5 Techniques Turn Bitter Gourd into Sweet

What kind of memory about the "gourd" menu on your table and your rice? If you think about it, you can't escape the bitterness on the tip of your tongue until it's hard, right? Believe that many people who used to make this menu are often stuck with the original problem, "Wash salt and why is it bitter?" Or "Scrape off the white filling and still bitter?" All kinds of bitterness that the gourd has not yet recovered.

In fact, the charm of gourd does not depend on how it heals bitterness, because it seems to lose its identity, but on how to manage bitterness to become a softer bitterness, or as little bitterness as our tongue can accept, more like the Thai expression "sweet and faint, bitter as medicine," just because we understand how to handle it and the nature of the raw material, the bitter taste of gourd is no longer the enemy.

So we're going to take everyone through some simple tricks that many people might overlook, from gourd selection to the technique of washing, boiling, turning the bitter taste into a heartwarming sweet taste that I'm surprised... is gourd so delicious?

💖 Technique 1: Old gourd is less bitter.

Boiling the gourd to be less bitter. It must start by choosing the right gourd... You should choose the old gourd to taste less bitter than the light gourd. Observed from the streaks on the shell, there is a large convex groove and a long distance apart. The average ball is about 700-800 grams each. The skin is tight, plump, hard, not soft. The shell is light green. When boiling it will get a soft texture and bitter taste that does not stick to the tongue too much.

💖 Technique 2: Scratch the filling out to be shaven.

The real bitterness is not on the green skin of the gourd, but on the white filling inside. The more we scrape it off, the more it will reduce the bitterness of the gourd by slicing it in half, and then halving it along another long line. And then use the middle spoon to scrape the white filling inside out, the clearer the better.

💖 Technique 3: Salt

Rub the gourd with salt meal, especially the inner part attached to the white filling to clear the bitterness. Set aside for 15-20 minutes until the gourd comes out. The salt acts as a magnet to extract the bitterness and astringency from the gourd meat. Finish, rinse with clean water before slicing it into large pieces as needed.

💖 Technique 4: Scald the bitterness away + the iron rule "forbid people."

Before poking the gourd, let us scald the bitterness and throw it away first by setting the pot of water. Wait until the water is boiling. Then add the gourd to the boil for about a minute. The iron rule to remember is to forbid the person until the gourd is cooked. No, the gourd will be bitter. When the time is up, put it in cold water, then boil the water again for one round. Knock the cold water and set it aside.

💖 Technique 5: Soft fire is a secret weapon.

Put the scalded gourd, pork ribs, aromatic mushrooms, radishes, coriander roots, garlic, white pepper and water together in the pot. Lift the pot on a central fire. As the water boils gradually, the bubble spoon floats out, boil for 15 minutes. (Do not stop people) When the time is over, season with ocean salt, pickled garlic juice, soy sauce, black soy sauce and gravel sugar. Reduce to a light, stew for another 1.15 hours until the gourd and pork ribs are soft.