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Preparation
20 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Bitter melon braised with meat, a delicious, nutritious, and light dish for hot sunny days, and for those with a light appetite. Let’s get into the kitchen and check out the recipe from TasteVN to successfully prepare this tasty dish!
Ingredients for Bitter Melon Braised with Meat Serves 4 people
Pork belly 300 gr Bitter melon 1 piece Garlic 5 cloves (minced) Shallots 2 bulbs (minced) Chili 2 pieces Green onions 3 stalks Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Fish sauce 2 tablespoons Common seasoning A little (salt/sugar/seasoning powder/pepper)
How to choose fresh and delicious ingredients
How to choose fresh pork belly
- When buying pork belly, you should choose pieces that have a light pink, fresh pink color, white fat, thin layers of fat, soft meat but firm structure between layers of meat and fat, the meat should have a certain elasticity and a characteristic aroma.
- You should avoid pieces that are too dark in color, have excessive fat, a loose texture, and a foul smell. Because the meat may have been treated with lean meat enhancer, or the pork has been raised for too long and is no longer fresh.
See details: How to choose fresh, quality pork belly.
How to choose fresh and delicious bitter melon
- For bitter melon, you should choose those with a moderate size, light green color, even color, firm and shiny skin, not bruised, hard, and with many tiny veins on the surface, the tastier they are.
- You should not choose those that are too large, dark green, bruised skin, soft, wilted, light, and no longer crispy and delicious.
See details: How to choose fresh and delicious bitter melon.
How to prepare Bitter Melon Braised with Meat
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Prepare and marinate the pork
To eliminate the odor of pork, after purchasing, use salt to rub on the meat, then rinse several times with clean water and let it drain.
Then, cut it into small pieces about 1 finger length.
How to remove the odor from pork:
- To prevent the pork from smelling, before cooking, blanch the pork in boiling water for about 3 minutes with 1 crushed shallot; the shallot will help eliminate the odor very well.
- Additionally, you can add a little white wine to the boiling water before removing the meat, as white wine will effectively help clean the odor in the meat.
- Then, rinse the meat with cold water and continue to prepare it; the meat will no longer have an odor, and the dishes made from pork will be more delicious.
See details: Tips to eliminate the odors of various meats.
Then marinate the sliced pork with a spice mixture including: 1/2 of the minced garlic and shallots, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, then mix well and marinate the meat for about 10 – 15 minutes for the meat to absorb the spices.
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Prepare other ingredients
Bitter melon, remove the seeds, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into large pieces about 1 finger length.
How to reduce the bitterness of bitter melon: To reduce the bitterness of bitter melon, there are methods such as: soaking in ice, rinsing with salt water, soaking in cold or hot water,…
See details: 6 ways to remove the bitterness of bitter melon
Green onions, remove the roots, wash clean and then chop finely into small pieces. Chili, wash clean and finely chop.
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Braise the meat
Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to the pan on the stove, wait for the oil to heat up, then add 1 tablespoon of sugar to caramelize over medium heat. When the sugar turns dark brown, turn off the heat, add the remaining chopped shallots and garlic, stir well, then add the meat and stir until the meat is evenly colored.
Then add 200ml of filtered water and turn on the stove to cook over high heat. Once the mixture boils, reduce the heat, season with 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, and add the bitter melon to braise together for about 20 minutes.
After braising for 10 minutes, add the chopped chili and stir gently, continue to braise over low heat until the sauce thickens and the bitter melon is soft, then add the chopped green onions on top and turn off the heat to serve.
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Final product
The dish of bitter melon braised with meat is complete, the meat and bitter melon are infused with color looking extremely appetizing, with a fragrant hint of fish sauce and a strong aroma of chili.
When eaten, the bitter melon is soft, the meat is fragrant and fatty, very pleasing to the palate, accompanied by a spicy, slightly salty taste. Enjoying it with hot white rice is wonderful.
See more:
The article above has guided how to make the dish braised bitter melon with meat that is delicious and attractive, hope you will refer to it and gain useful experience. Wishing you success in preparing delicious dishes!
*Refer to the recipe and images from the YouTube channel What to Eat?
