How to cook hairy melon: Stir Fry 102

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While on the subject of fall vegetables, here is a very common home dish that we cook with hairy or fuzzy melon–Stir Fry Hairy Melon With Pork and Bean Thread Noodles. Zucchini–also in abundance this season–is a great substitute.

When vegetables, gourds and melons are bland in taste, we typically fry them with meat or sometimes dried shrimp to give it flavor. Usually only a small amount of meat, about 4 ounces, is used. Such a dish is still considered a vegetable dish. Otherwise it’s stir fried meat, right?

To always have such a small amount of meat available, I usually bag 4 ounce portions of pork shoulder, boneless pork chops or boneless country ribs, and freeze. The meat takes very little time to defrost and is easier to slice when slightly frozen. Typically, we use pork, but you can also use beef or chicken. When I don’t feel like cooking, I increase the amount of meat and simply make a one-dish meal.

This mixing with meat may be done with leafy greens as well. But generally, we prefer leafy greens on its own. Less is more; we also limit stir fried vegetables to just one variety of vegetable rather than confuse the tastes and textures with a mix of vegetables. One dish of vegetables is a much desired item in any meal, even when eating out. The popular ones are gailan, snow pea shoot, spinach and water spinach. These are fried simply with oil and salt, or with oil and garlic. Rarely do we add dark, thick sauces in these.

Technique for stir fry with meat and vegetables

There’s a trick in combining a bunch of different ingredients in a stir fry. Because different ingredients cook at different rates, we cook the ingredients separately first and then combine them at the end. I learned this long ago as a child watching cooks at home and hawkers (street side cooks) prepare food.

Typically, meat is quickly fried in hot oil, scooped up and set aside before it is completely cooked. More oil is added to the pan and the aromatics and vegetables are then added and fried quickly until almost tender. The meat is returned to the pan, tossed and combined with vegetables until meat is fully cooked.

In this recipe, I’ve added bean thread noodles (cellophane noodles, fensi) which has to be soaked in advance in tepid water for about 10 minutes. For details, click here.

Preparing hairy melon
When the hairy melon’s fuzz is a little spiky, wash it off gently with scrub sponge. Peel skin off with a potato peeler and cut melon into large chunks before cutting into thin strips.

Stir Fried Hairy Melon With Pork and Bean Thread Noodles

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 6 minutes

4 ounces pork, cut in thin strips
2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 hairy melon, peeled and cut in 2 inch strips
1 small bunch bean thread noodles, soaked until soften and then drained and cut into shorter pieces
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chicken stock

Marinade
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Dash white pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch

In a bowl marinate pork in soy sauce, pepper and cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat half the oil in a non-stick pan or wok. When oil is shimmering, spread meat over the pan. Let meat brown for a few seconds. Stir and fry meat until it changes color. Transfer it back to the bowl where it was marinating. Meat does not need to be fully cooked at this point.

In the hot pan, add remaining oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and hairy melon, and toss well to fry for 1 minute. Lower heat to medium and keep frying until melon starts to soften, about 2 minutes. Add a little chicken stock if ingredients look like it is drying up.

Add bean thread noodles, oyster sauce, salt, remaining chicken stock and fry for another 2 minutes. Add pork and continue to fry until pork is fully cooked. Transfer to a serving dish.