Pork with Bitter Melon and Black Beans Sauce Recipe

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We were going grocery shopping at our local chinese supermarket one day when we discovered that bitter melon was on sale. I’m personally not a fan of bitter melon – in fact, I really dislike it but since the bf loves it so much,  I let him buy it and do what he wants with it, so long as he doesn’t cook my dishes with it as it often leaves a strong bitter taste along with whatever it’s cooked with.

One day I came home late from my workout — starving. I was excited to see what the bf was cooking for dinner when lo and behold – he was making pork with bitter melon and black beans sauce. I urged him to cook the bitter melon separately but seeing as it would prove too difficult – I accepted the fact that I will just have to pick them out myself later 🙁

Bitter Melon Pork

The dish itself was actually really good – I didn’t taste the bitter melon in my pork which was great for me!

Here’s how it’s made:

Ingredients

Prepare the marinated pork by marinating it with shaoxing wine, sugar, and salt. We added some grated ginger to give it a little kick.

Also prepare your bitter melons by chopping it up into 1/4 inch thick slices. For the black bean sauce, thoroughly wash the preserved black beans and season it with grated garlic, fish sauce, shaoxing wine, soy sauce,  salt and sugar. Mix to combine.

Once you have all your ingredients prepped, it’s time to put it all together.

Start by cooking the pork in a pan on medium high heat. Once it’s almost thoroughly cooked, add in the bitter melon and cook until softened.

Add in your black bean sauce and continue cooking it for a few more minutes. To thicken the sauce, add some corn starch dissolved in water and continue cooking until it reaches the desired consistency.

Black bean sauce

And that’s it! Your dish is done – serve it along side a bowl of rice and you’re good to go 🙂



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