There are just so many things you can do with shrimp. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it. There's shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich and bitter melon stuffed with shrimp and dried scallops. Today we're going to make the last one on Bubba's list.

Ingredients

• 2 bitter melons
• 1 handful of shrimp, peeled
• 2-3 dried scallops
• 2 tsp shaoxing wine
• 1 slice of ginger, minced
• white pepper
• 2 tbsp goji berries
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 egg white
• cooking oil

Method

• Soak the dried scallops for 20 minutes, then shred them into small pieces.
• Mince the shrimp. It doesn't have to be a very fine mince, just enough so they start getting sticky.
• Squeeze the liquid from the rehydrated scallops and add them to the shrimp.
• Add ginger, shaoxing wine, and a pinch or two of white pepper.
• Mix everything together and put it in the fridge to marinate. The mixture will absorb the wine and get pastier.

• Soak the goji berries for 10 minutes.

• Cut the stem off the bitter melons and slice them into 2 cm tall rounds.
• Use the back end of a chopstick to push out the seeds and scrape out the insides. A small spoon also works.

• Boil the bitter melon rounds for about 10 minutes. Bitter melon is robust and takes a long time to cook. You can judge how cooked they are by squeezing the rounds with a pair of chopsticks to see how easily they compress. Even if they only compress a bit, they're probably done. When raw, it's difficult to compress them at all.
• Rinse the rounds in cold water, both to stop the cooking and to make them cool enough to handle.

• Stuff them with the shrimp mixture. I find it easy to do this by pushing the paste into them against the cutting board. Pack them fairly tightly, trying to squeeze out any air. A bit of overflow on the top is no problem.
• Cover the top and bottom of each round with corn starch. If it gets caked on too thick, brush some off.

• Add cooking oil to a pan and turn heat to medium-high.
• When the pan is hot, place the rounds in the pan and sear the bottom of the rounds. Try not to move them too much while searing.
• Flip them over and sear the other side. Each side should only take about 1 minute.
• Remove the rounds onto a serving dish.

• Turn the heat on the pan down to medium and add the goji berries, including the soaking water.
• Add the soaking water from the dried scallops.
• Add soy sauce and simmer this mixture for a few minutes.
• Dissolve corn starch in some cold water and add it to the sauce.
• Once the sauce has thickened, beat the egg white and drizzle it over the sauce.
• When all the egg white has cooked (should only be a few seconds), pour the sauce over the stuffed bitter melon rounds.

I have to say, I really outdid myself on this one and was really pleased with the result (*pats own back*). The shrimp and the scallops go so well together. The thick sauce, crispy texture of the fried surface, followed by a squishy stuffing is a delight. And the sweetness of the goji berries is a good complement to the bitterness of the bitter melon. I think Bubba would be happy.

For Bubba!