September 20, 2013

Winter Melon (Wax Gourd)/冬瓜(とうがん)

Yesterday, my wife got one big winter melon from her father, together with cucumbers and eggplants.
昨日、妻が実父からキュウリやナスとともに、大きな冬瓜をもらいました。
(I asked her, "Is it a winter melon or a bottle gourd?")
My wife and I discussed what to do with this.
(妻に「冬瓜?それとも夕顔?」とききました。)
これをどうしようか妻と相談しました。 
 
We decided to make soup with some of it first.
まずは一部を使ってスープを作ることにしました。
 
Winter melon, cut in half crosswise:
横に半分に切った冬瓜: 
The peel is hard and thick.
皮は固くて厚いです。 
Cut into small pieces and put in a large pot:
小さく切り、大きな鍋に入れました: 
I added 1.5 liters of water to the pot, as well as 2 packets of instant Chinese broth and 2 tbsp of instant dashi, and simmered for 10 minutes.
鍋にお湯を1.5リットル入れ、また中華だしを2袋、出汁の素を大さじ2杯入れて、10分煮ました。
 
I tasted it, and I thought, "Something is missing." So, I added some mulukhiya, chicken tsukune (ground chicken + salt + egg + finely chopped naga negi), and naga negi.
味見して、「何か足りない」と思いました。そこでモロヘイヤを少し、鶏のつくね(鶏のひき肉+塩+卵+長ねぎのみじん切り)と長ねぎを足しました。
Despite the appearance, it tasted really good!
見た目は悪いですが、本当に美味しかったです!
 
I also made some pork hamburgers, nasu miso (eggplants pan-fried with oil, miso, sugar, and mirin),
豚肉のハンバーグ、ナスみそ(ナスを油、みそ、砂糖、みりんで炒めたもの)、 
and potato salad.
ポテトサラダも作りました。 
We also had these leftovers from last night's supper.
昨日の夕飯の残りも食べました。 
Gobo (burdock root) kimpira, simmered kabocha, and simmered kiriboshi daikon.
ごぼうのきんぴら、かぼちゃの煮物、切り干し大根の煮物。
 
Coffee mill that I got today:
今日もらったコーヒーミル:  
I will talk about the mill later.
ミルについては後で語ります。
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hiro: Wow, your meal looks lovely! So much variety too.

Did you like the texture of the winter melon? I've heard that it's a popular ingredient for soup in Chinese cuisine. So I guess you made a good decision to make soup with it :)

In Taiwan, where I'm originally from, they make winter melon tea (cold) as a beverage. The drink has an earthy, sweet flavour -- quite refreshing. But we buy it in a powdered-block form, so I don't actually know how to make it from scratch, haha!

Hiroyuki said...

anonymous: Thank you for mentioning winter melon tea. While googling, I found such tea existed, and wondered what it could be. Inspired by your comment, I did some googling and now I know what it is! It sounds really refreshing!