Vietnamese style bitter gourd soup! - Bitter Gourd week

Another feature by our lovely chef Hoa, this soup is made using the same style as yesterday! Vietnamese food is extremely flavourful and this soup is not an exemption. From the first sip you get a punch of spice, bitterness and a slight sweet tone as well. The meatballs that can be served with fish sauce or a spicy soy sauce is salty and great too. Then with the start bitter gourd; it makes it all come together with a truly unique way of eating it as it is stuffed. Not to mention the different textures and flavours that permeate from it too! The health benefits from the bitter gourd shine in this soup as the bitterness represents the medicinal value.

Starting with your blood pressure, it can improve greatly while blood cholesterol, blood sugar are all reduced. Add in the fact your liver can be cleansed naturally by the bitter gourd as well as reducing your chances of cancer! With an abundance of nutrients, you can improve your eyesight, keep your skin and bone formation healthy as well! Due to all these reasons which have been studied before by many researchers; this dish truly is great to give it a try! The fish sauce and peppers give it a unique flavouring which help us reminisce about Vietnam and give us hints of other cuisines too! We hope you try this soon with us at San Living!

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Ingredients:

-pork

-bitter melon

-sauce

-wood ear mushroom

-spring onion

-shallot

-garlic

-sugar

-salt/pepper

-parsley

-chicken/pork broth

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Recipe

1. Prepare the meat by mincing pork/or use ground pork which is a bit fat

2. Marinate it with fish sauce, salt/pepper, shallots, spring onion, garlic, and sugar

3. Prepare wood ear mushroom by mincing or blending it, along with a Chilli or two

4. Combine all these ingredients then marinate these for 20min

5. Prepare the bitter melon by cutting in half in the middle

6. Stuff the meat mixture in the bitter gourd, and make meatballs with rest 

7. Then using a pot add pork or chicken broth. Then boil with 2 chilli peppers and the bitter gourd you just prepared with lid open 

8. Once it reaches a boil, keep it on a medium heat for 40min

9. Then add fish sauce, pepper, salt. Also add meatballs then leave it covered partially for a further 15min

10. Garnish with parsley when serving!