Ginisang Ampalaya

Eating healthy is not something that usually comes naturally for kids. Although I love veggies now, I must admit that I used to loathe them. My mother had ironclad rules about eating vegetables and we had to eat every last piece of it that was put on our plate . Potatoes, carrots and cabbages were fine, but I remember how dismayed I was when I find out that the dish she prepared had squash, or okra, or eggplant. But nothing upset me more than Ampalaya or bitter gourd.

It is actually a fruit, and is sometimes referred to as the bitter melon. It is mostly popular because of its notorious bitter taste, which I found immensely disquieting as a child. I would have thrown a fit every time it was served, have I not been too scared of my mother. As if to rub it in, she would launch into a litany on the health benefits one can get from eating the bitter fruit. She was right, of course. The ampalaya is packed with goodness (which here means vitamins and minerals) that it's been made a herbal medicine by some. Apparently, it has compounds that are said to be effective in treating diabetes. What I'm most impressed about is the high level of iron one can get from it, and is the reason why I want to serve it to my family now.

Making Sam eat it is still tricky, but I got a tip on how to make the Ampalaya's bitterness tone down a bit. I learned from Red's mom to add a generous amount of salt to the sliced ampalaya. She said the salt would take out the bitter juice of the ampalaya naturally.

Rub the salt on the sliced ampalaya and set aside for about 10 minutes then rinse. We still want the benefits of the nutrients so we just need to make sure we do not to squeeze them out of the fruit. When rinsing, use a strainer and gently wash off any remaining salt.

Cooking Ginisang Ampalaya is pretty straight-forward. Ginisa is the tagalog word for saute, and the whole cooking time takes only about 20 minutes.

Saute garlic, onion, and pork over medium fire. Add water and let boil. When pork is tender, add the rinsed ampalaya to the mix, and let cook for 5 minutes. Add beaten eggs and mix well to make sure it does not stick to the pan. Let cook for another 3 minutes then turn off the heat.

_{All photos are mine, taken using a Samsung S7 Edge camera phone}

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