Stir-fried bitter melon and grass carp in black bean sauce
A classic Cantonese stir-fry: crisp bitter melon and tender fish slices with garlicky black beans — cooling, clean and never greasy.
- 25 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp-Heat brings a bitter taste in the mouth, spots and sticky stools, all likelier in Summer Solstice's humid heat. Bitter melon clears summer heat and damp-heat, the fish is light and lean, and ginger and garlic protect digestion — clearing heat without being too cold.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 10 min- 1Halve the bitter melon, scoop out the seeds and scrape away the white pith, then slice thinly on the diagonal. Blanch in salted boiling water for 1 minute and drain.
- 2Pat the fish dry, then mix with the soy sauce, 1 tsp cornflour and a little oil. Rinse the black beans and chop them finely with the garlic.
- 3Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok, lay in the fish slices and fry until white on both sides, then lift out.
- 4Add the rest of the oil, fry the ginger, garlic and black beans until fragrant, add the bitter melon and stir-fry on high heat for 2 minutes, then splash in 3 tbsp water and the sugar.
- 5Return the fish, thicken with 1 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water, toss gently and serve with rice.
Cautions
- Bitter melon is cold: if you are pregnant, or your digestion runs cold with frequent loose stools, don't eat too much.
Chef's tips
- Choose pale green bitter melons with big, plump bumps — they are less bitter. Scraping out all the white pith helps too.
The TCM view
Bitter melon is bitter and cold; it clears summer heat and toxins and brightens the eyes. Grass carp is sweet and warm and settles the stomach, softening the melon's cold; ginger and garlic are pungent and warm and protect spleen yang, while the black beans season and whet the appetite. Mainly bitter-cold with a little pungent warmth — clearing damp-heat without hurting digestion.
