I bought 300 grams for RM3.00 and I was thinking how happy Andy would be with this dish. IN fact he insisted to cook them himself...
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Knowing imported vegetables, they will be full of preservatives sprayed, right? So I told Andy to soak them with lots of salt for two hours or more. Happily he diced the garlic too... lots of it...
Stir-fry the garlic with olive oil... then the mini vegetables were put in when the garlic was a bit brown... sauteed....sauteed for few minutes then this dish is ready....
Andy was the first one to try.... and the minute he put inside his mouth and chewed... he spit them out again! "Mi, so bitter.... you try!"
Yes, truly they were very bitter! We couldn't eat them at all.... so wasted!! What actually went wrong?
Too much chemical on the vege? Or my way of cooking is wrong? Should I boil them first?
As for the above dish, they landed in the plastic bag.... sigh... I think I will stick back to local vegetables....
How do you all cook this dish?
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Knowing imported vegetables, they will be full of preservatives sprayed, right? So I told Andy to soak them with lots of salt for two hours or more. Happily he diced the garlic too... lots of it...
Stir-fry the garlic with olive oil... then the mini vegetables were put in when the garlic was a bit brown... sauteed....sauteed for few minutes then this dish is ready....
Andy was the first one to try.... and the minute he put inside his mouth and chewed... he spit them out again! "Mi, so bitter.... you try!"
Yes, truly they were very bitter! We couldn't eat them at all.... so wasted!! What actually went wrong?
Too much chemical on the vege? Or my way of cooking is wrong? Should I boil them first?
As for the above dish, they landed in the plastic bag.... sigh... I think I will stick back to local vegetables....
How do you all cook this dish?
*FAINT* Claire... u can't soak veggies like that... it turns bitter.... just rinse it will do.
ReplyDeleteWe usually soak the veggies, rinse and spread them out to dry. If it was really bitter, i suspect these greens have been grown on the same plot previously grown with bitter gourd. Not a tale at all as it was tried and tested by my mom at her garden patch.
ReplyDelete+Ant+
cleff: cannot soak with salt? cannot soak long hours? i thought salt is good for soaking...
ReplyDeletegratitude: is it not chemicals?
cannot soak long. but i suspect what gratitude said is right. grown in bittergourd grown
ReplyDeletebtw, when stir fry addd a bit of cooking wine is nice
hmmm, i never heard ppl soaking vege in salt water for two hours.. maybe you should just boil them in hot water for two minutes and then continue with stir frying with garlic..
ReplyDeletekathy: i tot soak longer better...
ReplyDeletesk: tot soaking can take away the chemical ma... yeah, next time boil..
Claire, maybe the garlic burnt out... Could it be? Usually after I soak the vege ( not so long lar) and set aside. Before I cook, I still strain the vege for another 3 times.
ReplyDeletesalty or bitter? i do soaking some time with LITTLE salt but not that long!sounds like you're soaking for 'ham choi' hahaha!
ReplyDeletesoaking.. stir fry. Aiyo, cooking knowledge is too deep for me. :P
ReplyDeleteTry buying again, and rinse it, soak for lesser time, then we can see if that was the problem
btw i love this vegetable!
never came across this vege turn bitter... it's my fav.. ^_^
ReplyDeleteOops that looks very green. Not so atractive for me I am not such a fan of vegtables.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
never knew this would turn out bitter! But I also never heard before lah soaking vege in salt water... :-)
ReplyDeletei usually soak vege for a short while. i prefer to boil vege n then add the oil, garlic n soya sauce.
ReplyDeletei dun mind eating it even though it's bitter...but so far never encountered bitter ones lah...dunno u need to soak that long to get rid of chemicals...
ReplyDeleteGosh, I don't know what could have gone wrong, let us know if you find out, it looks good!
ReplyDeleteYes, this veg may be bitter at times. I don't like it- will hardly ever buy...or order when eating out. Shouldn't soak veg in water for long - will destroy all the vitamins and the minerals and what not. Just wash, rinse...and let it drip dry before cooking.
ReplyDeleteTry boiling the veg with a pinch of salt added. Drain and arrange veg on a plate. Cook gravy and pour over the veg and serve. Dunno if it will still be bitter but this is another way of cooking veg.
ReplyDeleteYou must listen to Arthur you know, he is the Master Chef of Sibu lol, he knows his stuff well,,,
ReplyDeletebut funny lol,, never heard of people soaking the vegi for 2 hours one,, ,my mom used to tell me, boil it for a short while,rinse it with running water,then should be ok,,,,, but mom never uses salt though..
practise makes perfect try try try again ya
My colleagues call me the Green Goblet because I can wolf down one kilogram of vegetables at one go. I eat all leafy green veg, be it local or the imported ones. However, bitter vegetable is always a no-no for me so bitter gourd is out of my list. The poor bitter gourd has finally found a companion - mini siew pak choy. At least he is no longer the only black sheep in my food list.
ReplyDeleteMIL used to cook this vege - boil the vege with salt and some cooking oil. Cook gravy in another pan (oyster sauce). Deep fried minced garlic till golden, then mixed everything together. Nice!
ReplyDeleteHhhmmm... yet to try cooking this vege. But soaking them does not seem like what I would attempt to do though.
ReplyDeletei usually rinse the vege and then soak it in a little bit of salt to get rid of anything unwated or to let it absorb some saltiness. but cannot soak in too much salt, turns bitter.
ReplyDeletemaybe that is what happened to the siew pak choy.
This is new, I've never experienced bitter siew bak choy. But do share with us when you found out about the bitterness - is it originally bitter or the salt water in 2 hours turned the taste bitter.
ReplyDeleteermm..i never soak vege that long wor cos my tum tum cannot wait....but my mom said cannot soak too long else the chemical will absorb back by the vege....duno leh..
ReplyDeleteSoak the vege for 2 hrs? Then the vitamin and minerals also no more lor, isn't it? My mom usually stir fry it with ginger. I personally don't like to boil vege.
ReplyDelete*stir fry with garlic, not ginger. :)
ReplyDeleteI learn from this post is not to soak veggie in salt water for too long. Nevermind, try again, Claire.
ReplyDeleteHey Ladies and Gentlemen.. thanks for the advise.. wow.. this advice is free of charge one! I appreciate that.. so next time I wont soak too long then.. and boil them instead..
ReplyDelete*thank you, thank you!*
LOL! You sounded so funny!
ReplyDeleteI am hopeless in cooking in vegetables. Why not soak in sugared water instead! Sure manis and yummy.
I just cooked this yesterday! I think this is grown locally too. I usually buy the organic one... it's about RM3+ too, for the same amount. Maybe next time you should just buy organic (esp for leafy veggeis), no need to soak. Jusco got. I usually buy from there :)
ReplyDeletei love this vege too, and i cook mine the same way as Andy did. my dad read in an article some time ago that the most effective way to remove chemicals is to lightly scrub them under running water. i do that every time for at least 2 runs... very time-consuming and wasting water, but since it's the safest, have to do it for the kids lo :-).
ReplyDelete