Recipes

Bitter Gourd Soup

Tom Juet Ma Ra

Pork-stuffed bitter melon simmered slowly in a mild, light broth

Prep

20 min

Cook

90 min

Serves

4

Heat

mild

Stuffing bitter melon with a seasoned pork and glass noodle filling turns an intensely bitter raw vegetable into something genuinely comforting. A pre-soup salt treatment draws out much of that sharpness before the rings even reach the pot, and a long, slow simmer in a deliberately mild broth continues softening what's left, leaving just a faint bitter note that many people come to appreciate rather than avoid. The filling itself, bound together with glass noodles the way a meatloaf holds together with breadcrumbs, stays put inside the melon through the full simmer, so each piece comes out as a neat, self-contained bite in a very clean, unadorned broth.

Ingredients

• 1-2 Bitter melons (ends trimmed, sliced into 1 1/2-inch rings, seeded)
• 2-3 tablespoons Salt (for drawing out bitterness)
• 10.7 oz Chopped pork
• 2 teaspoons Garlic (ground with the coriander root)
• 1-2 Coriander root, large (ground with the garlic)
• 2 2/3 tablespoons Carrot (grated)
• 2/3 cup Glass noodles (soaked if dried)
• 1 1/3 tablespoons Light soy sauce
• 1 1/3 tablespoons Oyster sauce
• 1 1/3 teaspoons Sugar
• 1 1/3 cups Carrot (peeled and sliced)
• 1 1/3 cups Straw mushrooms (halved)
• 1/3 teaspoon White pepper, finely ground

Directions

1. Trim the ends of the bitter melon and slice into rings about 1 1/2 inches thick. Use a small knife and spoon to scrape out the inner pulp and seeds thoroughly.
2. Coat the melon rings generously with salt, packing it on well. Let sit for at least 20 to 30 minutes to draw out the bitterness.
3. Meanwhile, chop the garlic and coriander root, grate the carrot, and soak the glass noodles if dried.
4. Grind the garlic and coriander root together with a mortar and pestle into a fine paste.
5. Mix the ground pork with the herb paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, grated carrot, and glass noodles in a bowl until well combined.
6. Rinse the salt from the melon rings and soak briefly to remove as much saltiness as possible. Pack each ring tightly with the pork filling using a spoon and your fingers, patting flat and even on both cut sides.
7. Clean and halve the mushrooms, and peel and slice the carrot for the soup.
8. Add water to a large lidded pot. Stir in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, white pepper, and sugar, heating until the sugar dissolves. Lay the stuffed melon rings in a single layer, meat side down if possible.
9. Add the sliced carrot and mushrooms, tucking them between the melon pieces. Add enough water to just cover everything.
10. Bring to a hard boil, then reduce to a bare simmer. Cook slowly for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours — the longer it cooks, the better it tastes. Keep the water level just covering the ingredients, adding more only as needed.
11. The finished broth should be smooth and light brown, deliberately mild rather than heavily seasoned.
12. Serve a couple pieces of melon per bowl with some carrot and mushroom, broth covering about halfway up the melon. Sprinkle with a little white pepper and garnish with cilantro, parsley, or celery top.

Notes

Salt the melon generously and let it sit the full 20 to 30 minutes before rinsing — rushing this step leaves more bitterness in the finished soup than most people want.

Substitutions

Dried bean vermicelli can be used in place of the soft refrigerated glass noodles — just soak according to package directions first.