A stir fry of eggplant and bitter melon

With some dinner menu, I can delegate most of the dishes to the slow cooker and the oven. This frees up my last half an hour of kitchen time before dinner. 30 minutes is a luxury for stir-fry fantasies. At home, we cannot afford the high-end kitchen wares and gadgets. But a very high-quality frying pan is a must for me, because I like vegetables so much (and I like it cooked AND fresh). 


For me, eggplant is one of the hardest for stir-frying, for two reasons: it does not give out much water, and it takes a while to cook. One day I decided to test the limit of the eggplant against my frying pan. To complement the color and taste of the eggplant, I added a bitter melon. Unlike eggplant, bitter melon takes only a short time to cook in the frying pan, even without oil. Together, they would make a wonderful pair in my stir-fry fantasy. So here comes my experiment.


Recipe: Stir-fried bitter melon and eggplant 
(A toying around with the combination of texture and taste)


Ingredients:
- 1 medium bitter melon, seeds removed
- 1/2 medium eggplant
- 1-2 tablespoon (TB) oil
- 2 teaspoon (tp) satay sauce


Procedure:

1. Have the bitter melon quartered along its long side and then chopped to very thin 1/8" pieces. Chop the eggplant to 1/8" pieces, comparable in size to bitter melon. The chopping step is important. The thinness of the pieces contributes to half the success of this stir-fry. 


2. Use an 11" non-stick frying pan, heat oil on med-high heat. Add eggplant to pan. Break any pieces that stick together. Spread evenly on pan to form one thin layer (less than 1/2" thick). Make sure that almost every piece touches the pan. Let cook for a minute or two before stirring. Then stir frequently while increasing the heat to high. Keep stirring to prevent sticking. Eggplant should appear dry (except for those pieces that have absorbed the oil), and slowly soften. Throughout the whole time that high heat is used, the pan's surface should be really dry and clean. No sticking allowed. When the eggplant has softened, take it out and set aside.


3. When the pan is still very hot, add bitter melon and spread it over the pan (forming a layer less than 1"). Do not add oil. Just fry on med-high heat. Bitter melon should brighten up and be cooked really fast. Stir to prevent sticking or burning. Add a little (no more than 1TB) water whenever the bitter melon becomes too dry. Water should evaporate within seconds, and get the bitter melon cooked instantly in the process. When the bitter melon is done, add back the eggplant. Stir. Mix 2 tp satay sauce with 1TB of water or so. Add to pan and mix well. Water should evaparate very fast. Serve before the sauce burns on pan. 

This dish comes forth really exciting in its sensual combinations. The bittermelon is just cooked. So it's crispy and lightly bitter. This holds a great contrast against the eggplant that is soft and mildly sweet. The satay sauce heightens the flavor of the eggplant and gives the dish a nutty taste. It's almost like a hot vegetable salad that is juicy, but without a drop of liquid.