Are you on a strict vegetable diet, and want to upgrade your meal to an exceptional dish even if it is vegetables? Then, here is the idea of how to cook the best ampalaya con Carne that would help you enhance your bitter gourd to another delicate cuisine.
So, we give you insights and knowledge on how you could make your vegetable dietary plan into a restaurant-quality dish, which helps you more to enjoy your diet and, at the same time, develop your skills in cooking.
Hence, keep reading this article for you to find out the perfect ways to cook, tips, and variations you could do in your bitter gourd.
What are Ampalaya Con Carne (Bitter Melon) Recipes
Ampalaya Recipe is a classic dish and upgraded because of its beef ingredients. Naturally, it is a simple dish consisting of gourd sauteed with garlic and onion, then seasoned with salt and pepper.
Bitter Melon (Bitter Gourd) or also known as "Ampalaya," is originally from India and introduced in China in the 14th century.
Ways to Cook the Best Ampalaya Con Carne Recipes
Knowing a certain way to cook a dish is a must. If you are a first-time cook in cooking, the idea listed below could help you know the appropriate cooking method you could use, which is not difficult and convenient.
Sauteed Ampalaya
Sauteing is a way of cooking where you use a small amount of oil in stir-frying the ingredients for the dish. In this cooking method, you use high heat for cooking food quickly to not lose its nutrients compared to stir-fry, steam, or boiling vegetables. You could also use butter when cooking using this method.
Instant pot
Cooking the bitter gourd dish in an instant pot requires less than half an hour to cook because vegetables like bitter gourd are easy to cook.
When cooking in it, you have to put and set all the ingredients on it. It takes a shorter time, so make sure you completely put all the ingredients needed for that dish.
Vegetables cooking time is far different from meat. Therefore a smaller time frame in cooking the vegetables must apply.
Stovetop
It is another way of cooking the bitter gourd dish. It is more convenient and easy to do than other methods.
Study shows that cooking vegetables using a stove pot method could retain the cancer-fighting benefit since you do not have to cook the vegetables for a very long time.
Many people recommended it to use as a cooking method for vegetables.
Other Delicious Variations of Bitter Melon Recipes
The delicate flavor of a dish comes from different variations of it. So, we searched different cooking styles to apply to your dish classic recipe to upgrade it to have a more excellent taste.
With Egg Recipes
This dish's classic recipe could come up with a twist to upgrade it in another great dish.
Cooking this version is not that tough because all the ingredients and cooking; it is the same as the original one. The twist on this dish is putting an egg where the typical "ginisa" starts with chopped garlic, onion, tomatoes, and the bitter gourd.
It makes it more tasty, flavorful, and delicate. It helps to lessen the bitter taste of the gourd and highlights the delicious flavor of the dish.
With Oyster Sauce
A bitter gourd dish upgraded with a twist by adding the oyster sauce. It is similar to the beef broccoli dish, where the only difference is the main ingredient, which is the bitter gourd instead of broccoli.
With Tausi Recipes
A similar dish with ampalaya with black beans, but the difference is that the bitter gourd with tausi is a canned and fermented black bean and white sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce ingredients—an enhanced version of the bitter gourd which is tastier and delicate.
With Black Beans
This bitter gourd dish is originally a Caviteno recipe enhanced with salty black beans and savory beef strips. The process and steps in cooking this version are the same as the original one. It is closely similar to the bitter gourd with tausi recipe.
With Sotanghon
Another variation of this bitter gourd dish is adding sotanghon noodles in it. It is an original bitter gourd dish upgraded to create a superb dish.
The step in cooking is a little bit different from the original one since it has sotanghon noodles. It takes a longer period to simmer the dish to cook the noodles perfectly.
Troubleshooting
Fixing the dish is a must when you are cooking because it would become a waste if not. Thus, we know that cooking is not an easy task. That is why we searched for some fixing method if you are about to ruin a delicate and wonderful dish.
- Try to add a small amount of water if you over seasoned it with salt. In contrast, if the dish seems tasteless, you could add more seasonings.
- If you overcook the bitter gourd, you could make another dish from it, either making it as an omelet or you could add the egg when cooking.
- To avoid the sauce's bitter taste when cooking bitter gourd with sotanghon, do not stir it.
Trivia
Ampalaya or bitter gourd scientific name is "Momordica charantia," considered a herbal ailment in many diseases.
Did you know that ampalaya or bitter gourd has essential health benefits? It is an amazing source of vitamins like A, B, C, Folic Acid, Iron, Calcium, and Phosphorus that may help you to fight infections. It also helps to lower blood sugar, which acts as an antioxidant.
Drinking one glass of Bitter gourd juice every day would help you regulate bowel movement and remove cough, diabetes, colds, and ringworms. It is perfect for your skin's natural fairness.
Tips
If you are an experienced cook or a beginner, surely tips would help you put up an extraordinary yet delicious and wonderful dish. Hence, you could try these tips listed to help you out.
- To lessen the bitter gourd's bitter taste, you could soak it with salt for about 10 minutes then rinse it with water.
- Prepare and set all the ingredients needed.
- Make sure that the bitter gourd you buy is young and tender so that you can have all the nutrients when you eat it.
Best served with
A healthy recipe is far better than if you could serve it with another luscious dish. It would not be plain and boring. It could be enticing and delicious at the same time.
- Hot-steamed rice - is a common food usually paired up to any dish, including these recipes. It makes our dish stand out because it is a bowl of plain rice. It complements the taste very well with the food.
- Camaron Rebosado - is a seafood dish that compliments very well with the bitter gourd dish. It contradicts the dish's bitter taste.
- Pork Belly Chicharron - when you are eating a vegetable like ampalaya, pork is one of the most side dishes you could serve because it would eliminate the ampalaya dish's bitter taste.
- Roast beef - the bitter gourd recipe is perfect with this traditional roast beef because it works well with the vegetable dish.
- Fried Tilapia- another dish that Filipinos love to pair up with vegetable dishes like our menu. It compliments very well with many dishes.
- Banana Pudding - is a sweet food that is great to pair up with a bitter gourd dish since its sweet taste complemented the bitter-savory taste of it.
- Sweetened Saba Banana - this dessert suits very well with ampalaya because it helps eliminate the dish's bitter taste, making it stand out even more though it is a vegetable dish.
- Alpahor na Kamote - compliments very well in the dish since this dessert is creamy and sweet. The bitter taste of the recipes like the bitter gourd stands out with this great paired dessert because of its delicate flavor.
- Pineapple juice - is also perfectly paired with bitter gourd dishes since its sweet taste overpowering the bitter taste.
Conclusion
Some people are not fond of gourd's taste because it is bitter, but it contains many health benefits beyond this vegetable's taste. It is one of the exceptional ingredients used in different restaurants.
Cooking it with a lot of ways and variations makes it more stand out. It could act as a side dish or main dish. It is easy to pair up with other dishes because it complements well.
Its bitter taste is on the first few bites only but could taste the vegetables' sweetness when you eat it continuously.
We give you all the fixing-method, tips, and variations, even other ways of cooking it so you could serve and present a wonderful dish in your lunch, dinner, or even in your family events.
Hence, try this dish to make your children, friends, and family start loving the bitter gourd because of this luscious dish you cooked.
For more delicious recipe, visit Eat Like Pinoy!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Beef cut into strips
- 1 pc Onion diced
- 4 cloves Garlic crushed
- ¼ cup Soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Cooking oil
- ¼ teaspoon Ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Oyster sauce
- 6 cups Water
- 1 pc Ampalaya medium size, cut into desired sizes
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Saute garlic and onion until brown.
- Add the beef and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Then season with soy sauce and black pepper. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Then pour-in 4 cups of water, stir until it boils. Once the water boils, lower the heat and cover for 1 hour.
- Add olive oil and Worcestershire sauce, then the remaining cups of water. Cover and let it boil for 20 minutes.
- Put-in ampalaya or bittergourd and oyster sauce, then simmer for another 5 minutes while covered.
- Then pour the melted cornstarch and stir continuously.
- Transfer in a serving plate. Enjoy!
