Food & Receipts

Don’t Boil The Pumpkin Right Away: Add One Thing, Every Piece Is Fresh, Sweet and Rich

Roasted winter melon is a delightful delicacy, and with the right techniques, it can be transformed into a crisp, flavorful dish that is anything but mushy.

Administrator

11 January, 2024

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Ingredients

3 cucumbers
Sea salt
1-2 sprigs of green onion
Garlic chili dipping sauce

Notes on the ingredients

Choose angled gourd for boiling. Angled gourd is more fragrant and sweeter than regular cucumbers, so it will taste better when boiled.

+ How to choose angled gourds based on the thickness of the skin

When buying cucumbers, the way to choose good angled gourds is to choose medium-sized ones in a basket, do not buy ones that are too big because they may be old and tasteless.

In addition, you should choose cucumbers with moderately thick skin, the skin should be smooth, not too rough. Do not choose cucumbers that are too long or too short.

+ How to choose angled gourds based on the stem

Besides, you also need to observe the stem of the cucumber. When the stem is still oozing sap, without any black spots and still fresh green, you should choose it right away because these are the cucumbers that have just been picked.

Absolutely avoid buying cucumbers with withered and shriveled stems, even if the seller offers a cheap price.

Instructions

Preparing the ingredients

Peel the cucumber, cut off the stem and tip. Rinse the cucumber thoroughly to remove the sliminess, drain it and then cut it into pieces (about 3-4 pieces). After boiling, the cucumbers tend to be watery and mushy, so there is no need to cut the pieces too small.

You can also slice the cucumbers into bite-sized pieces to boil, but the cucumbers will be slightly more crumbly.

Boiling the cucumbers

Add water to the pot, about 1.2 liters of water. When the water is boiling, add the cucumbers to boil. Add a little sea salt to make the cucumbers more flavorful. To keep the cucumbers green and prevent them from turning yellow, you should boil the cucumbers at a high temperature and do not cover the pot.

When boiling, the cucumbers will float lightly on the surface of the water, remember to use chopsticks to rotate them so that all surfaces of the cucumbers are evenly cooked. The cooking time for boiled cucumbers is about 4 minutes, counted from the time the cucumbers are put into the pot. If you want them to be softer, boil them for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute.

When they are almost ready to eat, use a knife to cut them into rounds or pieces as desired. Boiled cucumbers are fragrant and sweet, perfect when dipped in garlic chili dipping sauce.

Especially, angled gourd and French beans are two ingredients with natural sweetness, so they can be combined well. After taking out the cucumbers, you can add the French beans to the pot and continue boiling for about 1 more minute.

The boiling liquid can be seasoned with a little soup powder, seasoning powder, and a few finely chopped green onions to make a soup.

Preparing the garlic chili dipping sauce

Add 3 tablespoons of fish sauce to a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of water, stir well to dissolve the sugar, then add minced garlic and chili.

Boiled cucumbers can also be dipped in sesame salt, which is also very delicious.