Bought some winter melon, thought it would be sweeter - how do you eat it?

[trisha2766]

 I've had winter melon/冬瓜 moon cakes and candies before but had never had fresh winter melon.  I bought some at a asian store a few days ago, tried some today.  I thought it would be sweeter.  Does anyone know if that is how its supposed to be?  Or did I buy a bad piece, one that's not ripe enough?  How do people in China usually eat it? 

[大肚男]

My girlfriend cooks it like she does squash. She stir frys it in a little but of oil, add some water and little soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. Let it stew for a bit and voila.

[gato]

You need to boil it. Once it's cooked and soften, it'll easily soak up whatever flavor you want to put into it. I personally like it as winter melon soup with a little bit of spareribs in the soup.

[trisha2766]

Thanks!  I have to think about this and figure out how I want to try and cook it.  It is kind of soft already though but doesn't have much flavor. 

[abcdefg]

I thought it would be sweeter.  Does anyone know if that is how its supposed to be?

That's the way it's supposed to be. You're right, it doesn't have much flavor.

 

Agree with the others above that it works well as a simple soup. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with these Chinese soups being simple, often having only one main note and one complimentary one. They are not supposed to be complex or have a lot of flavor.

[elina]

The following three methods for eating winter melon are interesting and look delicious:

胭脂冬瓜球

http://home.meishichina.com/recipe-72736.html  

柠檬瓜条

http://home.meishichina.com/recipe-16284.html  

冬瓜茶

http://home.meishichina.com/recipe-74852.html#showcommentlist

[skylee]

It is usually used to make soup. One type is to cook it with cubes of lean pork and shiitake mushrooms. When separated from the soup the ingredients themselves (the pork, mushrooms and what is left of the melon) make a good dish to go with rice . Dip them in soy sauce with pepper/ chilli.

I think (not sure) it can also be used in a stew with shiitake mushrooms, barbecued pork and dark soy sauce. But it might be better to use carrots instead as carrots are not as soft and much sweeter.

[Kobo-Daishi]

 

Bought some winter melon, thought it would be sweeter - how do you eat it?

 I've had winter melon/冬瓜 moon cakes and candies before but had never had fresh winter melon.  I bought some at a asian store a few days ago, tried some today.  I thought it would be sweeter.  Does anyone know if that is how its supposed to be?  Or did I buy a bad piece, one that's not ripe enough?  How do people in China usually eat it?

 

I sure hope you didn't think that since it is a melon that it would be sweet like honeydew melons, cantaloupes, or even watermelons.   :0

 

You didn't try eating it raw did you?  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_melon

 

 

 

Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown crop is not sweet.

 

Winter melons are kind of big. You didn't buy a whole one did you?

 

Most Chinese ladies just ask the grocer to cut them off a wedge. Kind of like buying cheese at the deli.   

 

Kobo.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Make a 冬瓜盅.

This is where you take a whole melon, cut off the top. remove the pith and seeds, add meat/seafood and other ingredients and then steam the whole thing.

When serving the melon acts as its own soup tureen. Kind of like those dishes where they use a bread as the serving dish.

If you're good at carving you could make beautiful designs on the side of the melon rind. Think pumpkin carving.

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&biw=1024&bih=516&q=冬瓜盅

I remember watching Eat Man, Drink Woman (Eat Woman, Drink Man?) and cracking up when the guy was taking the melon out of the steamer and dropped it. Okay, it wasn't that funny. The movie was depressing as hell, but, I enjoyed all the great food dishes. I could name them all.  

There are plenty of 冬瓜盅 recipes online with many different variations. Too many to count.

https://www.google.com/search?q=冬瓜盅&Overview=1&sa=Search&num=100&tbm=rcp

https://www.google.com/search?q=冬瓜盅+做法&Overview=1&sa=Search&num=100

 

Better still would be a video on how to make it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=冬瓜盅+做法&num=100&tbm=vid&&biw=1143&bih=671&dpr=0.9

Here's a video recipe from YouTube. It's in Cantonese though. And no subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBI000GyE6Q

Kobo.

[dwq]

Or try 火腿冬瓜夹。