Goya Chanpuru

I love Okinawa.

It is an island/prefecture of Japan so far down south that you can see Taiwan from there on a clear day. The people, biome and modern culture there are very similar to Hawaii, and I even had a Hawaiian colleague validate that when I went there with him. The traditional culture, of what was once the Ryukyu kingdom, is a rich mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean elements, with their own nice Okinawan touches. Okinawa was so fascinating that I even went aside to learn one of their musical instruments and their cooking.

The aroma of Okinawan cooking reminds me of Chinese food because the miso used in the dishes smell quite like black bean sauce. One particular dish really grabbed the attention of my tastebuds - goya chanpuru in romanized Japanese. Goya is basically a bitter melon that looks like a wrinkled cucumber that you may find in most Asian supermarkets. Despite its tremendous health benefits, goya alone is...well...pretty bitter and not very pleasant. However, like Hawaiian cooking, Okinawan cooking also employs Spam. In this case, the Spam doesn't counteract, but instead nicely complements the goya's bitterness, making it very good to eat AND healthy. Maybe that's why Okinawans have the longest average lifespan of any people in the world.

So I found a nice recipe on this blog that turned up after looking up the dish on Google. The difficult part is acquiring the bitter melons, as my closest source is a supermarket in Richmond, and I hate driving there because none of the Asians there (mainly Hongers) can drive or choose to drive. The goya's come in twos or threes depending on size, in a styrofoam tray and the package wrapped in cellophane just like meat. The first time I bought them, I was shocked at how quickly they grew moldy in the fridge, and how colorful the mold could be. This is a stupid packaging idea, and I don't know why they couldn't just sell the bitter melons like any other produce. Maybe the people working there are colorblind, and to them, a wrinkly bitter melon looked like a strip sirloin. That would explain the huge pile of raw meat next to the radishes.

Anyway, I had to make a second trip to Richmond to replace the lost goya's. This time, I had only kept the goya's in the fridge for one day before cooking my goya champuru. Unfortunately, I only need to use one, so I had to throw the other one away due to its short lifespan. I hate wasting food, but I can't just eat it straight and like a cucumber. It took an hour to chop up all the ingredients, and I am reminded about why I usually reheat instead of cook.

The result was a little too salty, but that was because I found the term "heaping tablespoon" to be quite subjective. I guess a big chunk of miso is more than just "heaping". The other problem is that I may have used too much chili paste, as its taste is a little too prominent. Nevertheless, the Spam really did enhance the flavor of the bitter melon, just like dish I tried in Okinawa, so I did succeed in what I believe is the most important aspect.

And now, for the final evaluation - I've been invited to a friend's house for a potluck. Some of the guests included Japanese exchange students, and when they tried my goya chanpuru, they all agreed that it tastes exactly the way it tasted back in Japan, which was authentic and very good. Either that, or it really tasted like shit and they were all just being polite. Well, since the non-Japanese guests didn't complain, I'd consider it a job well done.

So get the candles lit, bitches - you now have an Okinawan cook!