In most cases, the presence of Ampalaya or bitter gourd in a dish is a death sentence.
If there’s a vegetable that adults and kids both love to hate, it’s Ampalaya. Across all age brackets, genders, and all other means of segregation, this vegetable is widely loathed. The bitter taste is primarily to blame for this, and of course, the apparent sweet tooth of most Filipinos. Which is a shame considering the many health benefits of this underrated super food.
Whether you hate it or not, this vegetable is automatically included in the must-eats once you’re diagnosed with diabetes. Not to worry though. Your diabetes diagnosis won’t curse you with a life full of bitter dishes and tasteless gruel. To help you, we’ve gathered five mouth-watering dishes that you can cook at home that have ampalaya as one of the main ingredients.
1. Ampalaya con Carne
Recipe
- 2 sliced ampalaya
- ½ kilo of ground beef
- 1 chopped onion
- 1-2 minced cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2-3 cups of water with 1 teaspoon of salt
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- Soak the ampalaya in water with salt before setting it aside.
- Using a medium-sized frying pan, heat the oil.
- Sautee the garlic and onion in oil. Cook until the onions are translucent
- Add the ground beef and cook until it turns brown (around 5 minutes)
- Season with salt and pepper
- Drain the ampalaya from the water and add into the sautéed vegetables.
- Cook for 5 minutes until ampalaya is tender\
- Serve
2. Sautéed Amargoso (Ampalaya with Egg)
Recipe
- 1 ampalaya
- 2 lightly beaten eggs
- 1 chopped white onion
- 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic
- 3 tablespoons of rock salt
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1 chopped tomato with seeds removed
- Salt and pepper
- Slice the ampalaya, remove the seeds and the white lining inside
- Rub the slices with rock salt and then rinse with tap water
- Tightly squeeze the slices and then set them aside on a paper towel to absorb the excess moisture
- Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic, onions, and tomato all at once.
- Sautee until the onions are soft
- Add the ampalaya and stir fry until it is tender
- Then, take off the pan from the heat and add the eggs
- Keep stirring until you’ve achieved the consistency you’re looking for
- Season with salt and pepper
- Serve
3. Ampalaya and Mango Salad
Recipe
- 2 ampalaya
- 1 green mango
- 1 ripe mango
- 6 tomatoes
- 10 calamansi, already juiced
- 2 tablespoons of sea salt
- ½ cup of white vinegar
- Slice the ampalaya thinly and rub with salt
- Slice and cube the mangoes and tomatoes
- Mix them all together
- Combine the calamansi juice, vinegar, and salt in another bowl
- Rinse the vegetables with water and pat dry
- Combine all mixture and the vegetables
- Refrigerate for a few hours before serving
4. Tinolang Manok sa Ampalaya
Recipe
- 1 whole ampalaya, sliced
- ½ kilo chicken breast
- 4 cups chicken stock or water
- 1 small ginger piece, peeled and sliced
- 3 sliced garlic cloves
- 4 pieces of siling haba (banana pepper/chile finger)
- 1 bundle of siling labuyo leaves
- 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1 sliced onion
- Salt and Pepper
- Sautee the garlic until it’s golden brown
- Add the onion, chicken, fish sauce, broth, and the ginger. Sautee until the chicken turns light brown
- Add the water, let it boil for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken becomes tender.
- Next, add the siling haba
- Lastly, add the ampalaya and the sili Leave it to boil for 30 seconds
- Serve
5. Stir-fried Ampalaya with Shrimp
Recipe
- 1 sliced ampalaya
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 1 small sliced onion
- 2 medium sliced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
- 1 pinch of salt
- ½ cup of water
- Sautee all the vegetables (minus the ampalaya) first
- And then, add the shrimps and cook for three minutes or until they turn pink
- Once the shrimps are cooked, add the water and the salt
- Once boiling, add the ampalaya slices
- Cover the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes or until the ampalaya is tender
- Season with the fish sauce
- Serve
Health Benefits Outweigh Taste
These dishes are just the tip of the big healthy iceberg that is ampalaya in dishes. You can always experiment and add your own version to the already growing repertoire of dishes for diabetics online. Of course, the taste wouldn’t be the same. In some cases, it would even be way worse than the no-ampalaya-found original. It is an acquired taste, yes, but then the healthier alternatives will be of more use to your diabetic self than those tastier-but-definitely-unhealthy originals.
You’re already taking medication and food supplements for diabetes, your arm is already pock-marked due to insulin shots, and you can feel yourself growing weaker by the day. What’s a slightly bitter aftertaste compared to those inconveniences? Add to that the fact that you’re going to be healthier because of this and the supplements you’re taking and the bitter vegetable now seems like a small price to pay.
