BITTER GOURD / MELON

Bitter gourd or bitter melon was the only vegetable I don't know how to eat in the past. Yes, I can eat any vegetable available in the market but this. Well, it is not until I had tasted the best ever bitter gourd soup done by a man at his road side shop in Batu Pahat. I hated the bitterness of bitter gourd not because I don't know how to eat bitter stuffs. I drink black coffee, ginseng soup and other bitter stuffs without much problem but just could not appreciate the bitter taste of bitter gourds. The uncle who cooked that soup made me fell in love with bitter gourds, no matter how they are prepared.

From then onwards until today, I will easily choose it as my vegetable, be it cooked in soup or fried with eggs, a common way to prepare it over in Malaysia and Singapore. Bitter gourd has always been regarded as one of the most nutritious and healthiest vegetable in this region. Old people always like to eat it for good health and always recommend the younger generations to consume it. It is antidotal, antipyretic tonic, stomachic, antibilious and laxative. I know it is good for treating diabetes, piles, constipation, blood disorders, respiratory disorders, alcoholism and cholera. There could be more that I don't know.

I never like to eat it when I was still at home. I guess since that bitter gourd soup in Batu Pahat, I can proudly say now that I begin to appreciate the bitterness of bitter gourd. I will always remind myself not to miss that uncle's bitter gourd soup whenever I drop by Batu Pahat.

Bitter gourd / melon