Winter melon

Emm.....do you know winter melon? This oriental fruit is famous among Chinese with the name of Tong Qwa. Even some people call it with the name of Chinese Winter Melon. It’s a crawling plant, fruiting on vine just like pumpkin. The scientific name of winter melon is Benincasa Hispida. You know, even though my mum always prepared Chinese meal, but we never have winter melon. For Chinese people, winter melon is good for soup and often served at Chinese banquet

Winter Melon Soup
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup winter melon (1/2 pound)*+
2 cups chicken broth
4 Chinese dried black mushrooms
2 - 3 slices ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
1 green onion, sliced diagonally into three pieces
Water to boil winter melon

Wash the winter melon, remove the green skin, seeds, and the pulp. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Place the winter melon in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the winter melon is tender.Add the chicken broth, mushrooms, ginger, green onions, Add seasonings as desired. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add green onion for garnish. Serve hot.


Ohh…by the way, you can find a drink with winter melon flavour, a pack drink or even a can drink. It is not bad..I mean the drink itself, you can try it at home!!! The end of last year, when I went to Sabah for paper presentation, I took the opportunity to go for holiday as well (just a matter of extend a few days stay !!).... together with my parents, my aunty and two younger sisters. This is what people said as " killing two birds with one stone" <*wink>. When we were in Kundasang ( Highland), I saw the farmer sold the winter melons. It was the first time ever I saw the real winter melon or "Buah Kundur" and my Kedahan friend pronounced it as "Buah Kunduq"....hahahh.

There was lots of pumpkin (cucurbita pepo) too. I saw different kind of pumpkin before. In the Western countries (especially when approaching Halloween night), you can find it easily in food store. But the pumpkin over there is different as compared to Malaysian pumpkin. The shape and even the colour are different.