Quick Instant Pot Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Khổ Qua)

Here is a quick Instant Pot Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Khổ Qua) that can be made in the Instant Pot to cut down the time. Made with bitter melon stuffed with a ground pork mixture this healthy soup will keep you warm and bring back some nostalgic memories of your mom or grandma’s soup. This is my version of Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup made in the Instant Pot for those busy weeknight meals.

Bitter melon is one of those things that you either love or hate it. There is no in-between, regardless if you remove most of the bitterness from the melon. Truly an acquired taste. My middle daughter is a very adventurous eater. Even she wouldn’t have a second bite. There are ways to reduce the bitterness but I feel like if you are searching for a bitter melon soup recipe you are already accustomed to the bitterness. 

Most likely you were exposed to it as a young child by your mom and now you want to re-create this soup because it’s nostalgic. I also have a bitter melon and eggs recipe if you don’t have time to or ingredients to make this soup. 

Bitter Melon

Bitter melon is a vegetable that is widely used in east and south Asia. It is also known as bitter gourd or Momordica charantia. There are two distinct types of bitter melon. First, the Chinese type is long, pale green in colour and covered in bumps and grooves. The Indian bitter melon variety has pointy ends and rough jagged spikes. For this recipe, we will use the Chinese bitter melon variety.

Bitter melon has man y health benefits and you can find more at healthline for 6 benefits of bitter melon.

What is the difference between Thai and Vietnamese bitter melon soup?

Thai Bitter Melon soup also known as Gang Jued Mara Sai Moo is actually very similar to Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup. The difference is in the seasoning. Thai recipes used coriander roots, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Whereas Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup uses fish sauce. Again, this is really dependent on how you like to season the pork stuffing and this is highly influenced by what you have at home and grew up eating. 

Bone Broth

I’ve made Bitter Melon Soup with just water and also bone broth. Hands down making this with bone broth gives it a savoury depth.  To cut down the time I use the Instant Pot to make the bone broth.

Dried Scallops aka Conpoy

Using dried scallops adds umami flavour and it’s a very common ingredient used to elevate flavours in soups and many Asian dishes. Dried scallops are purchased dried and come in different sizes. The bigger the size the more expensive, they also are sold broken up and these are the ones that are more cost-effective for use in your home cooking. The nicely boxed-up dried scallops are from Japan and are known as Japanese Hokkaido Natural Sun-Dried Scallops. These are given as gifts.

I remember growing up my mom would have a glass jar in her Chinese herb cabinet. The dried scallop was literally my version of a cookie jar. I would sneak and take them to just eat. It had such a nice umami sweetness and I would just keep it in my mouth and let it soften and chew it up like candy.

You can find dried scallops at Asian herb shops. Look for scallops with an even light brown colour. This is an indication they are fresh. If you see white specks that’s a sign they have been stored for a long time and are less fresh.

Dried Wood Ear Mushroom

The scientific name for wood ear mushrooms is Auricularia auricula-judae. It’s also known as black fungus, tree ear and jelly ear. It’s an ingredient commonly used in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. It comes in a dried form and can be found in Asian supermarkets near the dried goods section. Look for the dried shitake mushroom and you will find it nearby. The ones I have my mom brought back from China. It literally is packaged into a tiny box smaller than a matchbox. 

Soak the dried wood ear mushrooms in water to rehydrate and you will see them expand within 10 minutes. I will let it sit in the water for 30 minutes and give it a nice wash and rinse. They will probably expand by as much as 10 times.

Wood ear mushroom is commonly used in Chinese recipes where you braise or steam and it just adds a nice texture and absorbs the seasoning really well.

For the pork stuffing, I rinse and clean the wood ear mushroom and chop it up finely. There is no limit and it doesn’t change the taste if you use more or less of the mushroom.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Making the broth in the Instant Pot

The broth is quintessential in Chinese or Vietnamese cuisine. If you ever go to a Chinese or Vietnamese household broth/soup is pretty much consumed once to twice a week. If it’s a Pho soup or a Chinese herbal soup. 

