Simmered dish as takiawase

In this dish, the summer vegetable white gourd-melon is simmered in dashi, then blended with a mixture of lightly grilled eel and lily bulb, to create a rich and luxurious dish. A large, moist vegetable with a plain flavour and distinctively strong gourd-like aroma, the white gourd-melon soaks up the dashi well upon heating, and tastes fantastic in combination with the other ingredients in these parcels. When cooked, the gourd-melon assumes a transparent, jade colour and soft, succulent texture, making it beautiful both to the eye and the tongue.