Oseng-Oseng Pare: Javanese Stir-fried Bitter Gourd
Oseng-oseng pare is Javanese dish of bitter gourd stir-fried with shallots, garlic, chillies, and shrimp paste. It’s typical of Indonesian home cooking and has numerous health benefits.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 300 gr bitter gourd
- 6 shallots, peeled, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled chopped
- 3 big red chillies, remove the stalk, chopped
- 3 bird’s eye chillies (optional, remove the stalk)
- 0.5 tsp roasted shrimp paste
- 1 red tomato, chopped
- 2 cm, galangal, sliced
- 1 Indonesian bay leaf (daun salam)
- Salt to taste
- 0.5 tsp sugar
- 100 ml water
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- 1
Remove both ends of the bitter gourd, cut in half, and remove the seeds.
- 2
Thinly slice it, then put it in a colander and sprinkle with some salt to sweat it. Leave it for around 15 minutes, and rinse thoroughly. Set aside.
- 3
Using a blender or food processor, blend into a paste: shallots, garlic and chillies.
- 4
Heat the cooking oil in a wok over medium high heat, and saute the blended spices and roasted shrimp paste, for around 3 minutes until fragrant.
- 5
Add the chopped red tomato, galangal and daun salam. Fry for another 2 minutes.
- 6
Add the bitter gourd, stir.
- 7
Add the water, salt and sugar. Cook for around 10 minutes until the liquids have evaporated and the bitter gourd is tender.
- 8
Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy!