I had vivid memories of hating vegetables as a child. Not just vegetables but eating in general. I've tried so many tricks on my mom when I was younger just so she'd think I actually consumed my food. I would push my rice around the plate just to make it appear like I've eaten some of the food on my plate, I'd throw it in the trash or push it in the sink--and just thinking about the cleanup, man that must have been hell for my mom that's why she was always mad at me. But on the rare occasion that I actually would have the appetite, I would usually just have soup and rice. But as I grew older, I was sort of 'forced' to incorporate other good groups because my mom wouldn't serve anything else lol. I was spiteful at first buuuuut, I actually thank her for it. 

Which leads me to our recipe for today, Ampalaya. A lot of people hate it not just because of its appearance but also because of the vegetable's naturally bitter taste. There are tons of techniques out there such as soaking and massaging into salt and such, but personally, I don't mind the bitter taste. But since eating vegetables has done me wonders, I've explored a couple of methods on how to make this underrated more appealing to the people I cook for. I've seen this new method from Tiktok and I've tried it a couple of times and it seems to work so, sharing is caring. Let's go!

Ampalaya/Bitter Gourd

Tomatoes

Onions

Garlic

Salt/Pepper

Eggs

1. Saute garlic, onions and tomatoes. 

2. After sautéing for about 5mins or until the tomatoes are mush, add a little water. 

3. Simmer for 2-3 minutes then add the ampalaya. 

4. Important, DON'T MIX if you want to leave the bitter taste out. 

5. Simmer until the ampalaya is almost done, then add eggs. 

6. Once the eggs are cooked, then you can mix. 

7. Season with salt and pepper!

And that's it! Super easy. It's one of my go-to recipes when I really want to be loaded with vegetables. For some they add shrimp or hibe to add more flavor, some also add ground beef. You can do as you please, but again personally I want it to be purely made of veggies as much as possible. When I tried this process, I didn't massage the ampalaya in salt anymore. I previously did before I learned about this method but for this, I didn't and not mixing it while cooking actually worked. Let me know if you guys try it! Would be thrilled if I get to have more people try and eat vegetables. Have a great week!