Sauteed Bitter gourd / Ampalaya

A lunch without a vegetable? yeah; it's boring, but some says who cares, well; that's your choice, for someone out there loves eating veggies here's a very simple menu, a bitter gourd recipe that you might like. when I was a kid, every time I saw ampalaya or bitter gourd in the dining table; I keep on saying "I don't like this", and whenever my parents tried to convince me to eat this kind of food it's like they're trying to poison me. But I still tried to eat this maybe because of my curiousness, and its bitter, but there's a good taste behind bitterness and I liked it, maybe because of the other ingredients that matches with the ampalaya and until now I still eat this, and this is one of my favorite vegetable menu, a warm rice and sautéed ampalaya is a big YES!!!

Bitter gourd or ampalaya can help lower the body's blood sugar and blood pressure, this can also help rheumatism and gout.
Here's a tip to lessen the bitterness of ampalaya. Put a sliced ampalaya in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, toss or mix the ampalaya to coat every piece with salt, wait for 20 to 25 minutes and wash with water, and the result is still bitter :)) , still bitter but it lessens the bitterness. I don't do this when I don't have enough time, but trust me, this can't kill you but rather gives you an additional lifespan. Just try it, I'm sure you're going to love it.

Ingredients:
• 1 regular size Bitter gourd
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 pieces shrimp (you can use pork, chicken meat or even fish as alternative)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 clove garlic, crushed & sliced
• 2 medium size native tomatoes, sliced
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup water (if you want a sauce)

How to cook:

Preheat a pan, pour cooking oil, wait till it became hot, sauté onion and garlic wait till garlic became light brown and add tomatoes, mix well till tomatoes soften. Add shrimp and mix till shrimp is cooked. Pour ampalaya, salt and pepper to taste, mix well till ampalaya is cooked and add egg, mix again for a half a minute. If you want a sauce in your ampalaya just add water but not too much.

note: do not overcook the ampalaya, it's better if it's still slightly fresh green. also to prevent explode of bitterness.

don't forget a warm white rice!!

Thank you, eat well and godbless!!!