Filipino Style: Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dilis

Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dried Dilis. This is a dish I first learned from a colleague. The original dish was actually kinilaw na ampalaya with dilis. He would usually just slice the ampalaya then toss some chopped tomatoes and onions, then add some  fried daing na dilis. That version was really bitter. I love ampalaya but could not comfortably take it because of the raw bitter gourd. However I thought that this is a good dish, except that the raw taste of the bitter gourd has to be mellowed down. Today I tried to make my own version, by blanching the bitter gourd with boiling water for about a minute and immediately soaking it in ice cooled water to maintain the bitter gourd’s crispiness and also retain its natural vibrant green color. The dried dilis are already salty, therefore salt was no longer needed, not unless you have those less salty dried dilis. The dish is somewhat similar to my previous Ampalaya Salad without the bagoong na isda. Here is how I made my version of Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dried Dilis.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried dilis
1 large size ampalaya, de-seeded, sliced
1 medium size tomato, chopped
1 small size onion, chopped
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a pan boil about 2 cups of water. In the meantime fill in a big bowl with cool water and ice. Now when the water in the pan is vigorously boiling, turn off the heat. Then add in the sliced ampalaya and let it blanch for about 1 to 2 minutes. Drain the hot blanching water and transfer the ampalaya to the bowl of ice cooled water. Soak the ampalaya in the iced cooled water for about a minute, drain and keep aside. In a frying pan add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and heat until it starts to smoke. Add in the dried dilis and stir cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the color starts to darken, do not over fry. Remove from the pan and keep aside. In a big bowl toss the amplaya, onion and tomato. When ready to serve toss in the fried dried dilis, serve immediately while the dilis is still crispy.

Reference: http://www.overseaspinoycooking.com/