Chinese Bitter Melon And Pork Soup Recipe

This is not ordinary soup and it is everyone's soup. Bitter melon soup is an acquired taste. You will either love it or hate it. My paternal grandmother love it very much and prepare bitter melon dishes routinely; stir fry bitter melon, braised and of course soup. We as grand children, mostly hate it. It need years for me to love and enjoy bitter melon. Yes it's bitter and still as bitter as the first time I ate it. It needs time to appreciate this unsual vegetable.

Here is the simple recipe of bitter melon soup. The soup is infused with savory pork broth. It's easy to fix. The soup is good for cooling your body off on hot summer days. Despite of the bitter taste, bitter melon soup is great to lower the level of blood sugar or as anti-malaria.

This recipe calls for blanching the bitter melon before further cooking to reduce the bitter taste. After all, the bitterness of bitter melon is enjoyed by some people.

Serves 2 - 4

Ingredients:

1/2 lbs pork, thinly sliced

4 cups chicken stock

2 tsp minced ginger

1 bitter melon

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 ts salt

1/4 tsp sesame oil

2 eggs

• Cut the bitter melon in half lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds. Then cut into bite-size pieces.
• Bring water in small saucepan to a rolling boiling. Then lower the heat to simmer. Blanch the bitter melon for about 5 minutes. Then drain.
• In saucepan, put chicken stock and sliced beef. Bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat to simmer. Cook about 5 minutes. Skim off any scum.
• Add the blanched bitter melon. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Add soy sauce, salt and sesame oil. Stir well then turn off the heat.
• Drop one egg at a time into the soup. Let the eggs stand for about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the soup to a large soup bowl. Serve it hot.