The “fancy” name of this dish is Sauteed Pork & Bitter Melon W/ Shrimp Paste but you can also call it, binagoongang pork and ampalaya. It’s basically just a variation of the spicy binagoongang pork with napa cabbage. Because I’m an Ilocana and I love Amapalaya aka Bitter Melon aka Bitter Gourd, I love this version so much better.
If Ampalaya isn’t sold so expensive in Filipino stores here in the US I’d probably eat it everyday for lunch. I saved the seeds hoping to plant them and maybe grow my own bitter melons in the backyard but I’m not sure how it will fare in the US weather so I’ve chickened out in doing so. But I have to try sometime to find out, no? I will and I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime……..
| Sauteed Pork & Bitter Melon W/ Shrimp Paste |
- 1 large pork steak, sliced in cubes
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1 sm onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- sm thumb size of ginger, chopped
- 1 large bitter melon/ampalaya, seeded and sliced
- 1 spoonful of pink alamang (shrimp paste)
- 1 tsp of curry paste
- 3 tbsp of oil
- 1/4 cup of water
- Heat up oil in a saute pan. Add the garlic, ginger, onions, and tomatoes to cook for a minute or 2. Stir in the pork cubes, then cover the pan and cook until pork cubes are tender. Add water, curry paste, and bitter melon. Stir everything around, cover the pan then ook for a few more minutes to soften the bitter melon. Stir in the pink alamang (shrimp paste) and cook for another 2 minutes.
And of course, enjoy it with rice.
Hi Dexie! What can you recommend as alternative to bitter melon? I want to try this out but my husband doesn’t like bitter melon. Thanks!