Stir Fried Bittergourd with Sliced Pork in Miso Paste

The Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultural holds much similiarities due to historical reasons.  So for many foodstuff found in one culture, you can almost see a similar rendition in another. 

One of the favourite condiments that my mother used to enjoy using is the salted soya beans.  However, with my occurence of breast cancer, my husband tends do frown when I use it as many of the version sold in the supermarkets contains preservatives and sodium benzoate which is said to be carcinogenic.  I have however found that the Japanese miso has a similar taste to the salted soya beans and have since replaced that in many of the dishes I used to cook with salted soya beans.

Miso is fermented soya beans that is said to contains live cultures which are supposed to be good for the digestive system and helps in detoxification.  It is also zinc, copper, potassium and lecithin which are thought not only to promote the immunity system but also aid in prevention of breast cancer, and hence my husband do not object too much of it when I use it in cooking.  But it is also to be noted that miso is salty and hence high in sodium, however one is also unlikely to use too much of it because of its saltiness.

This dish presented here is one of the renditions of the dishes my mother used to cook but with miso instead.

Recipe:

1 bittergourd.   Sliced lengthwise and then cut into smaller segments (left).  Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar and salt.  Mix well, and set aside for 30 min.  The sugar and salt draws out the bitter juices.  Just before cooking, squeeze the bittergrourd with hands, and rinse under the running tap to remove the sugar and salt. Drizzle with the juice from one small knob of ginger that has been grated.

1-2 stalks of chilli  (de-seeded and chopped finely)

3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)

100 g of collar pork (sliced thinly).  Marinate with a little pepper and light soya sauce.

2 tsp of miso mixed in a little warm water.

sunflower oil

Method:

1.  Heat the wok, drizzle in sunflower oil, and stirfry the garlic and chilli till fragrant.

2.  Add in the sliced collar pork and fry till it is almost cooked.  Then add in the bittergourd and stir-fry well.  The wok should be relatively dry.

3.  Add in the miso paste that has be softened with a little warm water.  Off the flame and fry the mixture well.  The miso should not be overcooked as it said that it will kill the cultures in the miso.  Once, mixed well, the dish is ready for serving.

This is one of my favourite dish I like to use in my lunch bento as it is not too saucy and yet flavourful.