Luffa Prawn Omelette

Loofah Prawn Omelette is one of my family’s favourite home cooked dishes 家常菜. Whenever I run out of ideas as to what to cook, this is the fastest and easiest to do. My little grandson loved this loofah prawn omelette dish when I cooked it last week for him for the very first time. Actually, a very good way to get young children to eat their vegetables is to hide it in something else, in this case, in the omelette! If you have any fussy eaters in the house, why not try out this recipe and see if you can coax them to take their daily serving of veggies using this method!

Loofah Prawn Omelette

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 5

Author: Bee Leng | The Burning Kitchen

Loofah Prawn Omelette is one of my family's favourite home cooked dishes, and a great way to get young children to eat their vegetables by 'hiding' it in the omelette!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 Loofah Medium sized
• 5-6 Eggs
• 200 g Medium Size Prawns
• 1 tsp Chopped Garlic
• 1 tsp Salt
• 4-5 tbsp Oil

Instructions

PREPARATION FOR LOOFAH PRAWN OMELETTE (30 mins)

• Use a peeler to remove the hard skin of the loofah starting at the centre and moving outwards towards the ends.
  
• Wash the loofah and cut it into thin slices diagonally, then cut the diagonal sections into strips. See tips for more details.
• Remove the shell from the prawn and cut it into half.
  
• Beat the eggs in a big bowl and add 1/3 tsp of the salt to it.
• Marinate the prawns with 1/3 tsp of the salt and leave it for 5-10 mins
• Chop the garlic finely

COOKING METHOD FOR LOOFAH PRAWN OMELETTE (15 mins)

• Add a little oil in a non stick pan and stir fry the prawns for about 3-4 mins until just cooked. Remove and set aside
  
• In the same pan, add some oil and fry the garlic for 1-2 mins over medium heat, taking care not to burn the garlic.
  
• Add in the loofah and stir fry for 5 mins. Add the remaining 1/3 tsp of salt to the loofah and fry till the loofah is limp or until the juices surface.
  
• Put the loofah into a sieve to drain off the excess juices.
  
• Add the loofah and prawns into the beaten eggs and mix well.
  
• Use a clean non stick pan, add in some oil. Next, use a ladle to pour 2 scoops of the egg mixture in pan and spread out the loofah and prawns evenly. Fry till slightly golden brown.
  
• Flip over the omelette and fry until cooked. Remove and place on a platter. Do the same with the rest of the egg mixture. Prawn and loofah egg omelette is now ready to be served.
  

Notes

1. To avoid breaking the loofah while removing the hard skin, peel half of the loofah first starting at the centre, followed by the half. If you try to peel the entire length of the loofah, it will probably break because once the hard skin is removed, the loofah will lose its firmness and gets crushed easily.
2. Make sure every bit of the dark green hard skin is scraped off, even if this means there may be some wastage. Otherwise, the finished product will be very tough and fibrous when you eat it.
3. See my infographic for how to slice gourds into strip, and apply the same principle for the loofah.
4. When slicing the loofah, slanting the knife diagonally will make the slices more elongated, so the strips are longer. This will give a nicer texture to the egg.
5. Do not cut the loofah strips too thick or too thin, about 5mm thickness would be just nice. If its too thin, it will break during cooking and it won't have that slightly crunchy texture. If its too thick, the loofah will overpower the egg.
6. If the loofah has lots of seeds (they look like winter melon seed), the loofah is too old. The young loofah will have seeds but they are very soft and tender. For the old loofah, it will be a lot more troublesome. You need to cut the loofah into half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrap out every single seed before shredding it.
7. To test if the loofah is young of old, use your thumb to apply pressure on the side of one of the raised ridges to see if it breaks off easily. If it breaks off easily, the loofah is young and you should then buy that piece. However if it is very tough and does not break off, the loofah is probably quite old so its better not to buy it!
8. After frying the loofah, you MUST wash the pan clean. The juices from the loofah has high sugar content and it is very sticky. If not, the omelette will get burnt easily and stick to the pan and will have bitter taste.
9. You can use this simple trick to ensure your omelette stays in one piece while it is being flipped: a) Cover with a plate b) flip over the pan while holding on to the plate c) Slowly transfer the omelette from the plate back to the pan

Read Also:  How to Devein Prawns

Suggested Modifications for Special Diets

• Child-Friendly: No modifications needed
• Fish-Free: No modifications needed.
• Gluten-Free: No modifications needed.