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Pictorial: Hairy Melon Stir-fried w/ Bean Topic


hzrt8w

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Hairy Melon Stir-fried with Mung Bean Threads (蝦米粉絲炒毛瓜)

This is a very simple recipe: stir-frying hairy melons with dried shrimp and mung bean threads, flavored with oyster sauce.

Picture of the finished dish:

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Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3

Preparations:

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Main ingredients: (from top left, clockwise) 2 hairy melons (about 1 1/2 lb), 2 bundles of mung bean threads, 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, a handful of dried shrimp, about 10 dry black mushrooms.

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Hairy melons: peel, trim both ends, cut into roughly 1 inch by 2 inch pieces.

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Soak the black mushrooms in warm water for about 1 to 2 hours. Trim off stems and cut into thin slices. Soak the mung bean threads in warm water for about 1 hour. Soak dry shrimp in warm water for about 15 minutes. Mince the garlic.

Cooking Instructions:

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Use a pan/wok, set stove at high, add about 2 tblsp of cooking oil, wait until oil starts fuming. Add minced garlic, soaked dry shrimp and sliced mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt (suggest: 1/4 tsp). Stir-fry for 30 seconds and let the fragrance release from the dry shrimp and dry mushrooms. Dash in 1 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Stir well.

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Add the hairy melon. Pour in about 3 tsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1/4 cup of water. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook with the lid on. About 10 minutes. Stir occassionally. Add more water if the mixture becomes too dry.

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When the hairy melon is about done, create an opening in the middle of the pan. Add the soaked mung bean thread. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the bean threads turn soft and soak up the liquid in the melon mixture.

Note: You may want to use a pair of scissors to cut the mung bean thread after it softens up. This makes serving this dish easier.

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The finished dish. The quantity of food made in this recipe is about twice the portion shown in this picture.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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Thanks for the pictorial, Ah Leung. Looking at these dishes reminds me of meals that I ate while growing up, but have somehow disappeared from our family table thus forgotten, so seeing them again either makes me want to wish I've forgotten them :wink:, or would like to make again.

It took me a while to like this dish. We used to grow hairy melon in our backyard, so Dad made this dish A LOT during the summer and into the fall. He used to add small pieces of pork for a little protein.

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

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is hairy melon bitter like winter melon is?

Not at all; think wintermelon.

My version is more like Azian's, with the melon in juliennes, and perhaps with BBQ pork along with the dried shrimp.

I use a light soya only because my kids like it that way. You have to make sure there is liquid in the "wok" before you add the mung bean thread; otherwise, they will turn into a big clump.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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[...] so seeing them again either makes me want to wish I've forgotten them  :wink:, or would like to make again.

I hope it makes you want to make it again. :smile:

Makes me want to eat it again. :biggrin:

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

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By the way, what brand of bean thread do you recommend for this dish?

Those mung bean threads are quite generic.

The brand that I usually buy is called "Lung Hou" [Cantonese], or Dragon Mouth (龍口粉絲)

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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Makes me want to eat it again.  :biggrin:

Hmmmm.... I haven't seen this dish offered in restaurants. (Maybe it's too simplistic that nobody wants to pay for it...)

You just might need to make it yourself. :biggrin:

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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oops, little typo there--you're right, i meant bitter melon.  thanks for the info.

Oh, in that case, no... hairy melon is very mild and slightly sweet. No bitterness at all.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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Pour in about 3 tsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1/4 cup of water.  Stir well. 

Another wonderful dish! :biggrin: We often make this at home but I've never used oyster sauce in it. I usually use a combination of soy and fish sauce. I'll give the oyster sauce a try next time.

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I looooooove this dish :wub: It's one of my favourite homestyle dishes, so much so that I make my mom make it for me on my birthday. I don't need any fancy dishes for my birthday - I can eat bowls of this stuff! This and "jai", the stir-fried vegetarian dish. My mom makes it with straw mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean thread, "faat choi", snow peas, baby corn, cloud ear fungus, & dried oysters. I really need to learn how to make it. Yeah, I know it's easy, but I can't cook.

Edited by chocomoo (log)
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... Yeah, I know it's easy, but I can't cook.

Nobody is born knowing how to cook. :biggrin: Can start with a simple dish like this one. Then you can make it for your mom on her birthday to surprise her!

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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  • 3 weeks later...

I make this with julienned melon slices and very little oyster sauce, if any. You can also do something similar with zucchini, which isn't indigenous to Asia, but is found all over N. America.

It's a very light dish.

Edited by stephenc (log)
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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 years later...

Do you know the dish called "Dai Yee Ma Kar Lui"/"Tai Yee Ma Kar Lui" [大姨媽嫁女] (First [maternal] aunt marries off daughter)? :-)

Handed down from parent to offspring over the generations in SE Asia and elsewhere.

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