Delicious Vietnam #2 Bitter Melon

I've eaten some Vietnamese food but I've never cooked any. So Delicious Vietnam was my perfect opportunity to try. Thanks to Anh at A Food Lover's Journey and to Hong and Kim at Ravenous Couple. This is the second Delicious Vietnam blogging event. Info about the first one is here.

After looking online and in some recipe books from the library, I'd decided to use Bitter Melon. I found a recipe in Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen, a co-owner with her brother of the Sydney restaurant Red Lantern. The dish was canh hu qua (bitter melon stuffed with pork and black fungus). I was bit nervous of the bitter melon because there seemed be a recurring theme of kids hating this vegetable and some appreciating it more as adults. Luke Nguyen in the Red Lantern book about bitter melon;

I always despised these dishes as a child, but now these foods are comforting for me.

A Vietnamese lady at work stopped for a chat. I hadn't seen her in a while. We got talking and got to food somehow and I mentioned how happy I was to be able to shop at Little Saigon Market. She is not local to the market and shops their infrequently. I decided to embrace the moment and tell her I had a plan to cook with some bitter melon. She told me of a recipe that she makes with fried bitter melon and egg. She couldn't tell me the Vietnamese name for the dish. Further searching of the internet revealed variations of this dish across Asia including the Philippines and Thailand as well as Vietnam. The dish also seemed less complicated than the canh hu qua I had planned to cook. I figured if it all went wrong and was inedible, I hadn't invested too much into the dish.

I headed off to Little Saigon Market to buy my bitter melon. I was confident because I knew what a bitter melon was. When I stood at the pile of melons to buy one, an Asian lady was there buying as well and she picked up one and then put it back, picked up another and put it back. Now I was worried, what is she looking for? I watched for a while and I gestured to her about wanting to buy one. She pointed to one and gave it to me. I thought 'oh she's making sure there are no blemishes on it or dents'.

As it turned out I didn't make my bitter melon dish that weekend, both from being busy and a bit intimidated - by a vegetable!

My Malaysian colleague asked me what I had on for the weekend. I detailed my plans. I mentioned my observations when buying my bitter melon. He explained that she was probably looking at the rides of the melon. We Googled and found this post at House of Annie. According to Annie I look for fewer ridges.

Back to Little Saigon Market to purchase another melon. While I was there, I happened to see an example of the original dish I was going to cook, the bitter melon stuffed with pork. I've never noticed the dish before.

Canh Hu Qua at both Thanh Han, Little Saigon Market

(I also saw some at Dinh Son which is next door to Thanh Han)

Probably not the most professional looking dish.

I fried off some sliced garlic and the melon for about 5 minutes, then added 3 beaten eggs, some fish sauce and little salt and pepper. Stirred it a bit and dished up with some coriander on top (as suggested by the Vietnamese lady at work).

I realised after I made it that I hadn't salted the melon as suggested by Annie. It wasn't too bad. The melon was a bitter but bearable. I'd like to try it again but salting prior. I'm also keen to try to cook the stuffed pork dish too, I might even trek back to Little Saigon to try it at Dinh Son (their dish looked a little nicer than Thahn Han, but I didn't get to take a photo).

Thanks Anh, Hong and Kim for the challenge. Here is a wrap-up of all the entries for Delicious Vietnam #2. A fantastic learning opportunity.

Update: I went back to Little Saigon Market and tried some of the Canh Hu Qua at Dinh Son. There were about six pieces served in (I think) the broth they were cooked in and a few coriander leaves in the broth as well. There was still some bitterness in the melon but not as much as in my bitter melon dish.

Thanks to Ravenous Couple; it seems like the egg and bitter melon dish is called Kho Qua Xao Chung.