Plant Photo: Goya or Bitter Melon

It's Actually a Fruit

This monster is hanging just outside my kitchen door, along with half a dozen others.

They look something like bumpy cucumbers but, these babies got some powerful kick.

This happens to be my first year, attempting to grow my own. Well, the wife's growing them.

I'm just the guy responsible for constructing the net, they hang from.

The Goya is plentiful on Okinawa and, I probably eat them 5 times a week.

Also known as Bitter Melon, Bitter Squash and Bitter Gourd, in Okinawa it's just Goya.

The scientific community, would call it, Momordica charantia. That's a sweet name.

Folks in China and Okinawa cook this in stir fry dishes and, it's healthy food.

Tofu, pork and even good old USA Spam or bacon are some of the ingredients in the recipe.

Not really a cook, I am a big fan of the meal called Goya Champuru.

The wife, knows the recipe and, all the secret ingredients added to the dish.

Lately, I've been getting Facebook messages, asking for the recipe. My wife's is the best.

For now, try some of Just Hungry's recipes and, see if you like the meal.

Someday if, you email me, I might show you another secret ingredient the woman adds.

Never Met A Goya Chanpuru I Didn't Like. Travel Photo

              Here's a photo of my favorite food in all of Okinawa, Japan.  Meet Goya Chanpuru.

Goya, the fruit, looks like a bumpy cucumber and it's some fairly powerful stuff.  Known as Bitter Melon, or Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia) the goya plant is chock full of anticancer, anti-inflamitory, antimalarial, antivirus, compounds, chemicals, and vitamins. It tastes pretty bitter because there are probably more good things packed into that bumpy-looking cucumber than all the stuff on the shelves at your corner drug store.

But, take two disgusting foods like Spam and the-most-bitter-vegetable-or-fruit-I've-ever-experienced-in-my-life, Goya and cook them up with a bunch of sake, soy sauce, eggs and tofu and I love the stuff.

The original recipe would have real pork in it, not that Spam stuff.  But, I must have hit this island when people couldn't afford real pork so, I've acquired the taste for that canned meat.
It just seems to add something to the flavor.  When the wife ain't looking, I slip most of the meat to the dogs.  Hah !  They're animals, too, you know.  They like their Spam goya-flavored and I like my Goya Chanpuru Spam-flavored.  Don't tell the wife.  OK ?

Now, I'm no chef so, I really have no clue how you'd make the stuff.  If I tried, I bet there would be one heck of a mess in the kitchen.  I consume massive quantities. It's the kind of meal, I can eat three times a day and if there's enough leftover, have it again for breakfast tomorrow.

Anyone who travels to Okinawa should not pass up a chance to eat this dish.  In fact,  I think it should be named a UNESCO World Heritage Okinawan Cultural Asset because I never met a Goya Chanpuru I didn't like !

This will be my contribution to Budget Travelers Sandbox for TRAVEL PHOTO THURSDAY
Stop by and visit; they have some real pretty Korean gals all dressed up and dancing over there.


For anyone so inclined here's a link to a recipe for GOYA CHANPURU you could experiment with.  I really don't think it would taste as good as Mrs. RyukyuMike's but, don't tell her I said that, either.  OK ?