Battered Winter Melon
香煎冬瓜
English: Battered Winter Melon
Chinese: 香煎冬瓜
Pinyin: xiang jian dong gua
Literal: Pan-Fried Winter Melon
Winter melon is the mildest of flavours - similar to a roasted turnip or radish. A lot of Northern Chinese cuisine uses these subtle vegetables and cooks them simply without too much flare. The reputation of simple Northern food dates back thousands of years; as one traveler complains in a old Ming Dynasty story: “In Shandong, one doesn’t get any special dishes…there will be nothing more than a couple of plates of garlic and a few steamed breads.” Indeed, some dishes can seem boring and flavourless, but that’s to miss the point - they are foods to sooth the soul, to calm a stomach and to cool a body.
Winter melon is a favourite of Beijingers. You can spot the gourds in hutong courtyard gardens, slowly swelling to the size of basketballs throughout the summer. There’s only so much braised winter melon one can eat, so this is something a bit different: a thin batter then shallow-fried. The translucent soft cubes in a snug of crispy batter. All the flavour comes from the batter, so be liberal with the spring onions and add in a bit of extra Chinese seasoning if you want - ½ a teaspoon of five spice, ground Sichuan pepper, or ground chilli would all be good additions.
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
200g winter melon
5 tablespoons of oil for frying
For the Batter
80g flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2 spring onions - finely chopped
1 egg
80-100ml water
Method
Add all the batter ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk together until lump free. Don’t make the batter too thin otherwise it won’t stick to the winter melon.
Slice off the green skin of the melon, remove the seeds and the soft pulpy middle, then chop the flesh into small chunks a bit bigger than a dice.
Heat your wok on a medium heat with about 5 tablespoons of oil. When hot, drop the cubes into the batter, coat and then lift out one by one with chopsticks and lower in the oil.
Every 30 seconds or so, turn the cubes until all sides are browned and crispy. Note, that if you try to turn them too early, the batter will fall off the melon, so make sure the bottom has cooked and then turn each cube carefully. This is a bit fiddly.
You will need to cook the cubes in 3 or 4 batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan otherwise the batter will stick together. Serve as quick as you can whilst still hot and crispy.
