Bitter Gourd Pickles Salad

https://www.thespruceeats.com/pickled-bitter-melon-gourd-salad-3030454

Thin slices of bitter melon (bitter gourd) are combined with julienned radish and carrot to make a refreshingly delicious pickled salad that can be served as a side dish to meat and seafood dishes. 

The recipes for two dressings are given below, one with Filipino flavors and the other with Vietnamese flavors. This is a meatless dish but note that the Vietnamese dressing contains fish sauce. For a totally vegan salad, use salt in place of the fish sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 cup bitter melon (thinly sliced)
• 1/4 cup radish (julienned)
• 1/4 cup carrot (julienned)
• 1 shallot (thinly sliced)
• 2 - 3 bird's eye chilies (thinly sliced)

Steps to Make It

Place all the ingredients in a bowl. Toss well. Transfer to a jar with a screw-type cap.

Choose and make one of the following pickling solutions.

Filipino-style:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove of garlic (crushed)
• 2 slices of ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Boil all the ingredients together until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool.

Vietnamese-style:

• 1 cup lime juice
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (use 1 tablespoon salt for a vegan version)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 slices of ginger

https://mildlyindian.com/bitter-gourd/

INGREDIENTS 1 medium bitter gourd 1 medium cucumber 1 bird's eye chilli 1 tsp Lemon juice salt to taste 1 tsp coconut oil (optional) 1/4 tsp mustard seeds ( optional) 1/4 tsp cumin seeds (optional) 1 dry red chilli (optional)  Course Soups and salad  Cuisine diabetic friendly, Medicinal, Vegan  Prep Time 10 minutes  Servings  cups MetricUS Imperial INGREDIENTS 1 medium bitter gourd 1 medium cucumber 1 bird's eye chilli 1 tsp Lemon juice salt to taste 1 tsp coconut oil (optional) 1/4 tsp mustard seeds ( optional) 1/4 tsp cumin seeds (optional) 1 dry red chilli (optional) Powered by Chicory INSTRUCTIONS Choose a bitter gourd which is firm. Squishy ones may be old and wilted or even have started decaying inside. Alternately choose one where the ridges or are firm and dont tend to fall off easily. Like wise for the cucumber. Wash, Trim the edges of both the bitter gourd and the cucumber Grate the cucumber to get one cup. You can keep the peel on as it is healthy and adds a bit to the crunch. Add it to your mixing bowl. Cut the bitter gourd lengthwise and scoop out the center. Now grate the outer thick rind to get one cup. If the bitter gourd is too small you may need one more bitter gourd Add this too to the mixing bowl. Pound the birds eye chili carefully with a pinch of salt. Add in the lemon juice to this to form the dressing. Scoop up the dressing and add to the grated veggies in the bowl. Please handle carefully as birds eye chili is strong and can burn your fingers . Toss well gently and adjust the salt Temepering the salad is optional. I like the way the oil masks the heightened bitterness so adding this along. In a small pan heat up the coconut oil and as it starts bubbling add in the mustard. When the mustard begins to splutter add in the cumin and red chili. remove from heat and let it stand for a minute. Add the tempering on the prepared salad and serve. RECIPE NOTES The clever use of cucumber to combat the bitterness is advantageous. You can swap it with other salad veggies of your choice too.