Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dried Dilis

Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dried Dilis. This a dish I 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 with fried daing na dilis. That version was really bitter I myself who like ampalaya could not comfortably take it because I could taste the rawness of the bitter gourd. However I thought that this is a good dish only 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 crisp and also retain its natural vibrant green color. The dried dilis are already salty salt was no longer needed, not perhaps unless you have those less salty dried dilis. The dish is somewhat similar to my previous ampalaya salad without the bagoong na isda. Here’s 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 the sliced ampalaya and let it blanch for about 1 to 2 minutes, drain the hot blanching water and transper 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 and heat until it starts to smoke. Add in the dried dilis and stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until it the color start 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.

See other Ensalada Recipes; 

Paho, Paho Salad 
Ensaladang Gulay, Ilocano Style 
Ensaladang Guso, Kinilaw na Guso 
Radish Salad with Dried Shrimp 
Boiled Vegetables Salad 
Crunchy Ensaladang Pipino 
Ensaladang Kangkong 
Ensaladang Repolyo at Itlog na Maalat 
Ensaladang Repolyo with Chicharon 
Ensadalang Ampalaya, Ampalaya Salad 
Ensaladang Bulaklak ng Kalabasa 
Ensaladang Hilaw na Manga, Green Mango Salad 
Ensaladang Katuray 
Ensaladang Labanos 
Kinilaw na Lato