Parboil the bones. Place the bones in a pot with enough water to cover. Bring the water to a boil. Then slightly reduce the heat to prevent over boiling and boil the bones for 5 minutes.
Remove the bones from the pot and rinse under cold water. Drain and set aside.
Soak the mung bean ( vermicelli) glass noodles and the wood ear fungus mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and quickly rinse under cold water. Then rough chop and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the ground pork with the salt, sugar, totole chicken flavor base mix, fish sauce, black pepper, shallots , bottom part of the green onions, chopped wood ear mushrooms and the chopped noodles
Cut the bitter melons into quarters . Remove and discard the end caps.
Use a knife to remove the inner parts of the melons. Then use your thumb to push it out or use your knife to twist it out.
Stuff the melons with the meat mixture.
In a large pot pour in the 12 cups of water. Add in the salt, the totole chicken flavor soup base mix and sugar. Bring to a boil. Then add in the pork neck bones and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes.
Then add the stuffed melons to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to simmer for another 20 to 25 minutes.
The soup can be served with or without the pork neck bones.
Garnish with some chopped cilantro and chopped green onions. Sprinkle on some black pepper.
Serve with white rice and a dipping sauce. Fill a small dipping bowl with some fish sauce and add some chopped thai chili .
