Ginisang Ampalaya (Sauteed Bittermelon) with Eggs

From ginisang ampalaya (sauteed bittermelon) with egg

Not a lot of people like eating ampalaya. I myself started not liking it, but I acquired the taste for it as I grew older. Now I love it, especially when I have finally discovered to get rid of most of the bitter taste, and come up with crunchy slices of ampalaya.

As a side note, it is a common knowledge among Filipinos that ampalaya is one of the natural remedies for lowering blood sugars (in other words, anti-diabetic).

I used to eat this every morning when I wanted to lose weight (or I would alternate it with adobong kangkong or ginataang puso ng saging or adobong labong). Cooked only with eggs as its protein source, I would enjoy it with freshly cooked plain rice. I can eat a whole ampalaya in two meals cooked this way. It's a great way to slim down.

Ingredients:
1 ampalaya, prepared as depicted in the slideshow
salt (for ampalaya)
3 tbsp oil for sauteeing
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1-3 medium tomatoes (as you prefer)
2 eggs, beaten slightly with 1/4 cup water, let stand
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
ground basil

Instructions:

Prepare amapalaya as shown above. While sitting with the salt on, start slicing the other veggies. Beat eggs and add the water. Let sit.
After about 5 minutes, while heating up the pan, rinse and wring out excess fluid from ampalaya using a layer of cheesecloth.
Sautee garlic, onion, then tomatoes. Add the ampalaya and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock. and let boil. Set veggies at one side of the pan and pour the beaten eggs onto the boiling stock, let cook untouched. Then stir together again for further 3 minutes or until ampalaya is cooked but still crunchy. Season with ground basil and salt and pepper.