Stuffed Ampalaya (bitter melon)
Sometimes referred to a bitter gourd, ampalaya (bitter melon), mormodica chatantia, is also known in some Visayan regions as amargozo. It is a vegetable that grows on vines. The average length is eight to twelve inches. As the English names suggest, ampalaya has a bitter taste. This is one of the vegetables I avoided as I child–avoided with vehemence. My grandmother used to say that the bitterness should be negligible considering the many health benefits it gave. Children don’t really listen to that kind of reasoning, myself included. I have a cousin who would soak her share of ampalaya slices in patis before pinching her nose to eat them.
Then, I got seriously ill when I was in my early twenties and I became anemic. My brother, who couldn’t even fry an egg if his life depended on it, would volunteer to cook ampalaya con carne just to get me to eat ampalaya. I mean, how could I refuse, right? He’s my younger brother and he was being so thoughtful. So I would eat his ampalaya con carne. I still didn’t like the taste but I ate anyway. I have since overcome my childhood prejudices. Ampalaya still isn’t in my list of favorite vegetables but I now cook it mostly for variety. Eating the same medley of vegetables everyday can be boring. I have also learned a few tricks to get rid of the ampalaya’s bitterness to make it more palatable.
When buying ampalaya, choose the ones with the less wrinkled skin. In my experience, they taste less bitter.
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