Canh Kho Qua Bitter Melon Soup

You either love bitter melon (khổ qua) or you hate it and nothing in between. Growing up Kim loved it and ate bitter melon soup (canh khổ qua) and stir fries routinely while I, on the other hand, despised it's bitterness so mom rarely made it.  But over the years I've come to love it. Don't get me wrong, bitter melon is still as bitter as I remember it, but the latent and underutilized bitter tastes buds in me, over time, has come to appreciate the complexity of this bitterness and even crave it.

A member of the squash family, bitter melon is grown all over the tropics of both the western and eastern hemispheres. Indian, Chinese, Okinawan, Phillipines, Indonesia along with Vietnam are among many of the countries where bitter melon is a popular culinary vegetable.  In Vietnamese, bitter melon is known as mướp đắng with the term đắng meaning bitter. Although more appropriate and literal to the meaning of bitter melon, the term mướp đắng is not commonly heard among households and not what the supermarkets call this vegetable. Instead, it's more commonly known as khổ qua which doesn't mean either bitter or melon. Khổ roughly means hardship and qua in this context means the past.  We like to think that the Vietnamese language and people are quite creative and chose to call this vegetable khổ qua because of life's tumultuousness. Clearly the history of the Vietnamese people have anything but smooth sailing.  Thus by eating khổ qua, you will be constantly reminded of life's ups and down, and lest you forget and enjoy your meal too much, it's bitterness will always be there as a reminder of life's bitterness.  But honestly, it's probably an example where language was lost in translation.  The Chinese mandarin term for bitter melon is ku gua and the Vietnamese term khổ qua may have been a just a literal translation with an accidental, albeit melancholic  meaning to this lovely gourd.

Aside from this cultural significance, bitter melons are re-known for their high nutrient content with many positive health claims ranging from treatment for diabetes, malaria, and even HIV. Extracts from bitter melon are used numerous products such as tea and supplements. You can read all about bitter melon from the National Bitter Melon Council and even become a member, ranging from "newbie" to "bitter melon ambassador." If you're very adventurous you can even be "Secretary of Bitterness."

While the bitterest of vegetables, bitter melons aren't uniformly bitter. Ripe ones are less green and more white to yellow/orange tend to be milder then the younger counterpart. Choose your melon base on your level of bitter tolerance and start off with ripe ones if you're new to bitter melon.

But enough about entymology and background on bitter melons--you're reading our blog for the recipes right?  This simple bitter melon soup (canh khổ qua) is a classic Vietnamese preparation often served at family dinners and is equally simple to make.  Use the same Vietnamese pork stuffing as in our stuff tomatoes, stuffed tofu, and stuffed squid.

Bitter Melon Soup Canh Kho Qua
Printable Recipe

• Two medium length 8-12 inch bitter melons
• 6 cups of water or chicken broth
• 1 green onion, thinly chopped
• sprigs of cilantro, thinly chopped
• 1 peeled shallot
• salt

Pork Stuffing 

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 minced shallots or small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup bean thread noodles, soaked in warm water about 10 min, drain and cut in 2-3 inch length
• 1/4 cup wood ear mushrooms, soaked in warm water about 10 min, drain and cut thinly

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the pork, fish sauce, sugar, pepper, salt, shallots, wood ear mushrooms, bean thread noodles and mix well. Cover and set aside.

Blanching is an optional technique to reduce a bit of the bitterness. Quickly blanch the entire bitter melon in boiling water for about 1 minute--the color will turn a dark green.  Remove and allow to cool.  When cool to the touch, slice melons cross wise into 1 to 1.5 inch pieces. Using a table spoon or knife, drive it between the green outer flesh and the center white pith. Hold the bitter melon in one hand and spoon/knife in other, and slowly core out the pith and seeds with a circular motion.

Add the peeled shallot to the water/stock and bring to boil. In the meantime, stuff the bitter melons with the pork stuffing. When water/stock is boiling add the stuffed bitter melons and cover reducing heat to low, cook for about 15 minutes or until the center of the pork is done. Season with some salt to taste. Transfer to soup bowl and garnish with chopped green onion and cilantro. Serve with jasmine rice.

Cooks note: Add a peppercorn on top of the pork stuffing for additional spiciness which will cut down on the bitterness. Skip the blanching if you love the unadulterated full bitterness. Also for additional bitterness you can save the liquid from the blanch for the soup. Discard if you're using chicken stock. 

The simple broth is infused with sweet flavors of pork intermixed with the bitterness of the melon. We admit that bitter melon is not for everyone--at first.  It's an acquired taste that once you enjoy it, you will  probably not only like it, you may even crave it.  Instead of being reminded by life's bitterness, hopefully it is quickly forgotten with this homely yet comforting soup--at least until the last drop.

This is our entry to Delicious Vietnam,a monthly blogging event celebrating Vietnamese cuisine created by Anh of A Food Lovers Journey and yours truly! This month's host is Dave of Javaholic blog. Submissions can be sent to him by October 10, 2010 at 7:00 pm pacific time via sijeleng[at]gmail[dot]com  For instructions on how you can participate, visit Delicious Vietnam information page.

 If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe and