Susan Jung’s recipes for ‘cooling’ melon dishes to beat the Hong Kong heat

Many Chinese believe winter melon, fuzzy melon, Chinese okra (also called angled luffa) and bitter gourd are “cooling”, which is why you’ll see these vegetables piled high in the market when the weather becomes hot and humid. Most of them have mild, subtly sweet flavours, except, of course, for bitter melon, which for most people is an acquired taste.

Fuzzy melon with dried shrimp, pork meatballs and glass noodles

Fuzzy melon (mo gwa in Cantonese) is also known as hairy melon or gourd. It’s delicious in this light, homey, soupy dish that is quick to prepare and cook. If you’re planning on making this dish after work, you’ll have to remember to soak the mushrooms before you leave the house in the morning. The dried shrimp and glass noodles need only about 10 minutes of soaking to become hydrated, but the mushrooms take much longer, depending on their thickness and age.

2-3 (about 20 grams) dried mushrooms
30 grams dried shrimp
1 pack (40 grams) glass noodles (fen si)
250 grams minced pork
10ml soy sauce
10ml rice wine
5ml sesame oil, plus extra for drizzling
¼ tsp fine sea salt
¼ tsp granulated sugar
A pinch of finely ground white pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
4 spring onions, divided
2 fuzzy melons, about 700 grams in total
About 300ml unsalted chicken stock, preferably home-made

Rinse the dried mushrooms under cool water, then put them in a bowl, cover with warm water and leave to soak until they’re fully hydrated. Put the dried shrimp and glass noodles in separate bowls, cover with warm water and soak for about 10 minutes.

Squeeze the excess water from the mushrooms and remove and discard the stems. Cut the caps into small dice and mix them with the minced pork, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, salt, sugar, white pepper and cornstarch. Slice two of the spring onions about 2mm thick, add them into the pork mixture and stir to combine. Shape the mixture into small meatballs and refrigerate until needed.