Beef with Bitter Melon and Black-Bean Sauce

Tally so far… 2-0.

Harold came home late last night. I saw it as my turn to shine again, from sweat, in the kitchen. I hanged next to the cutting board, and looked for my printed recipe for beef and black bean stirfry.

My inspiration to use this recipe came from acquiring the taste for bitter melons. Bitter melon is rich in iron that helps our energy and blood. I needed a healthy boost in all 3, after overcoming the H-fever overseas. I wanted to lessen the need to drink iron tablets too; tired of this routine I have been doing since before I joined school. I was also encouraged by the fact that Harold seem to love eating bitter melons too, even making a salad out of it.

So I prepared the vegies and added the bitter melon, which by the way was not part of the recipe. The recipe was only meant to have celery bits. I added extra ingredients like the teriyaki sauce and more black bean sauce to suit the amount of ingredients I was using. I cut carrots and red capsicums too, to add colour to the dish, but gave up on the idea. I decided simplicity and taste is key to this cuisine.

It was so easy to make this dish! Maybe the fact that I wasn’t sticking too close to the recipe helped… I was more relaxed… more creative. Harold was so happy I cooked, totally unplanned… completely unexpected. He could smell it from outside and thought the neighbours were eating something nice. He loved it! Scored it at least 9, at least! This dish will definitely make an appearance from now on.


Beef with Bitter Melon and Black-Bean Sauce
Serving size: Serves minimum 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon peanut oil
400g beef strips, or steak cut thinly for stirfry
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 medium white onion (150g), sliced thinly
2 trimmed sticks celery (150g), sliced thinly - optional
1 bitter melon (size depends on how much you want to eat), sliced julienne (diagonal)
1 teaspoon cornflour - optional
1/4 cup (60ml) black bean sauce
1 teaspoon teriyaki sauce

METHOD
Blend corn flour, black bean sauce and teriyaki sauce in a small bowl.
Heat the peanut oil in a wok or a large frying pan. Combine beef and garlic, and stir-fry in batches, until beef is browned. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Stir-fry onion, bitter melon and celery.
Return beef to wok and add blended cornflour mixture. Stir until mixture boils and thickens slightly.