Steamed Ocean-Fresh Winter Melon Soup

Steamed winter melon is one of the hallmarks of the Cantonese kitchen. Winter melon is a unique vegetable. It resembles a watermelon on the outside but has white flesh that has virtually no taste of its own. It has the quality of being able to absorb the tastes of what it is cooked with. Thus all sorts of winter melon preparations exist, limited only by the creativity of the chef who uses the melon. Its pith can be cooked with almost every other food; however, winter melon soup is a grand d