Crispy Stuffed Bitter Melon Recipe | Collab with The Viet Vegan

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Veganlovlie Recipes. For those of you who don't already know us, I am Teenuja and there's Kevin who's behind the scenes. Today, I am making a recipe with bitter melon or bitter gourd and I am pretty excited about this for two reasons. First is that bitter melon is my favourite vegetable ever since I was a child. I know bitter melon can be quite a challenge for some people to eat but I find the taste incredibly refreshing and tasty. Second thing is that today's video is a collaboration with Lisa from The Viet Vegan. If you don't already know Lisa, I do recommend that you go and check out her channel. She is a very fun and bubbly woman and her videos are always so informative and entertaining to watch. It's like watching a live cooking show where she explains as she cooks. She also shares videos about her grocery hauls, what she eats in a day, taste tests which are sometimes pretty hilarious to watch. Her partner Eddie sometimes makes an appearance and she talks about some other topics as well, all revolving around vegan food and lifestyle. So for today's collab, we've picked bitter melon as our main ingredient and we're each going to make a recipe with it. Whether you like bitter melon or you're new to this vegetable, you will most probably find something in each of our recipes. So, my recipe is a stuffed bitter melon preparation which is inspired from one of my mum's recipes. I am making a variation with a crispy coating. There are different varieties of bitter melons and I am using the dark green variety that has a more bumpy skin compared to the light green one. You can usually find these varieties at an Asian or Indian store. The dark green bitter melon is more bitter. So to reduce the bitterness a little bit, lightly scrape the bumps off the skin. If you really enjoy the bitterness or you're using the light green smooth skin bitter melon, you can skip this step. Once scraped, make a slit along the length. Don't cut into halves. Carefully scoop out the seeds. Bitter melon is a very underappreciated vegetable due to its blatantly bitter taste. But aside its numerous health benefits, when prepared properly, it becomes quite palatable and is well worth exploring as an ingredient. Place all the bitter gourds in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage a couple of times then cover with water and set this aside to soak for about 20 to 30 minutes. This process will remove much of the bitter flavour. In the meantime, let's prepare the ingredients for the filling. We will need some strings to tie the bitter melons once they are stuffed so that the fillings don't come out when they are cooking. So, I'll be using the stems of coriander or cilantro for that purpose. Choose some long ones so that we have enough length to tie them up properly. Pick the leaves from the stem. We are going to use the leaves as well. Set both the stem and the leaves aside for now. Next, peel the potatoes and then cut them into small cubes. I am using two medium-sized potatoes here which will make more filling than we need for 5 medium-sized bitter melons. I'll be using the leftover in another recipe. One large potato should be enough so check the printable recipe on our website for the correct measurements of the ingredients. Chop the green chilli and set aside for now. Peel and chop the onion. I am using only about half of a medium-sized onion. You can omit the onion or use more to your taste. Now heat half tablespoon of coconut or vegetable oil in a pan or skillet. Add the chopped onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Next, add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for about 30 seconds. We have a video on the channel where we've shared a few tips on how to make your own mince ginger or garlic at home. Check the description or the cards in the top right for the link. Now add the cumin and coriander powder. Saute for a few minutes. Add the potatoes followed by the turmeric powder. Stir and cover. Let cook on medium heat until the potatoes are soft. This should take about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary. This filling is pretty similar to a samosa filling and I think the spices work well to counter the bitterness of the bitter gourd. Once the potatoes are soft, add the chillies and green peas. Cook for a couple of minutes, then mash them with the cooking spoon or a potato masher. Lastly, add the coriander leaves. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. While the filling is cooling, place the coriander stems in a saucepan. Cover with some water and turn on the heat. We will need one stem per bitter melon, so make sure to have a few extra stems just in case some get damaged when we are handling them later. Once the water reaches boiling point, let it heat for a couple more minutes. Then remove the stems and place them in a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking any further. This process makes the stems more flexible so that they won't snap when we tie them into a knot. Now wash the bitter gourds and carefully stuff the potato filling into each. Tie each bitter gourd with the coriander stems. Like mentioned previously, this will ensure that the filling doesn't come out while frying. By the way, if you don't want to use coriander stems, you can use some food safe cotton twine. In this case, you'll need to remove the strings at the end before serving the bitter gourds. If you are new to bitter melon, it does take some time to acquire a liking for this vegetable. I think the texture can contribute partly to enhancing the taste of this gourd. To create a crispy coating, I like to roll each bitter gourd in some chickpea flour or any other flour. Coat it well and tap to remove the excess. Heat a pan or skillet on medium-high temperature. Add 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil and pan-fry the stuffed bitter melons while occasionally turning them on all sides. Keep turning the sides for even frying. Once crispy and golden brown, remove from the heat and drain on some absorbent paper. If you wish, you can also bake them. In this case, just place the stuffed bitter gourds on a baking tray and lightly spray them with some cooking oil. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes or until they are crispy and cooked through. Cooking or baking time really depends on your preference. Some prefer their bitter melons well cooked and crispy while others like it more on the crunchy and juicy side. I think the creamy potato filling contrasts well with the crispy outer layer. You can serve them as a snack or I love to serve them with rice along with some other side dishes like dal or curry. I hope you've enjoyed this video. Don't forget to give us a thumbs up if you've liked it and do check out Lisa's recipe for this collab. If you're new to the channel, you may subscribe if you haven't already for more recipes. You can also join our mailing list and we'll send you an email directly in your inbox each time we have a new recipe on the blog or an update. I'll see you soon in our next video. Bye.