Bitter Melon and Beef in Black Bean Sauce

Bitter melon...

I never used to like it when I was young.  It was bitter.  Until recently, I actually found the ugly veggie, quite pleasant. 
Bitter melon of course needs to be treated before cooking.  The method is simple, salt.  The very same method how eggplants are treated before cooking.

Usually, bitter melons are sliced and stir fried with beef. 

So this is the:

Bitter Melon & Beef in Black Bean Sauce

1 Large Bitter Melon,
Handful of button mushrooms
500g rump steak, sliced.
tapioca flour
canola oil
shaoxin wine
black beans
salt
pepper
light soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic
1 green chilli
Oyster Sauce

Marinate the beef in a bit of canola oil, salt, light soy, rice wine, tapioca and sugar and set aside for half an hour to an hour.  Meantime, treat the bitter melon, sliced and de-seeded, with salt, set aside for the similar amount of time.  Soak the black beans in water.
When ready to stir fry, drain the black beans and crush them together with garlic.  Wash salt off the bitter melon and prepare a pot of boiling water.  Blanch the bitter melon roughly.
Heat oil in wok in high heat and when oil is hot enough, put in the black beans, chilli and garlic, let it brown a bit, put in beef and quickly stir fry till beef change colour a bit.  Add in the blanched bitter melon and sliced mushrooms.
Stir and quickly mix a bit of oyster sauce, sugar and tapioca into a very thin paste, add to almost cooked beef and bitter melon, stir fry for a further 1-3 minutes.

Serve hot with rice...