Winter Melon with Prawns and Fish Cake

Name: Winter Melon with Prawns and Fish Cake
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 100 ml peanut oil, or rice bran oil (ensure it isn’t a blend); 400 g winter melon; 2 shallots, finely chopped; 100 ml peanut oil, or rice bran oil (ensure it isn’t a blend); 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 slices ginger, about 2 mm thick; 200 g sliced fish cake, about 2 mm thick (buy frozen blocks from Asian grocery); 300 g prawn meat, uncooked; 200 ml chicken stock; 1 tbsp wheat starch; 1 tbsp sugar; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp sesame oil; 60 ml water; 2 stalks of spring onion, finely chop the white flesh; Sarawak white pepper, finely ground

Preparation info

6
Serves

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cheong Liew

By David Sly and Cheong Liew

Published 2025

About

The most frequently cooked dishes in Malaysian Chinese homes are vegetable dishes incorporating meat and seafood. I grew up memorising how my mum or grandma cooked in their kitchen. They taught me to choose the right vegetables to buy and cook for each season, and to balance meals with the correct ingredients to nourish the family.

Ingredients

400 g winter melon
100 ml peanut oil, or rice bran oil (ensure it isn’t a blend)

Asia
Oceania
Australia
China
Malaysia
Side dish
Winter
Southeast Asia

Method

Peel winter melon and cut into quarters length-wise. Scoop out then discard pulp and seeds. Cut the melon into 5 mm slices.

In a wok, heat the oil until smoking. Add shallots, garlic and melon slices. Stir-fry quickly and evenly for about a minute, then remove ingredients from the wok and reserve. Add sliced ginger, then fish cake slices and prawn meat. Whisk around the