Thursday, October 28, 2010

from the lanai

From the lanai, I picked a little of the cilantro, a little green onion and two of the goya (bitter melon).

Can you believe that on the 3rd floor we have worms?

How in the heck can they come up that high?

Anyway, the worm(s) were in the smaller of the two goya, and on the bell pepper and on the chili pepper plant, I'll tell you about the bell pepper and chili pepper plant another day.

So, about a week ago, I spotted one worm(on the smaller of the two goya), it hadn't made a hole but was just gnawing at it, brave dude to gnaw at the goya like that.

I took it off, then left the goya to get bigger.

Yesterday, I noticed that the bigger of the two goya was a light tinge of yellow, meaning it was getting overripe.

So, I picked the two and noticed this hole...

...with this long bugger in it.

Eep! and the thing about it was I thought it was dead but it was still alive.

In the morning, I thought it would've died in the garbage bucket but no, it had climbed out and was trapped in my tea strainer on the counter...sigh.

So now, he will definitely be going out with the garbage...sorry, dude.

Getting back to the goya, green onion and cilantro.

Whenever I buy goya, my cooking repertoire consists of one thing, goya champuru.

This time around, I decided to try making stuffed bitter melon and used Nate's recipe as inspiration. UPDATE: the author passed away and the blog is no longer public.

After washing the goya, I sliced it into 1 inch (or so) slices. With a butter knife, I scraped out the "cotton" as best as I could.

Then, I filled each piece with this filling:

97 grams of minced pork
chopped green onion
6 water chestnuts, minced
1/2 tablespoon shoyu
1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon black bean sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg

Mix well.

Since my goya were quite small, I had extra filling, Nate said in his post that he steamed the rest of his filling in foil cups, so that is what I did also.

I put them in foil cups that I have for bento.

I don't have a steamer big enough to accommodate all of these pieces, so I put them into my non-stick frying pan.

I put the heat on low, added a little water to the pan after it heated up and covered the pan for 30 minutes.

After steaming it for 30 minutes, I turned off the heat and let it sit in the pan, covered for another 10 minutes.

Then served it with rice and topped it with the fresh cilantro.

NOTES: As an after thought, if ever I need to steam in my frying pan again, I will put whatever needs to be steamed on foil, so that the water won't come in direct contact with it.

This was delicious and I'm glad I tried a different way to prepare goya.

Thanks Nate for the cilantro seeds and delicious recipe.

17 comments:

  1. Hey Kat - That is one persistent worm!

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  2. You guys got Ninja worms! Defeating death like that and getting all the way up to the 3rd floor?!!!

    Love Nate's recipe...hmmm...maybe should pick up a goya when I go into Milan the next time. It's worth the 7€!!!

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  3. Oh my, this is looking delicious! I'm just about to eat and thank goodness for that, because my saliva glands are working overtime now! I remember stuffing peppers with something similar to what you described, I need to try it on the goya! (I never was a huge fan of it before, but this looks like it'll make a convert of me :)).

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  4. Your worms most likely flew up there 8-) They look like the larvae of moths.

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  5. Sound good! I'll definitely try this!

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  6. Persistent indeed Kirk!

    Definitely worth the $$, Rowena :)

    The goya is still bitter but with lots of rice it is bearable Jude :)

    Thanks for telling me Donna, that would explain it. I had been seeing moths flying around.

    Take care everyone.
    Kat

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  7. my seasoning tends to be on the light side Sherimiya, if you need to, you can make the black bean sauce on Nate's post.

    I hope you like this.

    Take care.
    Kat

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  8. You are so good for planting stuff on your lanai. I'd agree with Donna, that looks like a larvae of some flying thing...it's looks similar to the larvae that my entomology professor fried up and put salt on and we students ate them on the last day of class! Tasted like french fries but looked exactly like larvae which was off-putting.

    Your dish looks good but I have never liked bitter melon or anything bitter. My family used to eat it all the time and I never could understand why. haha. I have to try it again soon to see if I still feel the same way.

    Have a great day!

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  9. Sad to hear of the worm invasion.maybe if you create a separate worm habitat they will go there for easier food & leave your fresh veggies alone??

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  10. hope you re-connect with bitter melon, Michelle, I hear it is a great source of Vitamin C :) eww about frying up larvae, though...

    Thanks Rick, I just picked another one off and put it onto the wall of our lanai, hopefully it will find something else to eat.

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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  11. Wow! So nicely done! Your post made my day!

    I haven't made it at home here yet. I've noticed that here in Hawai'i you could always get this in Chinese restaurants before, but not anymore. They only have goya stir-fried with slices of beef or pork now.

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  12. Rowena - 7€ for one goya? Hope it's a really, really big one!

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  13. Too bad they do not make this at the restaurants anymore Nate, it is super easy and delicious :)

    Take care.
    Kat

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  14. Thank goodness you saw that worm before you used your strainer for tea time. Eww...

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  15. yes Pocky and thank goodness it was still whole too :p

    Take care.
    kat

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  16. I think that worm wanted to be your new pet! ;-)

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  17. it was fearless Debinhawaii that's for sure!

    Take care.
    Kat

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