Taming bitter melon 苦瓜炒牛肉

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If you’re Chinese, this is a familiar classic. Your mom made it for you once a week every summer from the time you were a tadpole until you finally went off to college. It was mandatory hot weather food. 

 

Bitter melon 苦瓜/kugua has myriad health virtues, chief among them is that it dispels excess internal heat. It’s loaded with vitamins and minerals, delivering them with relatively few calories. People striving to lose weight and adult-onset diabetics are always advised to eat plenty of it. For the rest of us it’s somewhat problematic; it seems foreigners either love it or hate it. Furthermore, you're not likely to find it at Panda Express.

 

If you aren’t sure which camp you belong in, I would urge you to give it a try. Paired with beef like this and with the bite reduced through smart handling it has a lot going for it in the flavor department. You could try it first in a restaurant and if you think it’s a winner, then come back here for the “how to.” Ask for 苦瓜炒牛肉 (kugua chao niu rou) and you won't get any strange looks; the waiter might even think you're a local. 

 

Here's what this bad boy looks like in the wild, namely in the wilds of my neighborhood wet market. It will be less bitter if it's not too large and the bumps (called "teeth") are not too prominent. Light green is milder than dark green. After selecting a couple, head over to the beef lady with her sharp cleaver. Ask for a cut that's suitable to stir fry so you don't wind up with stew meat. Butchers in the local market are specialized: this one only purveys pork, that one only beef, and another one, flanked by woven bamboo coops, handles chicken, killing them to order right on the spot.  

 

(Remember, you can click these photos to enlarge them.) 

 

   

 

 

At home, you should start on the meat first, since it requires some time to marinate. Chinese beef can be tough, and restaurants all give it special handling. The Muslim restaurants 回族餐厅 are especially skilled at making it tender and delicious. But you can use some of their tricks in your own kitchen. First and foremost it needs to be properly cut. Sharpen your knife and work across the grain of the muscle 横着。When I remember in time, I put the meat in the freezer for 15 or 20 minutes to firm it up and make it easier to handle. 

 

   

 

 

 

 

What I had today was a 320 gram piece of eye of round, a relatively tough and lean cut from the rump of the cow ("黄瓜条“). The grain of the muscle fibers is not well seen when viewed from above (left photo) but you can see how they slant in the right photo. This meant my cuts needed to be on an angle, as shown, instead of straight down. I was slicing as thin as I could, being deliberate about it. 

 

   

 

 

If you are pressed for time, shortcuts are possible, but tday I wanted to be sure to get it right, so I took the long, careful road. Put the meat in a bowl and sprinkled in a half teaspoon of baking soda 苏打粉。Added enough water to barely moisten it and massaged it with a gloved hand for half a minute or so. Let it stand 10 to 15 minutes, then washed it clean with potable water.

This gets it ready for the main marinade, composed of 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce 耗油, one tablespoon each of Shaoxing cooking wine 黄酒 and sesame oil 香油, a half tablespoon each of light soy sauce 生抽 and dark soy sauce 老抽。Resist the urge to go nuts with the soy sauce or you won't be able to taste the beef itself. Put on another disposable glove and give it the second massage of the day. Let it stand 20 minutes or so on the kitchen counter, or up to an hour in the fridge. (The two marinade steps can be combined, but use less baking soda if you do it that way.)

 

Move on to the beautiful melon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Use your spoon to scrape away at least some of the white pith, since it has a very strong flavor. Cut it into uniform pieces that suit your fancy. If it's a small melon, I just cut straight across, but this one was larger so I cut on a rolling bias 切棍。 

 

   

 

 

To reduce the bitterness, salt these cut melon pieces and let them stand about 10 minutes. Then blanch 焯 it all for a minute or so, straining it into an ice bath. If you prefer your dish to have more of a bite, like I do when I'm making it just for myself, omit either or both of these two steps.

 

Strain the cooled melon and set it aside. Now it's time to quickly stir fry your marinated beef. But first add a teaspoon of the last-minute secret ingredient, 木薯粉/mushu fen/cassava powder. Mix well. Using high heat, preheat the wok and add two or three tablespoons of oil (beef tends to stick.) The meat needs to just barely cook, to still be slightly pink in the center in order to avoid becoming tough. This only takes a minute or so. Scoop it into a pan on the counter 备用 and rinse out your wok. Most people use a stiff bamboo brush for this step.

 

   

 

 

A little more oil in the hot wok and quick fry part of an onion, some minced ginger and garlic. They don't need to brown; only need to begin releasing their aroma 爆香。

 

   

 

 

Add the bitter melon and fry quickly for a minute or two. You want the vegetable to become slightly soft but to still retain some of its crunch. Then add back the cooked meat.

