Stuffed Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)
A steamed stuffed bitter melon recipe built from a whole community’s memory of their take on the recipe, filled with a pork hash mixture and Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce.
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I sent one email asking if anyone had a bitter melon recipe. I did not expect an inbox full of grandmothers.
Aunty Gail had dropped off her usual garden haul, a full bag of bitter melon plus more eggplant than one household should own. I’ve always respected bitter melon more than I’ve cooked it. It shows up in so many local kitchens, but mine has never been one of them. So I asked my newsletter list for help, half expecting silence.
Instead, people wrote back with recipes their moms made, dishes they hadn’t thought about in years, and more than a few “I don’t cook it, but here’s what I remember.”
My cousin happened to be visiting that same weekend, and when he saw the bag on the counter, he told me our grandma used to stuff it with pork and steam it, and that as a kid he’d dig out just the filling and leave the melon behind. He couldn’t give me exact measurements, just the shape of it, the smell of it, the way it disappeared off the plate.
Between his memory and the recipes that came in, I had enough to finally try it myself. This is the version I landed on for my first attempt: bitter melon stuffed with a seasoned pork hash mixture, steamed, and finished with a spoonful of Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce over hot rice.
Why You’ll Love This Stuffed Bitter Melon
- The salt-and-rinse step actually works, no harsh bitterness left, just a clean, slightly grassy edge against the rich pork filling.
- One pork hash mixture does double duty. Stuff the melon, then use the rest for pork hash, crispy gau gee, lumpia, or gyoza later in the week.
- Steaming keeps the bitter melon’s shape intact instead of turning it mushy.
- The Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce turns into a savory jus in the bottom of the bowl, easily the best part poured over rice.
- An easy weeknight technique once the melon has had its salt rest. No deep frying, no complicated sauce.
Where Bitter Melon Came From
That’s exactly what showed up in my inbox: a Filipino pinakbet from one reader, a Chinese-style version simmered in dau see (fermented black bean) gravy from another, and my own family’s steamed take somewhere in between. Different households, different ancestry, same bitter melon on the cutting board.
Bitter melon doesn’t show up on many tables anymore, it’s a vegetable a lot of us grew up seeing at a grandparent’s house and then lost track of. My cousin could describe our grandma’s version in detail, the shrinking of the melon, the filling packed in tight, but he couldn’t hand me a recipe, because there never was a written one. This post is my attempt to put something down on paper for her, so the next generation has more than a memory to go on.
Did you know…
A 100-gram serving of raw bitter melon comes in at just 21 calories and covers close to a full day’s vitamin C, along with fiber, folate, potassium, and iron. It also carries plant compounds like catechin and gallic acid, and some early clinical research has looked at a compound in bitter melon called polypeptide-P for its possible effect on blood sugar, though that’s mostly been studied in supplement form rather than at the dinner table. None of that makes it a cure for anything, but it’s a reminder that the vegetable our grandparents cooked with regularly was doing more for us than we probably gave it credit for.
Ingredient Notes for Stuffed Bitter Melon
- Bitter melon: Look for one that’s firm and pale green with shallow ridges. Darker, bumpier melons run more bitter, so a paler one is a gentler place to start.
- Salt for the bitterness draw: Plain kosher or sea salt works fine. Don’t skip the rest, 20 minutes takes the edge off, a full hour pulls out noticeably more.
- Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce: This does most of the flavor work in the dish, so skip substituting a plain black bean paste if you can help it.
- Water chestnuts: Give the filling its crunch. Canned, drained, and finely chopped is all you need.
- Aloha Shoyu: Any good local-style shoyu works, but this is the one in my pantry.
- A steamer setup: A bamboo steamer or a metal rack set inside a wide pot both work, you just need the melon up off the direct water.
- Ground pork: This makes more filling than one bitter melon needs. Don’t scale it down, just plan on using the extra for something else (more on that below).
How to Make Stuffed Bitter Melon
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1
Salt the bitter melon.
Slice the bitter melon into 1-inch pieces lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and pith. Sprinkle salt generously over the cut pieces, toss, and let it sit for 20 to 60 minutes. The longer rest pulls out more bitterness and more liquid.
