Hairy Gourd with Mince Pork
This is a homely stir fry recipe for hairy gourd with mince pork (肉碎). I cooked this dish using leftover marinated mince meat I had from making kau kee soup. You will see this dish (or variations of it) very often at our local economical rice stall. This is a savoury veggie and meat dish which goes very well with rice.
More Chinese Melon Recipes:
Hairy gourd is also known as “fuzzy melon” or “marrow green” (毛瓜/节瓜). The name is probably derived from the fine “hairs” on the skin surface, giving it a “fuzzy” appearance. As a substitution, you can use 10-ridged luffa (also common in SG), Taiwan loofah squash or any local melon. In this recipe, I cut the hairy gourd to thin strips (pictured above; this was prep the night before). I love this melon because it is readily available (here in Singapore), cheap (a small whole gourd cost me only $1) and there is a lot of flesh (as compared to its ridged loofah cousin).
This recipe is also very adaptable; sometimes I omit the mince for a meatless version, sometimes I add tang hoon (glass noodles) & simmer with more stock, sometimes I add prawns instead of mince, and sometimes I stir-fry the gourd with dried shrimps for added flavour.
Hairy Gourd with Mince Pork Recipe
Hairy gourd is often also labelled as fuzzy melon or marrow green at the markets. You can substitute this gourd with any local seasonal melon (such as ridged melon or Taiwan loofah squash) in your area.
Ingredients:
- 1 small (350g) hairy gourd (aka fuzzy melon/marrow squash/毛瓜/节瓜)
- 100g mince pork (or chicken)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 50 ml chicken stock or water add more if needed during simmering
- pinch of salt or mushroom powder or light soy sauce to taste; only if needed
- 1 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Diao/Shaoxing)
(A) Marinade
- 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp Chinese wine
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Directions:
- Prep hairy gourd. Using a vegetable peeler, peel and discard the outer skin. Slice gourd flesh to 1-cm thickness, stack them together, then slice to long strips.
- Marinade mince pork with (A) for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight in the fridge.
- Cook the dish. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry garlic briskly until fragrant, then add marinated pork and stir fry until they just turn opaque. Add sliced melon strips and stir-fry briefly. Add chicken stock or water, cover with lid and simmer for about 3 minutes, or until melon is cooked to desired tenderness and turns translucent. Season to taste with salt/mushroom powder or soy sauce (you may not need this if the chicken stock is salty enough). During the last 30 seconds of simmering, drizzle Chinese wine along the sides of the wok.