Bitter melon has long been used in traditional medicine to treat various kinds of ailments, most notably diabetes. In developing countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America it has also been used to treat dysmenorrhea, eczema, gout, leprosy, psoriasis, gout, and even scabies. In developed nations, recent animal and clinical studies of bitter melon extract have shown that it has potential therapeutic benefit in diabetes and obesity related metabolic dysfunction.1 

Does the above information encourage you to give it a try the next time you see it at your local farmers’ market? Maybe the following recipe will. I consulted with my favorite Filipino friends, Teddie and Leila Maasin, to find a recipe that could be enjoyed by someone trying bitter melon for the first time and they shared this one (with my edits):

Vegetable Fritters

4 cups of prepared vegetables to include the following:

1 thinly sliced Chinese bitter melon

1 shredded medium sweet potato (I used a Murasaki sweet potato)

1 large, shredded carrot

1 chopped medium onion

1 to 2 cups chopped spinach or celery leaves (or whatever leafy greens you have) 

2 beaten eggs

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup cornstarch

Black pepper to taste

Vegetable (or peanut) oil for deep frying

To prepare bitter melon, slice lengthwise, remove seeds and spongy pith, and thinly slice in cross sections. Soak slices for 1 hour in salted water to remove some of the bitterness, then squeeze out as much liquid as possible and place slices in a large mixing bowl. Add and mix in the remaining vegetables, then stir in beaten eggs until well combined with the vegetables. Now would be a good time to start heating your vegetable oil in a deep saucepan or frying pan. (Don’t forget to have a pan cover handy!)

In a smaller mixing bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and black

pepper to taste. Add this mixture to the larger mixing bowl with the vegetables and mix until you have a vegetable-laden batter. Pre-form patties from this batter, adding flour or water to get them to hold together.

Fry patties in hot oil until medium brown, then remove them to a platter lined with paper towels to wick up excess oil. I like to serve these vegetable fritters with sweet chili sauces like these:

Obviously, the recipe featured above is not the most healthful of bitter melon recipes due to the deep-frying cooking method. If you’d like to try another, just look for any of the numerous stir-fry recipes available on the Internet. As a bonus, the Journal of Lipids reference article linked below contains a “typical recipe of a bitter melon dish popular in Bangladesh”, called Bitter Melon Fry with Potato. Check it out!

1J Lipids. 2015; 2015: 496169

Photo Credits: Anita Oakman 1,2,3