Bitter Melon Soup - Canh Khổ Qua

I remembered when I was a little girl, my MOM always made this soup. She said not only it's good for you, but it has many health benefits. When I was younger, I don't really like the bitterness of the melon. As I get older, I tend to get used to the taste. And now I love it.

Last week, we went to the "Great Wall" grocery in VA and bought some. In order to make this soup, you will need ground pork, wood ear mushroom, vermicelles noodles, shallots, garlic, onion, scallions, rock sugar, fish sauce, egg and tapioca flour.


Here is the whole pot.


After it has been cook for awhile, of course you will have to take out all the stuff that floating on top of the pot to get the clear broth.


We cut the bitter melons into small portions so they are much easier to put the meat fillings into them.

INGREDIENTS: (4 servings as part of a meal)

• 1/3 bag of dried black fungus sliver. re-hydrated in warm water,
• 1 lbs of ground pork
• 3 shallot, finely minced
• 2 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1 egg
• 5 med/large bitter melon, cut into 1 1/2 - 2 inch segments, removing spongy center and seeds
• 1 quart quality chicken stock
• 2 Tbl. fish sauce (add more to suit your taste)
• 1 small rock sugar cube or 1 tsp. raw sugar
• 1 TBS of tapioca flour (this is to hold everything together.)
  

STEPS:

• Thoroughly combine the first 7 ingredients (black fungus, pork, shallot, garlic, egg, tapioca) in a bowl.
• Equally divide and stuff the mixture among the bitter melon segments.
• Bring chicken stock to a rolling boil and add the stuffed bitter melon.
• Add the fish sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil.
• Then, turn down the heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
• At this point, the stuffing should be cooked through, the bitter melon should be tender and its color has changed from jade green to olive green.

This can be served with steam rice, and garnish with black pepper and scallion.