Chinese home cooking

Bitter Melon Clay Pot with Black Bean Dace

Name: Bitter Melon Clay Pot with Black Bean Dace
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: bitter melon; canned dace with fermented black beans; pork belly; ginger; garlic; a little salt; cooking oil; 2 spoonfuls oyster sauce; 1/2 spoonful sugar; 1/2 bowl water; bird's eye chiles

豆豉鲮鱼苦瓜煲

Bitter melon and pork belly simmer with canned black bean dace in a clay-pot-style dish.

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Published 2026-10-12

English adaptation and editing of authorized supplied recipes: Chinese Home Cooking.

Ridged bitter melon pieces and brown fish pieces with black beans in a black clay pot. — Bitter Melon Clay Pot with Black Bean Dace

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Ingredients

Quantities are included where specified in the original recipe.

bitter melon
canned dace with fermented black beans
pork belly
ginger
garlic
a littlesalt
cooking oil
2 spoonfulsoyster sauce
1/2 spoonfulsugar
1/2 bowlwater
bird's eye chiles

Spoonfuls retain the Chinese recipe measures 勺/匙. Small and large spoonfuls retain 小勺 and 大勺; their volume is unspecified and is not converted to teaspoons or tablespoons.

Bowl and cup measures retain the original Chinese units 碗/杯; capacity is unspecified. 小半 means slightly less than half; 大半 means slightly more than half.

Step-by-Step Instructions

01
Blanch the bitter melon in boiling water with a little salt and oil for 20 seconds and set aside.
02
Render fat from the pork belly, add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the bitter melon and stir-fry briefly.
03
Add the black bean dace, oyster sauce, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat for 8 minutes.
04
Add bird's eye chiles before serving.

Illustrated Cooking Guide

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English-captioned photographs showing ingredient preparation and cooking for Bitter Melon Clay Pot with Black Bean Dace. — Cooking illustration 1 · Open full size ↗

Cooking Method

Soup & Stew

Recipe card