Ampalaya with Scrambled Eggs

I came back from work at around 6am and I was a bit hungry. Looking around at the fridge, I saw thinly-sliced ampalayas in a bowl. I heard my mom ask my younger brother Louie yesterday about buying an egg. Supposedly, father was gonna cook them but was missing the eggs. I checked and sure enough, there were now a couple of eggs in the tray.

Now, ampalaya has NEVER been my favorite thing in the whole wide world. In fact, I'd rather starve than eat it. It just tastes bitter, not to mention the fact that I have a natural abhorrence against eating something either so green or so leafy.

But mix ampalaya with pieces of meat and eggs and now that makes it totally different. Sure, the bitter taste would still be there but I've always loved eggs and with them, ampalaya suddenly becomes tolerable. It's even suprisingly nice how the bitterness of the veggie comes in sporadic burst whenever I bite down on to the carefully picked-on meats and eggs (yes, you've read that right: I still won't dare chomp down on an ampalaya, no matter how thin they are sliced and no matter if my life depended on it).

So I did just that: cooked ampalaya with eggs. I even experimented a bit. I remembered my grandma once said that to eat ampalaya and get all its nutrients because apparently it IS very nutritional, one needs to rub salt with the sliced pieces, let it settle for 5 minutes and just rinse it with water. Of course, I did just that, even religiously patted the pieces dry and hoped it didn't become too salty.

Then with 2 tbsps of oil, I sauteed 4 gloves of garlic (I love 'em and ever since I've read that garlic lowers down highblood, I've always been generously cooking with it), half a bulb of that local purplish onion, diced cherry tomato and strips of meat. After all of them went golden-ish, I added a bit of water and the slices of ampalaya. I let it simmer for a while until only oil was left and then added the battered eggs which were sprinkled with a dash of salt and magic seasoning.

I swear I NEVER saw a vegetable dish as inviting when I'M the one cooking. Haha! I served it in a small glass platter to my father who said it tasted quite good. I also tried it, even dared to nibble a bit of the veggie but unfortunately, grandma wasn't right--it still tasted bitter. My father told me I should try the thinner ones because he said eating and enjoying ampalaya is actually an acquired taste. But instead of pushing my luck, I settled with the yellow bits and pieces of meat and egg.

Ahhh, yum-yum!.~~