Stuffed fuzzy melon

The name fuzzy melon (毛瓜) sounds like a joke to me! But this melon really has little hair all over its skin, and it tastes pretty mellow too. I particularly like it with pork and dried scallop. Here is a recipe of stuffed fuzzy melon I tried out some evening. I've found that stuffed melons taste much better steamed than baked. Baking uses dry heat, which makes the melons hard and dry. The moist heat of steaming makes the melon soft and tender. If the melons are allowed to sit for a while after steaming, they absorb the flavor of the fillings much better.


Recipe: Fuzzy melon stuffed with pork and dried scallop (make 5 stuffed pieces)


Ingredients:
- 1 medium fuzzy melon, about 1 lb
- 1 tablespoon (TB) dried scallops, soaked overnight in 2 TB water
- 3 oz minced pork

- 2 teaspoon (tp) dried black mushroom, soaked and chopped to fine pieces

- 1 tp small dried shrimps

- 1 TB sesame oil

- 1 tp light soy sauce

- 1/4 tp salt
- 1/4 tp sugar
- 1/2 tp cornstarch
- dash of pepper
- dash of cumin
- 2 TB water
- 1 tp spring onion, finely chopped


Procedure
- Peel fuzzy melon, and chop into rolls of 1.5" tall. Use a corer to dig a cavity of 1" deep in each roll. Set aside.
- Mix pork with water, sesame oil, light soy sauce, salt, sugar pepper and cumin. Mix thoroughly and let sit for 10 minutes. Then tear re-hydrated scallop into thin threads. Save 1/4 of it for later use. Add remaining scallop with dried shrimps and mushroom into pork. Mix and stir in one direction until the mixture becomes gluey. Then fill the cavity of each fuzzy melon roll with the pork mixture. When stuffing the melon, try to leave no air bubbles between the cavity and the filling. Top each filled roll with threads of scallop. Steam right away or chill until 30 minutes before steaming.
- Set up steamer. Place fuzzy melon rolls on shallow plate and steam for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle spring onions on top and serve hot.

The fuzzy melon tastes really good after absorbing some of the juice from the filling. The leftover melon flesh and seeds from carving does not have to go wasted. It can be used to make a soup. The seeds are completely edible and actually taste great in congee.