An excellent
dish. I always like
beef, and the sauce made with
bitter melon and
black beans is truly excellent, giving it a very heavy
flavor. Not really that
bitter, more like a "vegetably" taste that goes well with the meaty taste of
beef. I always eat this with
rice, and plenty of
green tea. This is a
dinner dish. It is almost a guaranteed order for me when I eat at a
Chinese restaurant. I've never actually made this myself, but my
grandmother has a good
recipe, and my
mum makes it all the time.
Ingredients
Cooking
- Marinate the beef in a mixture of 2.5 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of sherry, and 2 tablespoons of starch
- Cut the bitter melons in two, lengthwise, and de-seed them. Slice them. Add the salt, mix it up, let it stand for 10 mintues then wash.
- Add the baking powder to some boiling water. Parboil the melon to medium softness. Run cold water over the melon then put it aside.
- Heat the oil in a semi-heated wok (not too hot), stir-fry the black beans for 30 seconds or so. Toss in the melons, stir-fry it some more.
- Remove the stuff from the wok and wash it. Put in the oil and heat it up. Stir-fry the beef until nearly cooked. Toss in the beans and the melons and continue stir-frying until it is well-cooked.
- Serve it up, along with tea. The fragrance of the tea goes with the semi-bitterness of this dish, and rice goes with the sauce.