melon by sprinkling them generously with salt. This really gets a lot of the bitter flavor out so that’s it’s more palatable . I let it sit for 10 minutes while the prep the rest of the ingredients. Then rinse and drain. Set aside.
2- Sauté onion and garlic for 1-2 minutes in oil.
3- Push the onion and and garlic to the side and add a little more oil and sauté the bitter- melon on the other half of the pan for about 2 minutes.
4-Mix the onion garlic mixture with the bittermelon.
5- Add 1/2-1tsp salt and black pepper to taste cook for about 4-5 minutes.
4- Add in the diced tomatoes and toss around and cook for about 4-5 minutes.
5-Add soy sauce, chicken powder, and more salt to taste. Add black pepper to your liking. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes.
5- Whisk eggs and pour into the pan and let it set and stir as you would to scramble eggs. It’s done once the eggs are set.
*Notes: I sliced the bittermelon rather thin this time, so everything came out mushier than I wanted. I would’ve preferred it a little crunchy, so I may not slice it as thin.
*I added 1 onion to this recipe, instead of 1/2 onion (such as in my Japanese Style Bittermelon with Egg Recipe) and found it to add a nice sweetness, but if you don’t prefer sweet, use 1/2 and onion instead of 1.
What are some ways bitter melon is prepared in your culture? I would love to try it!
