Bitter Melon & Beet Greens

Let me state up front that most people will not like this. I would never offer this dish to anyone that has not already tried bitter melon because it is, well, bitter. Some people think bitter melon is an acquired taste, but I loved it the first time I tried it. I think young people do not like it, although my 3 year old granddaughter ate grilled bitter melon at a cookout. Granted, I had told her that 'you will not like this' and she may have been proving a point.


We picked up 2 bunches of baby beets with their greens and one bunch of bitter melon greens at the Noe Valley farmer's market last weekend. $ per bunch - what a deal.

We made a fine meal that afternoon with the beets, greens and a baked potato. I think potatoes go very well with bitter melon. We are making the same dish again this weekend - minus the baby beets. The beets were about twice the size this week, so we are reserving them for another meal.

First separate the little baby beets from the greens. I parboiled the beets and left the skins on since they were tiny.

Then cut up the beet green stems into 1.5 inch lengths and stir fry them with a little oil and LOT of garlic and ginger. I some of added the beet juice from boiling the beets and let it reduce a bit while the stems cooked.

The little beets were cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size and the beet greens were chopped into a manageable size. At the same time remove the bitter melon leaves from the primary stem. Do not keep the little tendrils, although they are pretty, they will never become tender enough to eat.



After the beets stems were mostly tender, add the beet greens and cook for a few minutes. You can season with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, pepper and whatever you think would work. We added a bit of red wine in the batch today. Might work. Cover and steam.

Discovering Bitter Melon

We happened to be on Clement St. earlier this week and stopped at one of the big Chinese markets. I picked up 2 vegetables to try, a bitter melon and a silk gourd which was not a silk gourd, but that is another meal.


I spent a few minutes on internet looking for recipe ideas but started getting hungry so I went with a variation of one of the simple dishes. Next time I'm going to try some of the tasty looking dishes on the Hare Krsna website. Come for the chanting - stay for the food.

After trying a few more methods of cooking bitter melon, I believe this is my favorite. The spices work really well with the bitter flavor and the potatoes provide a comforting backdrop to the pungent bite of the squash. The last coking I doubled this recipe (3 medium bitter melons & 4 yukon gold potatoes) and 3 people consumed the entire pan.

Potato and Bitter Melon Hash Browns
This is somewhat reminiscent of the potato and onion hash browns typically served with eggs. In fact this would be really good with eggs.

1 bitter melon (made about 2 cups diced)
fingerling potatoes (also about 2 cups diced)
2 Tbs ghee
turmeric
salt
asafoetida
1 Tbs mustard seeds
1 sprig of fresh curry leaves
red chili powder
1.5 square inch of ginger finely diced
sliced jalapeño peppers

Slice and dice the bitter melon into 1/2" cubes Remove the seeds from the bitter melon when you slice it. I toasted the seeds and thought they were good. I've also left the seeds in when they were young and moderately tender. If the squash is more mature and there is a bit of red around he seeds, remove the seeds and the center pulp. Put the bitter melon into a glass bowl and toss with turmeric and salt. Let it sit while you clean and dice the potatoes.

Heat the ghee in a skillet, add the mustard seeds, ginger and curry leaves. They will sputter and pop if the oil is hot enough. Add the bitter melon and potatoes, sprinkle with a pinch of asafoetida, cover and cook on fairly hight heat. While cooking, turn the veggies to brown on their sides, scraping the skillet as you go. The combination of frying on the bottom and steaming should cook the potatoes and bitter melon till they are tender and nicely browned. Sprinkle with red chili powder about 5 minutes before the dish is finished.

We served this with assorted papadum and chutneys and wished we had eggs.