The 6-word secret of eating bitter gourd, remember, nutritious and delicious without bitterness, serve it on the table

The main source of bitter gourd is its "bitterness". Bitter gourd not only contains bitter pigments unique to melon plants, but also contains wild cucumber juice enzymes, so a bitter taste appears. But fortunately, most of these bitter components of bitter gourd are soluble in water, so you can remove some of the bitter substances of bitter gourd by using the following 6 tips when cooking.

• 1. Water drifting

After slicing or shredding the bitter gourd, soak it in warm water for 10 minutes, then rinse it several times under running water.

• 2. Salting

Cut the bitter gourd into a bowl, sprinkle with an appropriate amount of salt, mix well and marinate for 5 to 10 minutes, then wash with water.

• 3. Blanching

Slice or shred the bitter gourd, then blanch it in boiling water for about 30 seconds, and remove it in cold water to make the cooking taste more crisp.

 In the process of washing, pickling and blanching, bitter gourd can effectively remove some bitter substances to a level that is acceptable to most people. Choosing one or the other when cooking is relatively less effective at removing bitterness with water bleaching, but with less nutrient loss.

After mastering the method of removing bitterness, you also need to pay attention to one thing when cooking bitter gourd in autumn, which can be paired with chili peppers, which are warm and can neutralize the coldness of bitter gourd. In the choice of chili peppers can be decided according to preferences, our favorite in Sichuan is the Erjingtiao chili, slightly spicy but particularly fragrant, moderate moisture, used to make a plate of [dry stir-fried bitter gourd] is very suitable.

Ingredients Required:

1 bitter gourd; 5 peppers with two wattles; 1 garlic; 4 dried chilies; Salt (to taste)

Directions:

1. Rinse the dust on the surface of the bitter gourd with water, cut it in half, and then gently scrape off the white flesh of the bitter gourd with a spoon. Bitter gourd is an important source of bitterness and greatly affects the taste, so try to scrape it cleanly. After processing, cut the bitter gourd diagonally into thin slices of about 2 mm and put them in a bowl.

2. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the bitter gourd, then mix well, try to make each piece of bitter gourd evenly absorb the salt, pour out the pickled water after marinating for 5 minutes, rinse twice with water, drain the water and set aside.

3. Peel and mince the garlic, wash the dust off the surface of the dried chili pepper and cut it into sections. The fragrance of the Erjing chili pepper is matched with the spicy and dry aroma of the dried chili pepper to make the whole dish more flavorful. If you don't eat spicy food, you can choose to use only Erjingtiao chili, but the taste is slightly lighter.

4. Wash the wok, add the two jingtiao chili peppers and stir-fry directly over medium-low heat, without adding oil and salt and other seasonings. Halfway through, keep squeezing the chili pepper with a wooden spatula so that it can be better heated and drain the water, and then turn over and stir-fry the other side after the skin of one side of the chili pepper becomes browned.

5. After the chili peppers are evenly heated on all sides and become browned, put them in a bowl, cool them slightly, and tear the chili peppers in half into strips. It is more appropriate to tear 4 to 6 strips of pepper per pepper.

6. Pour the pickled bitter gourd directly into the washed wok, turn on high heat and stir-fry, the heat can quickly force out the moisture of the bitter gourd, and when the surface of the dry bitter gourd is a little browned, turn off the heat and set aside.

7. Pour an appropriate amount of cooking oil into the wok, because the ingredients have been stir-fried almost, so you can pour less oil. Then add minced garlic, dried chili peppers and two wattle chili peppers and stir-fry until fragrant.

8. Add bitter gourd, stir-fry quickly and evenly, and finally add an appropriate amount of salt to taste. Because the ingredients have been stir-fried, this step must be stir-fried quickly on high heat to ensure the crisp taste of the bitter gourd, and the slow speed will easily cause the taste of the bitter gourd to become soft.

9. Finished product drawing.

Tips:

Erjingtiao chili pepper is directly thrown into the pot and fried to fry the tiger skin, and then torn into shreds and cooked with bitter gourd, which will have a unique burnt flavor than directly slicing and stir-frying, and can better retain the spicy taste and aroma of the chili pepper itself.