Luffa’d Chick

Sorry, I meant chicken, of course.

A couple of months back, I posted about the different ways I like to cook the angled luffa gourd (also variously known as angled silk gourd, ridged gourd, Chinese okra or ketola). One of the variations that I wrote about was cooking it with chicken, but at the time I did not have a picture to show. Now I do.

In this particular instance, instead of using diced large onions, I opted for shallots; kept them whole and cooked them until they were beautifully translucent, soft and juicily sweet. I also added a couple of red chillies (seeded and cut into long pieces) for a dash of color. Otherwise, the preparation was as described in the previous post (you’ll need to scroll to the end).

And oh, usually, if cooking the angled luffa with either chicken or just onions alone, I prefer to cut the gourd into larger, chunkier pieces, rather than the thin, long strips used when sautéing it with eggs or with mushrooms and carrots. I find that the crispier texture of the larger pieces work better in the former two dishes, while the more tender bite of julienned gourd seems to blend better in the latter two versions; but that’s just my opinion. Feel free to work it as you best prefer.

This is still one of my favorite gourds; sweet, succulent and incredibly versatile.

[Update 22/06/04: I thought it might be useful to add a few tips on how to choose these angled luffa gourds; or at least how I've been taught to select these gourds.
• The skin should be a lively olivey green; avoid gourds that look dull and tired.
• The gourd should feel softly yielding and springy under light thumb pressure. Solid feeling gourds are usually older, and thus less tender.
• Try to pick gourds which have “sharper”, more pronounced ridges, or deeper and narrower “valleys”. These tend to be the young and tender gourds.]

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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