Winter Melon Balls in Salted Soy Milk

Name: Winter Melon Balls in Salted Soy Milk
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: Winter melon 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz); Water 250 ml (8 fl oz / 1 cup); Soy beans 200 g (7 oz); Dried turnip 10 g (⅓ oz), finely diced; Basic stock 500 ml (16 fl oz / 2 cups); Salt 10 g (⅓ oz); High-gluten flour (see Chef’s note) 500 g (1 lb 1½ oz); Lye water 1 tsp; Cooking oil for deep-frying; Sugar 50 g (1⅔ oz); Baking powder 5 g (⅙ oz); Sodium bicarbonate 5 g (⅙ oz); Spring onions (scallions) 5 g (⅙ oz), sliced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New Beijing Cuisine

By Jereme Leung

Published 2010

About

The winter melon has a pleasing neutral flavour, and because of this, it is a great vegetable to use in soups, as it absorbs the flavour of the stock and ingredients. In this dish, winter melon is poached in xian dou jiang, a creamy, savoury soy bean milk with nutty undertones.

Ingredients

Winter melon 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz)
Spring onions (scalli

Asia
China
Main course
Beijing
Winter
Vegan

Method

Make salted soy bean milk a day in advance. Soak soy beans in water and leave overnight. The following day, blend soy beans with water. Strain soy milk mixture using a piece of cheesecloth and discard sediment. Heat over low heat and add stock and salt, stirring continuously to prevent soy milk from burning, and until salt is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and se