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Luffa Tomato Soup
Ever since I discovered luffa (I know I am slow), I have been cooking this dish (adapted from my friend’s Teczcape’s luffa tomato soup) repeatedly. It is a soup and veg dish in one, light tasting and also very healthy. Since luffa flesh is spongy, it readily absorbs any nice broth it is cooked in. Sometimes I also add some mung bean noodles (tang hoon) to soak up all that nice soup and to transform it into a simple one-dish meal.
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If you have ready soup stock on hand (if not you can use instant chicken stock like I did), you can whip this up in 20 minutes from start to finish. You can also use plain water and season it to your liking (salt, pepper/ soy sauce/ikan bilis).
This is luffa aka angled gourd/ridge gourd/sponge gourd (丝瓜). Strangely, I have seen it all my life, but it never occurred to me to find out what it tasted like or how to cook it. I’m glad I tried it. Do you know each gourd has exactly 10 ridges? Read this post to find out more about this vegetable.
I love the spongy and light texture of the luffa gourd, especially in soupy broth. They go well with stir-fry eggs too.
Hope you enjoy your first experience with luffa :)
Sometimes I swirl in an egg towards the egg, and serve them over noodles. One-dish noodle soup for lazy-cooks like me.
Luffa is also good with clams – quite a popular dish in Taiwan.
If you see another type of luffa (fatter version, no ridges), you shd try it as it yields much more flesh than this ridge-version.
the fatter version without ridges, is that marrow gourd? Would love to cook with that next time. Egg drop soup sounds good to me too. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t think it is marrow gourd though it looks similar?
台湾丝瓜 http://www.fooding.com.tw/article-content.php?aid=102664
I don’t know why there is a Taiwanese version of 丝瓜 though.
Oh, that’s unusual. Thanks for link and pic. will keep a look out :)
Used to eat lots of luffa soup during the summer season. My mom made it with silky tofu, pork or like yours, simply with tomatoes.
I have not had luffa for ages…my mom used to cook it with ginger…and I did not know about the 1o ridges…so interesting!
I like that you added tomato and chicken stock…looks delicious!
Hope you are enjoying your week Wiffy :)
i am going to try out your recipe.
Thanks for the recipe! Added tang hoon and made it for lunch yesterday. :)
Exactly how much ginger?
3 slices, as stated in the recipe.