My favourite "Dad's dish"

This is my dad's specialty dish :) He would spend the afternoon cooking his black bean bitter gourd pork rib stew/braised meat dish over a small charcoal stove in our backyard :) One BIG word. YUM!

I haven't eaten in a while (being in Melbourne and all), and decided to get his secret recipe while my family was here 2 weeks ago and try it out.

It almost turned out to be a disaster because I decided to skip the step of blanching the bitter gourd. Opps. The stew became a jaw-clenching-chilly bitter at its initial stages (Liam,Annette and Katie tried it and were quite baffled by its effect)and but was later saved with some goggling and wiki-ing (Liam's solution to everything).Phew.

So... if you ever make the same mistake as i did... Put more black bean sauce (which counteracts the bitter gourd) but please do remember to dilute the stew later to make it less salty :)

I have modified the recipe a little :)

Recipe for 6:
2 bitter gourds
1.5 kg of Pork Ribs
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbs sesame oil
4 tbs black bean sauce
1 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs kecip black sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup shao xing cooking wine
salt and pepper

Slice bitter gourd and blanch in boiling water for 3-4 minutes!! Fry the garlic and pork ribs together until the meat is browned. Add in the bitter gourd and fry for while. Then add all other sauces and stock, and bring to boil, and then leave to simmer for an 1 hr until the meat is softened. Serve with steamed rice :) Enjoy!