Remember This?

I asked if you knew what this funny looking, cucumber looking, thing was. My buddy Lori at Pretty Things was correct. It is a bitter melon. We have a neighbor who grows just about everything in his front yard. His back yard (and I'm using the term yard to describe an area that is less than a quarter of a postage stamp) is filled with huge pots filled with citrus trees, star fruit, bitter melon and whatever else he can throw in. He is always sharing his goodies with us. I think he enjoys seeing our faces when he brings something over we have never seen. He's also one of the reasons that I grow tomatoes on our balcony -- I'm willing to try growing almost anything almost anywhere!


Back to the bitter melon. This is what it looks like on the inside. You remove the seeds. Our neighbor uses it in a number of different ways. He makes a juice out of it with cucumbers and tomatoes. Stir fries. In our case, I decided to use it in a stir fry. We were both a little concerned about how bitter it would be, but this light green melon is supposed to be less bitter than the dark green or so I read in this wonderful cookbook.




Since I usually review a book around this time of the week, I decided to share with you one of my all time favorite cookbooks (and the only cookbook I had with a bitter melon recipe). The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen by Grace Young is more than a cookbook. Grace tells family stories all centered around food and the kitchen. It is a pure delight and one I recommend highly for those of you who enjoy a good story along with a few good recipes!



Here is the stir fry recipe with the bitter melon along with directions for preparing the melon. If you click on the photo, it should become bigger and easier to read.



We didn't find the melon to be overly bitter and it added a little zing to the various tastes. You can see I added a few ingredients. I had asparagus left over so I threw it in along with some onion. I added a little garlic to the marinade. It made a complete meal with rice and was very good.

There really is something to trying something new!

Have a special something day.

Joy to You!