Steamed Hairy Gourd with Meat Stuffing - ?????

The last time I wrote about this prickly gourd was in 2007! WHAaat?! So long?! Does that mean I have not used this gourd for almost 3 years!? YESSssss, as I really cannot remember when was the last time I used it for my cooking. As I have said..."Fairy God Mother's magic wand *bling* will not turn a hairy gourd into a golden carriage for Cinderalla"  but YOU - the Hairy Gourd Mother (sorry, I said you are hairy) with your chopsticks (or wand) *bling bling* can always turn thy gourd from this:



to this:





Hairy gourd(??, Mao Gua) (you can read their other names here ) is sometimes known as the Little Winter Melon - ?? . I love them in soups, stir-fries and sometimes, steamed with meat stuffing. I do this steamed meat stuffing thing with bittergourd too and enjoy the dish very much. There goes this Hairy Gourd to Weekend Herb Blogging and this week, we have our host, Huan at Eat.Read.Live.



Steamed Hairy Gourd with Meat Stuffing - ?????

Ingredients: Hairy Gourd, peeled, cut into 3-cm chunks, remove seeds from the center of each chuck to create "hole" for meat stuffing; Minced Chicken/Pork; [Marinade]: salt, white pepper, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil; wolfberries for garnish



Directions: Prepare the hollowed gourd chucks on a plate. Marinate minced meat and spoon the minced meat into the hollowed chunks. You can allow about 20-30 mins marination time by leaving entire plate of prepared gourd chunks in the fridge. Set the wok or steamer for steaming. Steam for about 12 mins depending on how "thick" the meat stuffing is. (Note: You may have leftover minced meat - they can be used in Seaweed Soup or Watercress Soup).





Mom was asking what I cooked for Dad some time ago:

? : ????

?: ??, ??, ??, ???...

?: ????? ?

?: ???!



For my readers who do not read Mandarin - I was having a Mandarin conversation with Mom about the food I prepared for Dad. I spouted a list of gourds such as pumpkin, loofa, luffa, marrow squash, chayote - belonging to the gourd/squash family - gourd/squash , in Mandarin, is ? (Gua).



She then said something which sets me laughing. She asked "how about ?? (Sha Gua)?"



?? (Sha Gua), in Mandarin, also ends with ? (Gua) if you notice, and it means "A Fool" in English.



Tag: hairy gourd, gourd