{"id":29700,"title":"Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup – Canh Kh\u1ed5 Qua","modified":"2025-06-18T09:43:28+02:00","plain":"A recipe as surprising as it is comforting for a traditional bitter melon soup that's different from what we're used to eating in restaurants\n\n\n\nHere's a recipe you won't often see on Instagram! While others show you super spicy or cheese-filled noodles, on my site we savor bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd or bitter cucumber. Appealing name, isn't it?  \n\n\n\nI too have given in to the buldak ramen trend\n\n\n\nMore seriously, if you're familiar with this vegetable, I don't need to introduce you to this classic of Vietnamese cuisine, but if you're discovering it, you'll be really surprised by the subtle flavors of this dish. Honestly, it's worth it, and the time investment isn't huge either. The only caveat is that the younger members of our families might be put off by the bitterness of this Asian soup.   \n\n\n\nBut otherwise, go for it without hesitation, dear culinary adventurers!\n\n\n\nWhat is bitter melon soup?\n\n\n\nStuffed bitter melon soup is a typical dish from southern Vietnam, but it has conquered the entire country. So if you're passing through the region, you shouldn't have any trouble finding the dish. \n\n\n\nThat said, it's an integral part of the southern Lunar New Year tradition, Tet, where people let go of the misfortunes of the previous year so that the new year will be auspicious. \n\n\n\nKimchi Jjigae is another lesser-known broth\n\n\n\nTo come back to the dish itself, it consists of pieces of bitter melon stuffed with a pork and shrimp filling that are placed in a quick chicken broth. What's great is that the aroma of the filling cooking in the broth will be released during cooking and really bring out the umami flavors of the entire dish. \n\n\n\nYou can find equivalents of this soup all over Asian cuisine, and even a fried version in Taiwan. As with ramen, the broths can vary infinitely, as can the toppings. The only limit is your imagination, although we generally prefer something quick  \n\n\n\nThe main ingredients of stuffed bitter melon soup\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBitter melons: Hard to do without in this recipe, opt for a medium size (about 15cm). You'll find them in Asian supermarkets, in the fresh produce section \n\n\n\nGround pork: opt for 30% fat content\n\n\n\nShrimp: they should be peeled and raw\n\n\n\nGlass noodles: Here, take any kind of glass noodles (made from mung beans or potatoes) and if you really have no choice, rice vermicelli will do. With shredded dried pork rind, it's also very good. Basically, it's just important that they are very thin vermicelli  \n\n\n\nBlack mushrooms: As with spring rolls, they bring a delicious taste. In fact, some people simply reuse leftover spring roll filling for this dish \n\n\n\nFish sauce: brings a salty and umami taste to the broth\n\n\n\n\n\n\tStuffed Bitter Melon Soup - Canh Kh\u1ed5 Qua\n\t\t\n\t\tA recipe as surprising as it is comforting for a traditional bitter melon soup that's different from what we're used to eating in restaurants\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t400 g ground pork200 g of shrimp (raw, minced like meat)30 g of black mushrooms (dry weight, rehydrated)1 package of glass noodles5 bitter melons (medium size (15cm))Salt (to taste)Pepper (to taste)1.5 L of chicken broth1 tablespoon of fish sauceToppingsCilantro\t\n\t\n\t\tWash the bitter melonsCut off the endsRemove the seeds with a spoonCut everything in halfBoil the black mushrooms for a few minutes and rinseBoil the noodles for a few minutes, rinse in cold water and drainCut the mushrooms and noodles into small pieces (about 5 mm, roughly)Mix with the shrimp and pork, add salt and pepperStuff the pieces of bitter melon. Make small balls with the excess, freeze them for another time. In a large pot, bring the broth to a boilAdd the bitter melons and let them boil covered for 50 minutesAdd the fish sauce and serve in small bowls with some pieces of bitter melon, garnish with a little chopped coriander\t\n\t\n\t\tYou can find bitter melons in the fresh or frozen section of Asian supermarkets\n\t\n\t\n\t\tMain course, Side dishVietnameseCrevettes, Porc, Sauce poisson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}