It is called bottle gourd as the mature version can be dried and used as a bottle/ drinking container. Those are usually rounded and also referred to as calabash.
The ones sold here are oval shaped and I cooked it similar style to stir fried hairy gourd. Both hairy gourd and bottle gourd belongs to the same curcurbit family.
After stir frying it with dried shrimp and garlic, I couldn’t tell the difference between bottle gourd and hairy gourd. In the future, I will just buy whichever that is available or cheaper.
Stir Fried Bottle Gourd with Dried Shrimp
Ingredients
1 bottle gourd
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dried shrimp
Salt to taste
Water
Method
1. Cut bottle gourd into matchsticks and chop garlic.
2. Heat oil and brown garlic and dried shrimp.
3. Stir in hairy gourd.
4. Add a few tbsp of water and cover the lid to steam it for a few minutes. After that, stir it and check softness. If it is still not soft, cover the lid to continue steaming. Add water if necessary.
5. Add salt to taste.