Stir-Fried Silk Squash with ‘Egg’

Silk squash is also known as luffa, dishwater gourd, Chinese okra, dishrag or dishcloth gourd, lloofah, ridged loofah, ridged gourd, silk gourd etc, It is dark green in colour and looks like a thin zucchini and has a sweet, but very mild taste, similar to cucumber. Always buy young silk squash and I like to remove the core where there are some seeds hidden. My mother used to stir-fry silk squash with beaten egg. For the vegan version, I used scrambled tofu to replace the egg. One other way of cooking silk squash is to stir-fry with carrot and cloud ear fungus.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g Silk Squash (weight after peeling and sliced), sliced
° 1 small firm beancurd/tofu, pat dry and scrambled ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
° 1½ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 slice ginger or 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
° salt to taste

Method
1. Marinate the scrambled tofu with turmeric powder, salt, pepper and sesame oil. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and fry scrambled tofu for 2 minutes or until dry. Set aside.
3. Heat ½ tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant. Throw in the silk squash and stir fry for 1½-2 minutes. Season to taste and salt.
4. Add in the pan-fried scrambled tofu and mix well. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Luffa picture: http://www.wku.edu/~darlene.applegate/oldworld/china/images/luffa.jpg