 

 

   

 

 

Cook it all together for a quick minute so the flavors can blend, adjust the seasoning. Shouldn't need much, if anything. Plate it up 装盘。

 

   

 

 

Serve with steamed rice. Some Chinese food can be made a few minutes ahead and served at close to room temperature without significant loss of its charm. This dish, however, really needs to be eaten hot from the wok. If I'm making several dishes for guests, this is the one I do last for that reason. 

 

Any discussion of bitter melon seems to include comments about how learning to "eat bitter" or 吃苦/chi ku early in life builds character and is essential to wisdom and virtue. I would certainly not want to argue with the sages, and simply present that as one more reason to try this fine dish without too much delay. 

[mungouk]

Love these posts!

 

Are these orange ones also Bitter Melon?  Spotted in Suzhou.

 

 

 

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Thanks @mungouk -- I'm not sure. Never seen any quite as yellow as that around here (Kunming.) The young ones (kugua) are pale green and the mature ones are deep green. Found an article just now on Baidu suggesting these in your photo might actually be 金癞瓜 jinlaigua, which the article says are a relative of bitter melon. 

 

https://baike.baidu.com/item/金癞瓜/4915705?fr=aladdin 

 

BTW, those look like beautiful figs in the foreground! 

[mungouk]

Yes the figs looked great and the cherries were huge!

 

[Jim]

Grew some of our own this year! It's been delicious and there's something makes you feel smug about eating your own produce even if our total crop wouldn't keep us for a month.

[somethingfunny]

Just had some 苦瓜皮蛋汤 at a friend's house.  I found it largely inedible.  I could barely stomach the broth itself.  Although, funnily enough, they did mention it would help me with my recent bout of excess heat.

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16 hours ago, Jim said:

Grew some of our own this year! It's been delicious and there's something makes you feel smug about eating your own produce even if our total crop wouldn't keep us for a month.

 

Believe me, @Jim -- I understand the feeling and am immensely jealous. A couple decades ago I lived in Central Texas on a 5-acre lot just outside a small town. Had a fabulous tiny intensive garden that spoiled me for the rest of my life. Dug it real deep, composted it well, never walked near the roots of the plants, and trellised everything that I could. Tomatoes in tall metal cages, fruit protected by netting from birds so it could ripen 80 or 90 percent on the vine. 

 

10 hours ago, somethingfunny said:

Just had some 苦瓜皮蛋汤 at a friend's house.  I found it largely inedible.  I could barely stomach the broth itself.  Although, funnily enough, they did mention it would help me with my recent bout of excess heat.

 

@somethingfunny -- My heat bleeds for you. That is really hard core. Kugua and Thousand Year Eggs in the same dish is bound to be challenging. But you should probable view it as a compliment that they thought you might be able to handle it. It's not something they would have served to anyone except an Old China Hand 中国通 such as yourself. A sign of respect!

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A friend just told me, "Oh, I could never even think about eating kugua/苦瓜/ bitter melon. My taste has always run to bland vegetables." Made me realize there is an alternative way to prepare this dish and I probably should tell you about it.

 

Simple: Use cucumbers in place of the bitter melon. The kind most popular here for that purpose are large and have yellowish skin because they have been picked slightly later than the small ones used raw for salads. They are called 老黄瓜/lao huanggua/"old cucumbers." They have a very pleasant flavor, being slightly more "cucumber-y" than their green siblings. They are still firm; they have not developed soft spots.  

                                                                               

      

 

One cuts the cucumber in half the long way, just like you would do with a bitter melon, and then scoops out the center with a spoon, including the seeds. Cut across into half-moon sections or short strips and proceed with the rest of the process as described above, omitting the salting and blanching steps, because cucumber doesn't require them. 

 

Once last summer I made 苦瓜炒牛肉 for local Chinese friends and polled them in advance. The two ladies loved the bitter flavor and the guy, one ladies husband, couldn't stand it. Made the meat the usual way, but then finished the dish in two batches, using a little over half the meat with bitter melon 苦瓜 and the remainder using 老黄瓜。We were all happy. 

 

 

[Shelley]

Interesting use for the humble cucumber. Looks like a good substitute.

 

Reminds of the recipe that called for thinly sliced cucumber, season to taste with salt and pepper and then slide the whole lot gently in to the garbage It was a comedian who disliked cucumbers wholeheartedly and thought they were a waste of time.

 

[amytheorangutan]

I actually really like stir fried bitter melon with minced pork ? never had it together with 皮蛋, though I really like 皮蛋, I don't think I would like both of them in a soup. I eat my century egg with a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil and chopped spring onions with rice or congee. 

