Black Polish and Bitter Gourd
I painted my toes black last night... It's a slow, relaxing weekend so I thought of painting my nails. Aside from that, I've managed to read about this thing called "myLot" too. It looks interesting - people post their opinions, start discussions and the like.
Yesterday, my mom made this bitter gourd (ampalaya) cold side-dish/salad that I ate with roast chicken. What's great about my mom's cold ampalaya side-dish is that it's sweet and sour with just enough bitterness (very slight, to say the least) to even the flavors out. She said my lola taught her how to make it so I think I better write it down -- for posterity's sake...
She takes a bitter gourd and thinly slices it, think paper-thin slices - that's how she does it. She soaks it in water with some salt for a while, maybe, ten minutes or so. She takes a handful of the paper-thin ampalaya slices and squeezes out the water. She holds it under running water and squeezes it some more. That's about it for the hard part, seasoning it is fairly easy.
She puts the squeezed ampalaya slices in a bowl, adds a little vinegar, a packet of Splenda and cold water -- that's it! We can have it right away (it goes with anything fried, roasted or barbecued) but mom prefers to cover the bowl with cling wrap and puts it in the fridge, though. I like it when it comes straight from the fridge too.
Thinly slicing an average-sized bitter gourd doesn't make that much salad because of all the soaking and squeezing. That's why when we have it, there's nothing left to put in the fridge for later. Okay, this is making my mouth water... I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight?
Yesterday, my mom made this bitter gourd (ampalaya) cold side-dish/salad that I ate with roast chicken. What's great about my mom's cold ampalaya side-dish is that it's sweet and sour with just enough bitterness (very slight, to say the least) to even the flavors out. She said my lola taught her how to make it so I think I better write it down -- for posterity's sake...
She takes a bitter gourd and thinly slices it, think paper-thin slices - that's how she does it. She soaks it in water with some salt for a while, maybe, ten minutes or so. She takes a handful of the paper-thin ampalaya slices and squeezes out the water. She holds it under running water and squeezes it some more. That's about it for the hard part, seasoning it is fairly easy.
She puts the squeezed ampalaya slices in a bowl, adds a little vinegar, a packet of Splenda and cold water -- that's it! We can have it right away (it goes with anything fried, roasted or barbecued) but mom prefers to cover the bowl with cling wrap and puts it in the fridge, though. I like it when it comes straight from the fridge too.
Thinly slicing an average-sized bitter gourd doesn't make that much salad because of all the soaking and squeezing. That's why when we have it, there's nothing left to put in the fridge for later. Okay, this is making my mouth water... I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight?
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