Simple boiled bittergourd egg soup

Not everyone like this soup. Soup will taste bitter but we find that it compliment well if we go with grilled fish or fried chicken. Wash away the oily or fishy feeling when having a meal.

The ingredients needed is very simple.
Bitter gourd
Egg
Minced meat
Tomato

The hidden ingredients for the soup
Salt
Fried Garlic
and some teochew ingredients
Fermented soya bean
Preserve vege aka tang chye (东菜）

We also need the following for marinating the minced meat
Salt
Sesame Oil
Pepper
Corn flour

Lets get start with preparation of the ingredients.
1) Bittergroud
When buying a bittergourd, choose one with wide lines so that it will not be too bitter.
Then go for the size of how much you want to eat. I managed to find one that is only 300 grams that is just nice for 4 of us.
Wash the bittergourd, cut into half.
Use a spoon to scrape off the seeds and the white fiber.
Try to scrape away as much white fiber away as possible as the white fiber may taste a little hard if we boil the bittergourd.

Next cut them into quarters. Sliced them evenly about half a cm thickness. For me I like to go a little thicker about 7mm? So that we can feel the crunch after boiling.

2) Tomato - Wash, cut them into 6 pieces each. Thinner slice will cook faster after a short boil.
3) 1 egg - bitten

4) Minced meat. I am using about 100 grams of minced meat.
Season with
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of corn flour
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon light soya sauce
Add a little Tang Chye
Mixed them up and shape them into balls

Let us start cooking.
As usual, I will always use less water first to cook the ingredients. Then later if I need more soup, I will add more hot water.
1 add place 1 bowl of water into a pot on high heat to boil.
Once the water boil, add the shaped minced meat balls
After the minced meat ball soup boiled, add in the cut bittergourd.
Cover the lid and leave it to boil.
Remove the bittergourd. By doing so, the bigger gourd will not be too soft and the soup will not be too bitter.

Now when the bittergourd is taken out of the soup, add tomato.
When the soup boil, add bitten eggs. Let the bitten egg slowly flow into the boiling soup. The eggs will ended fluffy if we do this way.
Add half tablespoon of femented soya bean and pinch of salt to taste.
Turn off the fire and add a little fried garlic as garnish. May add more if you like.
The soup is done.

When serving, pour soup onto the bittergourd.
Enjoy!!