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9 hours ago, amytheorangutan said:

I actually really like stir fried bitter melon with minced pork

 

Amy, have you ever tried bitter melon 苦瓜 with thin-cut beef 牛肉薄片 that has been marinated in oyster sauce? The flavors of the vegetable and the meat compliment each other particularly well. 

[amytheorangutan]

10 hours ago, abcdefg said:

bitter melon 苦瓜 with thin-cut beef 牛肉薄片 that has been marinated in oyster sauce?

 I''m definitely giving this a go this week if I can find bitter melon at the Asian grocery ?

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1 hour ago, amytheorangutan said:

I''m definitely giving this a go this week if I can find bitter melon at the Asian grocery

 

That's terrific, Amy. Let me know how it works out!

[Zeppa]

So if I were to try this out - I have got some bitter melons from See Woo in Chinatown - and just for me, I should just make a small portion, no point freezing any because you say it needs to be eaten immediately?

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@Zeppa-- Yes, that's the best approach. When I make it for one (for only myself) I use one medium sized bitter melon and only a handful of meat (150 to 200 grams.) This generally produces enough left overs for a second meal. I just put those into a covered dish and store them in the fridge overnight. Then microwave quickly when ready to use the second day. The idea with the leftovers is to warm them, but not microwave them enough to further cook either the meat or the vegetable. Overcooking the meat would make it tough;  overcooking the vegetable would turn it to mush. 

 

I do not think this is a dish that would freeze well at all. Textures would be adversely affected. 

 

A couple days ago I made it again. This time my melon was younger, as I could tell from the inside since the seeds were not as large and not as red-orange throughout. 

 

             

 

 

This meant the flesh would not be as bitter as in a more mature melon. So I just salted it for a few minutes after chopping in pieces, but omitted the blanching step. Rinsed the salt off and dried with a paper towel before cooking. If I had been met by lots of large reddish seeds when cutting it open, I would have completed both the salting and the blanching steps as described up above. 

 

My saying in the original post that the dish needed to be eaten immediately is a little misleading. Lots of Chinese food is made 10 or 15 minutes in advance and is set on the dining table, but just sits there until all the other dishes come out of the kitchen. This is the custom when entertaining guests. Most of those dishes are still enjoyable even if they have come to room temperature. 苦瓜炒牛肉 is brought out last because it's much better when hot, straight from the wok. 

 

Hope you enjoy it. Please let us know how it goes. 

 

[amytheorangutan]

I gave it a try yesterday. I got bitter melon from Chinatown. I think it might be too old though. It’s wayyyy more bitter than when my mum used to cook at home even though I put salt and blanched it.

 

 

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That looks really great, @amytheorangutan. 

 

4 hours ago, amytheorangutan said:

It’s wayyyy more bitter than when my mum used to cook at home even though I put salt and blanched it.

 

Were the exterior bumps (the "teeth") real big and irregular? Was the color a dark green instead of a light green? When you cut it open, were the seeds large and a dark orange-red color? 

 

Those are three clues that it might have been an old melon, very mature. Those do have a stronger, more bitter flavor.

 

But think of it this way, your 上火 (shanghuo = excess internal heat) is now completely cured! If the melon had been mild, it would have had less medicinal effect. 

[Zeppa]

Well, I nearly passed on this because I remembered that although I want to like bitter melon, I don't really. So eventually I made it with much less bitter melon. Here is a picture of the result plus the two bitter melons I didn't use (I blanched three-quarters of the other one too and put it in the fridge for scrambled egg).

I didn't have cassava powder. Assuming that is cassava flour, a website told me alternatives are tapioca starch, arrowroot, coconut flour, almond flour, rice flour and chickpea flour (gram flour?). I used a bit of rice flour. I also used a British tablespoon. I know the size is different from the US one but I had forgotten whether bigger or smaller. It tasted very good. You can't really see the bitter melon in my photo, but it looked like amytheorangutan's ones.

 

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6 hours ago, Zeppa said:

Well, I nearly passed on this because I remembered that although I want to like bitter melon, I don't really.

 

Well said, Zeppa! I know exactly what you mean because bitter melon occupied the same place in my thinking for a very long time. It's only recently that it has been "promoted" from something of which I just try a couple tentative bites at a big multi-dish restaurant meal with local friends to something that has a solid place in my own summer time kitchen. 

 

 

[oceancalligraphy]

Another 苦瓜 dish: 腸粉 with 苦瓜 and 雞絲。It's actually quite good, and has different textures. The one I had, the 苦瓜 was still pretty crunchy.