Saturday, May 03, 2014

....Bitter Melon...how Food-venturous are you?...

...we bought (only one) this bitter melon at the local international food market...just because...we'd never tried it...and it looked weird and interesting...do you do that too?...

...so of course...as soon as I got home...I did a quick internet search for Vegan Bitter Melon Recipes...and I found this one over at Holy Cow...and it looked delicious...
...I split the little melon open...
...and scooped out the seeds...I also got some frozen peppers out and chopped them up...
...gave the melon a spritz of oil...
...and baked it about 20 minutes...you can see it's still nowhere near 'done'...
...then I gathered up my spices...and since I didn't have any ground nuts...I used a spoonful of peanut butter...
...it smells delicious...I tried a taste...and it is delicious...and quite spicy...
...I spooned the filling into the little half cooked boats...
...and then I popped them back into the oven to finish cooking...

...Vaishali pan fries hers...but I had accidentally cut all the way through my melon (she calls them karelas)...and I didn't think it would hold it's stuffing if I tried to pan fry it...
...it smells so good cooking...and it came out of the oven looking perfect...
...the stuffed bitter melon is the star of the show...served with a green salad...some simple baked tofu and french bread...
...it was really really delicious...I didn't even notice that it was that bitter...
...here's a cross section of the little stuffed melon...

...so that was really interesting...they don't have these at our regular grocery store...but whenever I'm at the International Market...I'll be looking for them again...

~Have a lovely weekend!

2 comments:

  1. that filling sounds like it would be good on it's own - over rice. (i may just have to try it!)

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  2. neat - i don't think i have ever noticed them before. i'll be on the lookout! love, k

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