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Monday, November 12, 2012

Luffa with Glass Noodles - Cucurbits #1



The plant family of Cucurbitaceae consists of squashes, gourds and melons.
Pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchinis, watermelons and bittergourds are all relatives under the family of cucurbits. This week, I'm going to feature 3 different cucurbits and my favourite ways of cooking them.




I love luffa or some  call angled loofah or even ridged gourd. It has a beautiful sweet flavour and gives out a wonderful aroma when stir fried over high heat. Every family will have their own way of doing this and this is the way that I personally like it to be. Just make sure you use high heat to stir fry the luffa, until some  caramelization has taken place, if not, it won't be as nice.

Simple and delicious. I love this.



Angled Loofah with Glass Noodles
Recipe source: WendyinKK

500gm angled loofah (the weight before trimming)
1 Tbsp dried shrimp
1 Tbsp dried cloud ears
10gm glass noodles (a small cluster, it will expand after cooking)
2 cloves garlic
1 egg white
1 cup water

1. Soak cloud ears until it expand, and trim the the base to remove hard bits. Soak glass noodles until softened, snip them into 2-3 inch lengths.
2. Soak dried shrimp for 5 minutes, drain.
3. Peel angled loofah, rinse loofah and cut into slanting pieces. Do not wash after cutting.
4. Finely chop garlic.
5. Heat a wok and put in some cooking oil and sauté garlic until fragrant, then put in dried shrimp and cook until the garlic looks slightly golden.
6. Put in angled loofah in and cook until some sides look golden and it smells fragrant.
7. Put in water and cloud ears. Bring to a boil, and put in glass noodles. Cook until the noodles soften and look transparent. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add Cornstarch+water if needed, but I don’t as I prefer it to be slightly soupy
8. Pour egg white over and give it a gentle toss. Dish up.




**Happy Deepavali to all my Hindu friends and readers**



15 comments:

  1. Wendy,
    I love luffa too.
    Never thought of luffa can be cooked this way. i always cook it dried shrimp or egg.
    Ok, i must bookmarked this.
    Thanks for sharing..:D
    mui..^^

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  2. Oh....this is my favourite dish; very frequent too I cook the same ingredients like yours!

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  3. This is the kind of dish I grew up having at Granny's place. Great with rice!

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  4. I love this dish too! If I am not mistaken, in Malay it is called petola, right? Ah, the name cucurbitaceae reminds me of my botany class in uni. Sadly during that time I did not realise I love plants :(

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  5. I love this simple homey dish too, we make it in a very similar way.

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  6. mui mui,
    It's quite versatile, actually :)


    Mel,
    My hubby dun really fancy it, so can't cook too often, hehe


    Chef and Sommelier,
    I love it with rice too! The gravy's to die for


    Phong Hong,
    U're from Sains Pertanian at UPM?
    Yaya, it's petola or some call ketola


    Lite home bake,
    I think many do cook it this way :)

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  7. The dried shrimps make this even sweeter. I love to eat this by itself without any rice too..nice.

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  8. Oh these are brilliant

    and delicious and I think

    the other half should be sent to me :)

    you can also pass to my blog :)

    oh yesss !! I love the quality of your pictures !

    good night :) kisses from Belguim..

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  9. I like the texture of luffa and this looks like a very comforting dish!

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  10. Wendy, I was from UKM Sains Hayat. Had to study botany and zoology, I was a genetics major :)

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  11. One curious question...any particular reason why only egg white is used? Thanks! Lovely shots and I learnt a new word today, hahah...at first glance, I thought you mean "bits of cucur as in cucur udang ", silly me.

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  12. Hi Wendy

    My son is allergy to shrimp. Any idea what is the best to replace it? Thanks ya

    Lai Fun

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  13. Lai Fun,
    You can use a lot of things to subsitute. Dried cuttlefish, dried scallops, minced meat, ikan bilis or even crab sticks. If u want to use salted egg also can.

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  14. Thanks Wendy. My kids love this dish very much!!

    Lai Fun

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  15. hi i made this and i taste soo good .thank you

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