Bitter Gourd Chutney-Satini Margoz

Bitter Gourd Chutney-Satini Margoz made with bitter gourd or margoz, thinly sliced and tossed in hot oil with sliced onion, lime juice and a touch of cracked pepper and chilli, is full of goodness and is the perfect accompaniment to a spicy curry or grilled fish.

The word margoz may be of  Indo-Portuguese origin and could  have derived from the word  amargoso, margoso, meaning bitter in Portuguese and Spanish. Amargoso is also used in the Philipines as one of the names for the bitter gourd.

The bitter gourd is one of the traditional vegetables of the Seychelles and could have been introduced from India. It is grown mainly as a backyard vegetable and is, in fact, among the most  bitter tasting of all culinary vegetables. But I love it, so do most Seychellois!

Types of bitter gourd

Bitter gourds, also known as bitter melon, are the fruits of a tropical creeper and are characterized by soft lengthwise ridges and uneven pebbly or warty surface. Its firm, green, very bitter flesh is something of an acquired taste. As the fruits begin to mature, they gradually become hard, turn yellow or brown in color.

There are many varieties of bitter gourd, but in Seychelles we have mainly three types and these are the Indian gourd or margoz Endyen, the Chinese gourd or margoz Sinwan and the white gourd or margoz blan. Apart from the white gourd, the skin of a healthy Indian and Chinese gourd is usually light to bright green when immature, which is when it should be eaten.

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Chinese and Indian gourds have the same hardiness and bitter flavour. The only real difference is the appearance of the fruit. Indian bitter gourds are narrower than the Chinese type, rather like a zucchini. They have irregular ridges and triangle-shaped “teeth” all over the surface of the skin, along with slightly ragged ridges. Chinese gourds have blunt ends. Broader than the Indian gourds, they have light green skins dotted liberally with wart-like bumps. Both types have thick skins and white seeds. The white gourds have a white skin and have a similar shape to the Indian gourds but tend to be softer in texture and more bitter in flavor.

Why is the Bitter gourd bitter and how do I reduce the bitter taste in the salad?

The flesh of the bitter gourd  is bitter tasting due to compounds called momordicosides and there are four main things you can do to reduce the bitterness:

Firstly, choose young fruits because the fruits increase in bitterness with maturity.

Secondly, remove the pith and the seeds thoroughly. The bitterness from the pith and seeds is more intense than the flesh.

Thirdly, place the sliced bitter gourd in some salted water. Salt has the effect of removing the bitterness compound  through osmosis from the bitter gourd. Furthermore, salt has a tendency to suppress bitterness.

Lastly, blanch or toss your gourd in hot oil because heat assists in further releasing the bitter compound from the gourd.

What is a Seychellois Creole Chutney or Satini?

The Seychellois Creole chutney or satini is usually made either from grated green fruits, vegetables or from fish – mainly shark, salted fish and tuna- that have been tossed in hot oil with a dash of lime, fresh chilli and sliced onion. Unlike the preserved Indian chutney, the Seychellois chutney is made fresh and consumed the same day. The fruit and vegetable chutney is used as an accompaniment for curries, grilled fish and bouyon whereas the fish chutney usually forms part of a main meal and is accompanied with boiled rice.

A superfood

Bitter gourd is considered as a super food for its medicinal properties. A lot of studies have been done on the medicinal value of the bitter gourd. If you wish to know more please do some research on the internet.  Bitter gourd is very low in calories, carrying just 17 calories per 100 g. It is a rich source of phytonutrients like dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants.

Although its bitter taste might turn you away, it can, nonetheless, truely sweeten your health through virtue of its disease preventing and health promoting phytochemical compounds.

Selection and storage

Fresh bitter gourds are widely available in most  Asian markets and major grocery stores  year round. When you buy them, look for fresh, bright gourds, without any cuts, or blemishes on their surfaces. Choose young, tender and immature ones because the immature ones are least bitter since this astringent level increases as the gourds mature.

At home, fresh bitter gourds can be placed in a plastic zip pouch and stored in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, where they stay fresh for up to a week.

If you have  a surplus, clean , slice and freeze them. They will last for quite a few weeks. You have to note, however, that frozen bitter gourd looses a lot of moisture when thawed  . This is because the slow freezing and thawing process damages the cell walls and allow moisture to seep out of the flesh. Thawed bitter gourd will also be less crunchy and will loose quite a bit of  bitterness.

Preparation of the chutney

Wash bitter gourds thoroughly under  cold running water before preparing.

The traditional way to slice the gourd is to use a sharp knife and cut slices as thin as you possibly can and the modern way is by slicing it on a mandoline slicer.  There are two ways in which you can prepare the gourd for slicing,  you may choose  the one-gourd procedure or the two-gourd procedure.

The one-gourd procedure

Slit the gourd in two, lengthwise, and use a spoon to remove the seeds and the white pith leaving only the outer flesh and an empty cavity where the seeds were. Thoroughly wash again and pat dry. Trim the ends of one of the sides and insert it in the cavity of the other side. You can now start to slice very thinly using a sharp knife. You will end up with semicircular slices.

 The two-gourd procedure

If you are going to use two gourds, which would be the case if you are making the salad for 4 persons, you  slit the gourds lengthwise on only one side. You then use a spoon to remove the seeds and the white pith leaving only the outer flesh and an empty cavity where the seeds were. Thoroughly wash again and pat dry. Once they have both been cleaned, pick the shorter one and insert it in the cavity of the longer one. If they both are the same length, you will need to trim one down so that it can be inserted properly. This allows you to thinly slice both snake gourds together, saving time in a long process and will also  give you perfectly round slices.

Finishing the chutney

Once the gourds have been sliced you may chose to finish the chutney in three ways.

One way is to place the slices in a bowl of salted water, and massage or mertri them for  about 10 minutes , let it rest for a while and then wring out all the moisture  you can from the slices using a cloth. In the old days we used to use the coconut tammy cloth for this purpose. The salt, as mentioned earlier, assists in removing some of the bitterness but you will end up with a less crunchy salad. You can then toss the gourd with onion, cracked black pepper, chilli and lime juice in hot oil.

The second way is to toss your sliced gourd in hot oil without softening it in  salted water.  The heat will reduce the bitterness slightly but the chutney  will be much more bitter than when the sliced gourd is  soaked and softened before cooking.

The third  way is not to  cook the sliced gourd,  but only to toss it  in some oil, lime juice, sliced onion and cracked pepper. This is sometimes called bitter gourd salad.  As expected, you will end up with a crunchy salad and savour the intense bitterness of the bitter gourd.

Here is the recipe for Bitter Gourd Chutney-Satini Margoz

Did you make this recipe?

I hope you will enjoy preparing this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.

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