Bittermelon Salad in Lemon Mustard Dressing
檸汁黃芥末拌苦瓜
This is another quick and seasonal summer-must-have salad, using bittermelon this time. Bittermelon is one of the commonly-seen Asian vegetable. Cantonese love to have it in summer particularly. It is believed that bittermelon is a so called ‘cold’ food in Chinese herbal medicine system and can eliminate the ‘hot’ in the body.
There are many ways to eat it, such as stir-fry, soup, tea, or even juice. Sweetness can reduce the bitterness, for example, it’s usually seasoned with a little sugar or sweet sauce when stir-fried, or add apple when juicing. In this recipe, I use lemon and Dijon mustard, the sweet and sour flavour would even brighten up the freshness of bittermelon.
Again, this is a super quick recipe. Appetizer must be quick and easy for me. Such a common vegetable can be easily obtained in most of the Asian grocery stores.
Ingredients –
Bitter melon, 1, about 400g;
Tomato, 1, medium size, optional;
Lemon, half, medium size;
Dijon mustard, 2tbsp;
Syrup, about 2tbsp.


How to do –
1. Bittermelon washed, halve, remove the seeds and the white spongy parts;

2. Slice into about half centimeter thick;

3. Poach the bittermelon in a big pot of boiling water for 1 or 2 minutes till colour changes;

4. Drain then immediately soak in icy water, so that they taste crispier;

5. Mix the juice of half lemon, with 2tbsp of Dijon mustard, and 2tbsp of syrup to balance the acidity;

6. Tomato also sliced into similar size, put all vegetables in a big bowl, pour in the dressing, a little lemon peel on top. Serve right away but even better after refrigerating for half an hour.

Thanks for sharing this recipe. What do you mean by “syrup”?
hi Stella, ‘syrup’ is the sweet liquid you may use in pancake, such as maple syrup or lemon syrup, but in cooking I use plain syrup. Sweetness and sourness can reduce the bitterness from bitter melon, so I use syrup in the salad dressing. You may wonder why I dont use white sugar, cuz it may not dissolve completely in a cold dressing.