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2
Rinse and blanch.
Rinse the salt off thoroughly. Blanch the bitter melon in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then immediately dunk it into cold water to stop the cooking. Pat it dry.
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3
Mix the pork hash filling.
Combine the ground pork, water chestnuts, green onions, aloha shoyu, oyster sauce, salt, white pepper, and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix until it’s well combined and slightly sticky.
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4
Stuff the bitter melon.
Pack the pork hash mixture into each piece of bitter melon, and don’t be shy about it. Over-stuff them, since the filling shrinks as it steams and a lightly packed piece will look sparse by the time it’s done.
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5
Arrange and sauce.
Place the stuffed pieces in a heatproof bowl or plate. Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce evenly over the top.
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6
Steam.
Set the bowl into your steamer over boiling water and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pork is fully cooked and the bitter melon is tender but still holds its shape.
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7
Rest and serve.
Remove from the steamer and let it cool for about 5 minutes before serving. Spoon it over hot rice and pour every bit of the juices left in the bowl on top. That’s the best part.
FAQs for Stuffed Bitter Melon
The salt rest does most of the bitterness removal, but the quick blanch softens the melon and brightens it up.
You can, but expect a noticeably more bitter dish. If you’re new to bitter melon, don’t skip it.
Use it for pork hash patties, crispy gau gee, lumpia, or gyoza. It freezes well, too.
Airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat gently, steamed again or in a covered pan with a splash of water, so the filling doesn’t dry out.
An oyster sauce gravy works too, closer to the Chinese-style version some readers grew up with. Different flavor, equally real.
A Note from Tani
I wasn’t planning on making stuffed bitter melon this month. It happened because Aunty Gail’s garden doesn’t believe in small portions, and because my cousin happened to be standing in my kitchen telling me about a dish neither of us had eaten in years. Then a whole community of readers filled in the rest. Every part of making it, the salting, the stuffing, the smell of it steaming, felt like catching up on something I’d missed.
This post is for my grandma, who apparently made this all the time, and for anyone else whose family recipe only exists as somebody’s memory of a kid sneaking the filling off the plate.
Huge mahalo to Uncle Raymond, Unko Sherman, Lorene, and Marvin for writing back with recipes, tips, and memories when I put out the call. This dish exists because you all took the time to share.
With Aloha, Tani
Stuffed Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)
Video
Equipment
- Steamer basket or steaming rack
- Heatproof bowl or plate
Ingredients
Bitter Melon
- 1 bitter melon halved, seeded, and sliced into sections
- 1 salt for drawing out bitterness, amount to taste
- 1-2 tbsp Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce
Pork Hash Filling
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb shrimp
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup water chestnuts finely chopped
- 1/4 cup green onions finely chopped
- 2 tbsp aloha shoyu
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Slice off the ends of the melon, and slice it into 1 inch secti andons, scrape out the seeds and pith. Sprinkle generously with salt, toss, and let sit for 20 to 60 minutes to draw out bitterness.
- Rinse the salt off thoroughly. Blanch the bitter melon in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then dunk immediately into cold water to stop cooking. Pat dry.
- Combine ground pork, shrimp, egg, water chestnuts, green onions, aloha shoyu, oyster sauce, salt, white pepper, and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix until well combined and slightly sticky.
- Pack the pork hash mixture into each piece of bitter melon, over-stuffing since the filling shrinks as it steams.
- Arrange the stuffed pieces in a heatproof bowl or plate. Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee garlic black bean sauce evenly over the top.
- Set into a steamer over boiling water and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pork is fully cooked and the bitter melon is tender but still holds its shape.
- Remove from the steamer and let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve over hot rice, pouring the juices from the bowl over everything.
Notes
- This recipe makes more pork hash filling than one bitter melon needs. Use the extra to make pork hash patties, crispy gau gee, lumpia, or gyoza.
- Stuffed bitter melon also keeps well and some say it mellows in bitterness after a day in the fridge.
- Store leftovers airtight for up to 3 days.
- In the video I modified the recipe by omitting the shrimp and egg due to my keiki’s allergies. Instead of 1/2 lb ground pork, I used 1 lb.
