Silk Squash & Lean Pork in XO Sauce

Wow. I never thought that the Loofah we use in our bathroom was originally this silky soft sponge-like textured vegetable fruit, Silk Squash aka Chinese Okra. They are widely used in Hong Kong (si gwar) and Indonesia (gambas) for stir frying, I love their natural sweetness and lovely texture. I just learnt that they are low in calorie and high in Vitamin C, plus, I got 2 big ones for just HK$9. They got pretty much all I need for my daily dose of veggie :)


Using a peeler, peel off the rough dark green skin. I like them quite clean, but some people like to leave some rough skin for more crunch. I like them rough only in the shower ^_^ On my plate, I want them soft and silky ^_*

Cut them in an angle, handle with care as they are delicate.
You can stir fry these with any meat you like, or even on its own, this time, I use lean pork and Chinese Spicy XO sauce.

Ingredients
- HK$30 lean pork meat, sliced for stir frying (around 1+ pound)
- 2 silk squash
- 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- a bit of ginger, crushed
- spring onion, chop into 5 cm long pieces
- XO sauce, fish sauce, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch, olive oil, sugar

Marinate slices of pork in 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp XO sauce, fish sauce, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of corn starch, 1 teaspoon sugar. In a hot wok, heat a bit of oil, saute some garlic and ginger, add silk squash until half cooked, set aside. In the same wok (don't wash), add a bit more oil, add the remaining of garlic and ginger, add pork, saute until almost cooked, add the silk squash, adjust taste if necessary, serve with steamed rice.

Sharing this with the Weekend Herb Blogging crowd, hosted this week by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook, created by Kalyn