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……..
