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Stir fry winter melon (炒冬瓜) is a an easy veggie side dish – we like to cook this veggie with dried shrimp and soy sauce. This is how we make it at home.

What is Winter Melon?

Winter melon 冬瓜 is known by many names – winter gourd, wax gourd, ash gourd, white gourd, and more! It is grown on vines. This veggie is technically a fruit (similar to how tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants are actually fruits!)

When it is young, winter melon has a fuzzy coating – however, once it reaches maturity, the fruit loses all the fuzz and it is replaced by a waxy coating which is why it is also known as wax gourd! It’s because of this coating that helps winter melons have a long shelf life (of up to a year!).

Winter melon is native to South and Southeast Asia – today it is widely grown through out Asian countries including Japan, Taiwan, China and more.

This veggie by itself has a very mild and somewhat bland flavor. Its taste is similar to that of cucumber – refreshing and vegetal and slightly grass like.

Winter melon is low in calories, fat, and carbs. It is rich in fiber and antioxidants – making it a healthy veggie to eat!

If you’re interested in learning more about Chinese veggies – check out my article on Different Types of Chinese Vegetables! I talk about bok choy, water spinach, gai choy, chinese mustard greens and more!

How to prepare Winter Melon?

If you’re buying your winter melon from a local super market, they usually already have it pre cut. This is because a winter melon can be quite big – so people don’t normally need a whole giant melon.

If you do buy a whole winter melon, you will need to cut it so that it is smaller, and then wrap up the rest to use later.

There are a couple of different ways it can be cut, one is sliced horizontally in to ‘wheels’ or the other way is cut in to ‘wedges’ vertically/lengthwise. Both works for this recipe!

To prepare the winter melon, first remove the seeds and soft tissue around the seeds. Then using a knife, cut off the tough skin about 1/4-1/2 an inch. The skin is very tough and not delicious so you don’t want to eat that.

Next, cut the winter melon in to 2 inch pieces. You will want to cut the pieces about the same size so they all cook evenly.

How to Stir Fry Winter Melon?

First gather your ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 tbsp of dried shrimp
• 1/2 lb winter melon, rind and seed removed, cut in to 2 inch x 1/2 inch
• 2 tbsp of water
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce (or to taste)
• 1 scallion, chopped (optional)

Heat a cooking pan or wok with cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add dried shrimp and let it cook for about a 30 seconds.

Now add winter melon in to cooking pan.

Add water, mix well, and cover for about a minute.

Remove cover, and add soy sauce.

Stir fry for about 5-10 minutes or until the winter melon is translucent (timing will highly depend how thick they are).

Sprinkle with scallions, mix well, remove from heat and serve!

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