Spare Rib & Bitter Melon Soup

Name: Spare Rib & Bitter Melon Soup
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 5 ml/1 tsp lard or white cooking fat; 5 ml/1 tsp lard or white cooking fat; 15 g/½ oz dried shrimps, soaked until soft, minced; 2.5 ml/½ tsp sugar; chilli sauce, for dipping; 300 g/11 oz meaty pork ribs; 30 ml/2 tbsp light soy sauce; 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground black pepper; 1 bitter melon; 1.2 litres/2 pints/5 cups boiling water

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

China

By Terry Tan

Published 2020

About

When cooking, chefs recommend that you can temper some of the bitterness of bitter melon by steeping cut slices in a little salt and then squeezing out the moisture. Fujian bitter melon lovers, however, would never do such a thing, as it is the very bitterness that is its intrinsic allure.

Ingredients

300 g/11 oz meaty pork ribs
1 bitter melon
1.

Asia
China
Shanghai
Soup

Method

Cut the pork ribs into 2.5cm/1in pieces. Cut the bitter melon lengthways and remove and discard the soft core and red seeds. Scrape away and discard any white pith that clings to the green flesh. Cut the flesh into half-moon slices, 1cm/½in wide.
Pour the boiling water into a large pan, add the pork rib pieces and simmer for 45 minutes, until the meat comes awa