Braised Winter Melon
红烧冬瓜
English: Braised Winter Melon
Chinese: 红烧冬瓜
Pinyin: hong shao dong gua
There are two ways to finish a braised winter melon dish - either reduce the liquid down to a sticker sauce, or to leave a thin broth and serve like a stew. This recipe is for former, giving a thick glossy coating to the chunks of melon. A couple of chilli peppers sneak their way in to this recipe too, while not unheard of, can seem a bit exotic for Northern cooking.
Winter melon, also known as Wax Gourd in English, is a mild vegetable with a similar texture to a radish or turnip. They are huge things, with thick green skin and a white furry coating, often sold in pieces, rather than whole, in the supermarkets. The name is a bit misleading as they’re not actually grown in winter, but harvested in summer or autumn. However, if left whole, they will keep for months and months, long into the winter. They were traditionally one of the few vegetables that could be stockpiled by households to make it through the frozen winters in of the North.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine however, it recommends winter melon as a way to combat the heat of the summer, thus is often served in soups, broths and sweet teas on hot, humid days.
Serves 2
Ingredients
600g winter melon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger - finely chopped
2 spring onions - white and green separated
1 small green chilli - deseeded and chopped
1 small red chilli - deseeded and chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
Method
Prepare the melon first. Peel off the thick skin until no green remains, and then scoop out the seeds and soft flesh from the centre and discard. Then cut the melon into 1.5 inch chunks (no need to be too precise here).
Heat a wok on a medium heat with a tablespoon of oil.
When the oil is hot, add the melon, sprinkle over the salt and fry for about 3-5 minutes on each side. If the melon is drier, it will brown on the sides, but for younger, watery ones they will release a lot of water. You can pour off the water if it’s a lot.
Add the ginger, garlic and the white of the spring onion and fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant.
Add the chillies, the sugar, oyster sauce and soy sauces, stir everything together, then cover the wok and simmer for about 10 minutes. If it’s looking a bit dry, add a splash of water, but the melon should release water as it cooks. Stir every few minutes.
After about 10 minutes or so there should be a bit of sticky sauce and the melon cubes should be dark and glazed.
Serve and sprinkle over the green of the spring onions.
