The winter melon or donggua is a vine fruit found in a wide range of Asian cuisine, from Indian curry to Chinese winter melon soup – the latter being a traditional method of keeping ‘cool’ in the hotter months. Any Chinese auntie will tell you about the refreshing properties of this long green gourd. Test out our own recipe, courtesy of Alexis Ong’s mum.

Ingredients:
• 1 small- to medium-size winter melon
• 350g pork ribs or 3 whole chicken legs
• 2 litres water or chicken stock
• 3cm piece of ginger, sliced
• 4 red dates
• 12 dried oysters, soaked and cleaned or 4-5 pieces of dried scallops
• 6 average-size Chinese mushrooms, soaked and finely sliced
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Method:
1 Peel, skin and cut winter melon into rings. Quarter the pieces if too large. For two people, half a small melon will suffi ce.
2 Optional: pork or chicken – blanch the pork ribs or chicken legs. For optimum taste, a whole small-skinned chicken can be used. Rub the inside of the chicken with salt and rinse. Throw out the water.
3 Add smashed ginger to inside of chicken.
4 Pour about 2 litres of fresh water into pot (just covering all the ingredients).
5 Optional: add dried oysters or 4-5 pieces of dried scallops.
6 Add 4 red dates.
7 Wash and soak the dried Chinese mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and wash water to the soup.
8 Bring to boil and simmer on low until melon rings are soft.
9 Season with salt and white pepper.

To serve, you can remove and debone the chicken, shredding the meat to garnish the soup. For perfect results, skim the soup while it is simmering to remove the upper ‘scum’ layer – this clarifies the soup for optimum taste.