Crispy Salted Egg Bitter Gourd
Crunchy, creamy, savoury and slightly salty - salted egg bitter gourd is a sure-fire way to get kids to eat their vegetables. The bitterness is muted, replaced with a thin crispy coating of salted egg. It can even be enjoyed as a snack.
Equipment
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Chopping Board
- Steamer
- Wok
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 bitter gourd, sliced thinly
- cooking oil, for deep-frying
- 3 salted egg yolks
- 4 curry leaves stems
- 40 g butter, unsalted
- 2 tbsp cooking oil, taken from deep-frying oil
Crispy Batter
- 100 g homemade crispy flour
- 125 ml water, cold
Instructions
Preparation
- Extract salted egg yolks. Steam for 8-10 minutes over medium heat. Set aside to cool.
- Remove the tips from the bitter gourd, before cutting into quarters. Scrape off the seeds and the white flesh. Slice about 0.5cm thinly. Set aside.
- Heat oil for deep-frying for 10 minutes over medium heat.
- Mix flour and cold water until cohesive. It should be thin enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add 1 tbsp of flour or water until the consistency is reached.
- Generously coat bitter gourd with the crispy flour batter.
- When the oil is hot, gently add the bitter gourd and fry for 5 minutes, or until golden brown on one side. I fried mine in 2 batches. Turn it and fry for another 4 minutes. Remove from the heat with a strainer to drip off the excess oil, and rest on a cooling rack.
- Mash the cooled salted egg yolks to fine pieces. Strip all the curry leaves from the stems and set aside.
- Add cooking oil for frying into the wok, butter and curry leaves. Fry until all the butter has melted and the curry leaves have curled up.
- Add all the salted egg, and fry in the wok, stirring quickly for 15 seconds, or until the foam as expanded to triple its size.
- Switch off the heat, and add the crispy bitter gourd. Stir quickly to coat the bitter gourd with the salted egg sauce.
- Remove from the wok and serve immediately.
Notes
Tips
- Scrape as much of the white inner flesh of the bitter gourd as it contributes to the bitterness.
- Slicing the bitter gourd thinly (0.5cm) reduces the bitter taste, and makes each piece crunchier.
- When deep-frying the bitter gourd, add them individually into the oil.
- Separate the bitter gourd early on if they are stuck.
- I re-used some of the oil from deep-frying, so I did not need to wait for it to get hot before adding butter and curry leaves. If using cooled oil, let it heat up for about 4-5 minutes before adding butter.
- Fine salted egg yolk becomes very foamy when the oil is very hot. If it is not hot enough, it will not be very foamy, which results in a clumpy coating.
Storage Instructions
Not recommended to freeze or store for later. Best to consume immediately after cooking.Serve with
- Fluffy white rice
- Dishes with gravy
Nutrition
Calories: 420kcalCarbohydrates: 59gProtein: 9gFat: 42gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 140mgSodium: 1828mgPotassium: 336mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 1947IUVitamin C: 50mgCalcium: 34mgIron: 3mg
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