Jonathan’s Meal #3 by Julie
Darling loves bitter gourd so he thinks his Junior has too favour bitter gourd like him. He has been pestering me to let Jonathan boy try out bitter gourd. I was a bit reluctant cause from the name you already know it’s bitter so do you think a baby would like it? I, myself don’t like bitter stuff. I only take bitter gourd if it is cooked with scrambled egg, tau chu (fermented soya beans) or deep fried (for banana leaf rice). They say bitter is good. That’s the reason all medicines are bitter especially chinese medicines.
So here, I bought the baby bitter gourd. I cut into thin strips so that at least if Jonathan boy dislike it, I can put aside the bitter gourd but give him the porridge only instead. I put in some diced carrot and wolfberry for the colour. I also added red dates to give some sweetness to the bitterness. Since this is a first try, so no fish is added otherwise some fish or meat will provide additional nutrients.
I tasted the porridge myself before giving it to Jonathan. Bleeek…it’s bitter. For that moment I thought the porridge will go to waste. First try…give him the porridge first and he swallows it. Second try…give him the bitter gourd and he chews it. Lastly…he finished everything as though he has lost his taste bud.
Since Jonathan boy can accept the bitter gourd, I chopped the bitter gourd on my next try so that it mix well with the porridge and I added some fish too.
I read from some articles that to reduce the bitterness, the bitter gourd is salted and exposed to direct sunlight for few hours. After few hours, its salty, bitter water is reduced by squeezing out the excess by hand. Then rinse with water a few times. I’m going to try this method on my next cooking. So, happy trying!
