Bitter gourd and egg

When we were at the supermarket last Saturday my sister said she wanted to cook bitter gourd with egg. So we bought the bitter gourd. Last night we had the opportunity to cook it, I mean I was the one who cooked it! Most people do not like eating bitter gourd because of its taste (bitter!). However, it is good for health. So how to prepare it to reduce the bitterness? First, cut the vegetable open in half. Then remove the inside (seeds) by scraping it with a spoon. The remaining part should then be cut into small pieces across to get a c-shaped piece. Sprinkle with salt and squeeze until some juice (greenish) comes out. Then rinse the salt with water. Soak the gourd with water for a few minutes, then drain. The proper recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
Bitter gourd prepared as above
Egg, beaten
Garlic, chopped
Onions, sliced
Butter
Knorr cubes
Soy sauce
Pepper

1. Place bitter gourd in a microwavable dish, add garlic, onions, butter, cube, soy sauce and pepper. Place in microwave and cook at High (#5) for 2 minutes. Cover.
2. Take out from MW and stir.
3. Return to MW and cook for another minute.
4. Take out and pour egg over it. Stir.
5. Return to MW and cook at High for 1.5 minutes.
6. Take out and stir.
7. Return to MW and cook for 2 minutes.
8. Remove from MW after 1 minute and serve.

My husband's comment was that it didn't taste that bitter. So I explained to him what I did to reduce the bitter taste. Cooking it this way is healthy coz there isn't much oil. Oftentimes when we cook it in the frying pan, we have to use lots of oil for sauteing.

Healthy and easy

The other night we had baked/grilled red tilapia and blanched green vegetables (pak waan in Thai). So easy to cook. For the red tilapia, I just put some vinegar and soy sauce, then chuck it in the oven for 20 minutes at 220C. For the vegetables, I just added hot water and let it soak for a few minutes. Then I drained the water before serving. So easy and nutritious. If I had enough time I could have added some chopped garlic, pepper and other spices to the fish. But it tasted ok just with vinegar and soy sauce!

Photo: honey oatmeal bread w/ sesame seeds

Just baked honey oatmeal bread with sesame seeds. Not bad considering this was my first time to use this recipe. I modified the recipe I downloaded from AllRecipes.com. I did not put wheat germ and salt as I had none of these at that time. I used low fat milk (liquid), but I will try the powdered one next time.

Honey oatmeal bread

Today I found the bread oven transformer, so I got to work with my bread oven. However, I could not find the recipe book. It might still be in one of the unpacked boxes when I moved from the campus to our condo last year. Anyway, I found 2 recipes from my recipe envelop. One calls for sugar and I do not have sugar at this time, I forgot to buy. But the other calls for honey and that I have. So now my honey oat bread is in the bread oven. It is nearly 1 hour and it will take another 1 hour and 15 minutes. I modified it a bit by adding some sesame seeds. I will see what the result will be. Also for the low fat milk, I do not have the powdered one so I used the liquid milk. I hope the bread will not be too wet. It's the first time for me to use this particular recipe. Hmmm I have to get used to it. And I have to look for that recipe book of mine where I have already done nearly all the recipes so I know the 'secret'. You see, sometimes the recipe needs some adjustment because of differences in elevation, humidity, temperature and the like. And since this bread oven and the recipes were designed for the US, using it here in Asia needs some adjustments. I will report later on the results!