Stir-fried goya with eggs

Now that the summer is getting warmer and warmer, it's time to try some seasonal recipes specially for hot days! This time we bought a goya (bitter melon), a vegetable that looks like a strange cucumber with bad skin, but tastes very different! It's has an extreme bitter taste, so beware when buying/tasting.

It's full of vitamins and therefore very healthy, and it is said that it helps your body withstand the heat of the summer. Most recipes with goya come from Okinawa, Japan's most southern region, so they should know what works best against the heat.

This time we tried making a simple variation of Chanpuru, a stir-fried dish from Okinawa that normally contains vegetables, tofu, and/or some meat. It is very often made with goya, which is therefore (not surprisingly) called 'goya chanpuru'. Because is has such a bitter taste, we prefer not to eat a whole meal of it, but rather prepare it as a side dish.



Ingredients (2p):

• 1/2 Goya
• clove of garlic
• 2 eggs

the outside of the goya

Cut the goya in half lengthwise, and remove the inside and seeds with a spoon. Then, slice the goya thinly.

Goya slices, with seeds removed

 Heat some oil in a fry-pan. Add the goya slices, and season with pressed garlic. Fry until the goya softens. Then, add two eggs to the mixture, and stir till the eggs are baked.

Stir-fried goya with egg

Serve, on a plate. If the taste is still to bitter, it can help to add (a little bit of) mayonnaise, because that will soften the taste. It also took us a while to get used to the taste, but once that happens it actually tastes quite good.
Now you are ready to survive the summer heat :)