Fuzzy Melon Pork Ball Soup 節瓜肉丸粉絲湯

Fuzzy Melon Pork Ball Soup 節瓜肉丸粉絲湯 (Cantonese: jeet gua yoke yuen fun see tong) is a quick and easy everyday soup that goes well with deep-fried foods or with anything, actually.  Chinese people are big on making herbal soups that may take hours of simmering or steaming.  But we also make soups that take less than an hour and most importantly, they taste homey.  There’s a saying that a mistress doesn’t have to be beautiful to steal a man, she just has to make good soup!  That’s why there’s a restaurant chain that specializes in soups called “Mistress’ Beautiful Soup” 啊二靚湯 (a yee leng tong).  (I couldn’t find an official English name for this restaurant so “Mistress’ Beautiful Soup” is my translation). 

Interestingly, Cantonese people call mistress’ “ah yee 啊二” which means “two or second”.  Mandarin speaking people call them “xiaǒ sān 小三” which means “little three”.  I suppose “xiaǒ ěr小二” meaning “little two” was already taken.  It means a waiter in ancient times, but don’t call waiters that today!

Now back to soup…traditionally speaking, Chinese people don’t drink any drinks during dinner time, not even tea.  Tea is for after dinner.  During dinner, we drink soup to warm the digestive system and stimulate appetite.  It can be a slow boiled soup or a quick boiled soup.  Some examples of the quick boiled soups are egg drop soup, seaweed soup, and tomato and egg soup.

Fuzzy Melon Pork Ball Soup 節瓜肉丸粉絲湯 is also a quick boil soup.  Fuzzy melon is naturally sweet and is able to keep its shape even after boiling.  The pork balls are super soft and velvety.  Plus a small amount of mung bean vermicelli gives the soup a slightly thicker texture.  I would eat this soup like a meal when I don’t have much of an appetite or am trying to eat less.  But I think I actually end up eating more because it’s so good!

How about a dessert soup for after dinner? Try my Asian Pear Peach Resin Sweet Soup 雪梨桃膠糖水

Fuzzy Melon Pork Ball Soup 節瓜肉丸粉絲湯

You can also use winter melon or luffa (sing gua) for this soup. You can also replace the ground pork with sliced pork or fish. Any other ground meats would work as well.

Approximate cost (CAD) $25

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Resting Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Soup

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 255 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 500 g Fuzzy melon
• 200 g Ground pork
• 1 bunch Mung bean vermicelli
• ½ tsp Light soy sauce (pork marinade)
• ½ tsp Sugar (pork marinade)
• ½ tsp Salt (pork marinade)
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine (pork marinade)
• 1/8 tsp White pepper powder (pork marinade)
• 125 ml Water (pork marinade)
• 2 tbsp Sweet potato starch (pork marinade)
• 3 c Broth
• 2 c Water
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Abalone sauce (or oyster sauce)

Instructions

 

• Soak mung bean vermicelli in water for 30 minutes until soft. Then discard water and use scissors to cut them into shorter lengths. Set aside
  
• Marinate ground pork with ½ tsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1/8 tsp white pepper powder, 2 tbsp sweet potato starch and 125 ml water. Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes
  
• Peel and cut fuzzy melon into pinky finger size strips
  
• Add 3 c broth and 2 c water to a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add fuzzy melon and bring to a boil. When the soup boils, turn the heat down to medium and let it cook for 15 minutes or until fuzzy melon is fully cooked. Cooking time depends on the size of the fuzzy melon strips If you like the mung bean vermicelli extra soft, you can put it in the pot with the fuzzy melon
  
• Add mung bean vermicelli, cover with lid and cook for 4 minutes
• Give the meat mixture a mix. Use a spoon to scoop the meat mixture and drop it into the soup. Stir gently only after you drop all of the meat mixture into the soup. You can make them into balls or just keep it irregular shaped to make it rustic. Just try to keep the size similar so that they will finish cooking at around the same time
  
• Turn heat down to low and cover with a lid. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until pork is done
• Add 2 tbsp abalone sauce into the soup, mix well and taste. Add salt to your preference
• Serve
  

Nutrition

Calories: 255kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 9gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 2019mgPotassium: 146mgFiber: 1gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 379IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 51mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Fuzzy Melon, Pork, Soup, Vermicelli

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