-Step 1-

Parboil the pork bone in a pot of water for 10 minutes. Wash and rinse under cold water to remove the impurities.

-Step 2-

In the Instant Pot inner bowl add 8 cups of water, the cleaned pork neck bones and the rehydrated dried scallops.

-Step 3-

Set to soup mode and set the timer for 1 hour and natural release for 20 minutes.

Prepping the bitter melon

-Step 4-

While the soup is cooking in the Instant Pot start to mix the pork stuffing. Combine the ground pork, dried wood-ear mushrooms, shallots, vermicelli bean thread, fish sauce, salt, sugar, black pepper, water and chicken bouillon. Mix well and let it marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes.

-Step 5-

Wash the bitter melon thoroughly. Cut into 2.5-inch lengths and remove the white spongey insides and seeds. Use a spoon to scrap it.

-Step 6-

When the pork stuffing is done marinate using a small spoon and stuff the pork into the bitter melon. If you have extra pork stuffing you can always slightly over stuff it and spread the pork stuffing over the top of the bitter melon.

Cooking the bitter melon in the Instant Pot

-Step 7-

If you are using the Instant Pot to make the broth once it’s done open the Instant Pot and add the stuffed bitter melon. Set the Instant Pot to manual high-pressure for 7 minutes and release immediately. Taste the soup and add salt accordingly.

-Step 8-

Ladle the bitter melon soup into a bowl and garnish it with green onion and cilantro. Serve immediately with a bowl of rice.

Ingredients and Variations

Bone broth: Use the Instant Pot to cut down the time to make a flavourful broth. If you are short on time, you can use store-bought chicken broth or water and add some chicken bouillon to add flavour.

Dried scallops: Also known as conpoy, the adductor muscles of fresh scallops. They have been cooked and dried. The drying intensifies the flavours and brings out the umami flavour of scallops. Dried scallops are optional.

Bitter melon: The star of this recipe. 

Ground pork: If you have dietary restrictions and would like to replace the ground pork you can use fish paste. Or ground chicken but you will need to mix it with some fish paste. Ground chicken has less fat content than ground pork.

Vermicelli bean thread: Adding the vermicelli bean thread adds a nice texture to the pork stuffing. It also helps absorb the marinade. If you don’t have this available you can opt-out.

Dried wood-ear fungus: Adds a nice crunch to the pork stuffing.

Fish sauce: Substitute with soy sauce if fish sauce is not on hand.

Pro Tips and Techniques

1. To remove the bitterness from the melon coating the melon in salt for 20 minutes will draw out the water and bitterness. Secondly blanching the melon for about 1-2 minutes will also help reduce the bitterness. Again, this is optional and really depends on your tolerance for this melon. 
2. Bitter melon can be grown in the garden. It’s actually rather easy to yield some nice size bitter melon if you have space and time to grow your own organic bitter melon. I personally find the ones grown are more bitter than store-bought. Therefore I do recommend that you salt and parboil them to bring out the bitterness of homegrown melons.
3. Depending on how much time you have I do recommend cutting the bitter melon into smaller pieces so when you stuff the pork it cooks faster if you are tight on time. However, if you are cutting them about 2 inches in length and cooking them in the instant pot 7 minutes is sufficient time to make sure they are thoroughly cooked.
4. Hand mixing the pork mixture brings about a smoother texture to the stuffing. 
5. The dried scallops should be soaked in hot water for at least 1 hour before you add them to the soup. The water the dried scallops are soaked in can be also added to the soup. All the umami flavour from soaking will be in the water and it will add more flavour to the soup.

FAQ

What goes well with Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup?

This soup can be served as a small bowl of soup to eat with a traditional meal that has a couple of main Chinese dishes or it can be its own main dish with a hot bowl of rice. Here is a simple easy 3-step how-to on how to make the perfect jasmine rice. 

Made too much?

The soup can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days in the fridge.

Did you make this Instant Pot Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Khổ Qua)?

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