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This dessert is really simple to prepare, and the slow cooker does all the work. Prep time is no more than 10 minutes.
A cheap dessert…and I love it on a rainy evening. The sweetness of the melon ( of course with the rock sugar), the herbal tinge at the end…YUMMS!
I wonder if anyone else has tried this, and is a fan of this dessert.
Click here for more pictures
Ingredients:
1 winter melon; top cut off and seeded
1/4 cup rock sugar
1/2 sugared winter melon pieces (optional)
1/4 cup dried wolfberries
5 red dates, seeded
4 cups hot water
Method:
1) Place the winter melon into the slow cooker
2) Sprinkle the remaining ingredients (except the water) inside the winter melon and around the melon.
3) Pour in the hot water.
4) Allow this to cook in the slow cooker for about 6 hours on low.
5) Serve warm or cold
* Note: Scrap the soft flesh of the winter melon and serve it with the wolfberries and some of the liquid.
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Comments
What is winter melon? Is there another name
Wolfberries look like golgi berries, is it the same taste?
The winter melon (Chinese: 冬瓜; pinyin: dōngguā, Japanese 冬瓜（とうがん）tougan, also called white gourd or ash gourd, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable. The fruit is fuzzy when young. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The melon may grow as large as 1-2 metres in length. The word "melon" in the name is somewhat misleading, as the fruit is not sweet.
Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well. In North India it is cut into rectangular pieces and boiled in a sugar syrup to create a translucent, almost clear candy or sweet, and is often flavored with rose water. In this form it keeps and cans well allowing it to be sold in canned form around the world. In South Indian cuisine it is used to make curries.
The winter melon requires very warm weather to grow but can be kept through the winter much like winter squash. The winter melon can typically be stored for 12 months. The melons are used in stir fry or to make winter melon soup, which is often served in the scooped out melon, which has been intricately decorated by scraping off the waxy coating.
Occasionally, it is used to produce a fruit drink which has a very distinctive taste. It is usually sweetened with caramelised sugar, which enhances the taste.
I haven't found anywhere near me that has something like the winter melons though :(
thanks for broadening my horizons.