I was really curious when I came across chayote. It looks like a pear shaped guava. The surface is quite uneven and after removing the skin, the flesh itself is smooth and slippery. There is also a small seed in the center that needs to be removed.
In Chinese, it is called Buddha’s palm melon 佛手瓜 (fóshǒuguā). Surprisingly it belongs to the gourd family (curcubitae). For Chinese cooking, it is usually stir fried. This time I tried it in soup form. It is really sweet and reminds me of a mild winter melon flavour.
This is my first time purchasing and cooking it. The sticky sap gave me skin irritation just on left hand: a blister on finger web, peeling skin and slightly numb feeling for a few hours. In the future I will need to wash my hands thoroughly with hand soap.
Chayote & Carrot Soup
Ingredients
3 chayote
1 carrot
3 red dates
2L water
400g pork bones
Method
Parboil pork bones for a few minutes. Boil then simmer pork bones and red dates for 2 hours. Add carrot and chayote and simmer for 1 hour. Add salt to taste.
Your writing style is top-notch.