Le le meat is considered a delicious and highly nourishing dish, and stir-fried le le with winter melon is regarded as the main course in a meal. The dipping sauce must strike a perfect balance of sour, spicy, and sweet. Just try it once, and you’ll never forget this rustic yet elegant delicacy…
According to folk wisdom, le le meat is a premium-grade food, rich in nutritional value and capable of boosting vitality. That’s why le le has long been rare and expensive—its price is many times higher than duck meat. Culinary connoisseurs regard it as an “exclusive delicacy,” classified among the top tonic foods.
The sweet, flavorful, and nourishing meat of the lesser whistling duck (le le), when combined with winter melon, becomes even more rich and poetic, surpassing other poultry. In the flooded lowlands, housewives often prepare le le in many unique and delicious ways, such as congee, boiled, coconut-braised… but the standout is “le le stir-fried with winter melon.”
Le le is a wild waterfowl that typically lives in vast wild grasslands with many wetlands, especially in Đồng Tháp province and the Long Xuyên Quadrangle region.
Le le resembles a duck in shape, but the largest adults weigh only about 300g. Compared to wild ducks, le le is only half the weight, yet its meat is far more delicious, nutritious, and expensive.
Marinate the meat with pepper, onion, garlic, chili, fish sauce, seasoning powder, and a splash of rice wine for about 15 minutes to let the flavors absorb fully. Then heat the pan and stir-fry the meat until it firms up. Next, add the winter melon and continue stir-frying, along with plenty of green onion stalks or chopped scallions. Choose fresh winter melons that aren’t too young or too old—peel them, cut into small, long pieces about 5 cm in length.
With a skilled housewife’s touch, stir-fried le le with winter melon can become an irresistible dish—fragrant, delicious, and alluring. Winter melon lends itself to such versatility because it’s soft, mildly sweet, and full of rustic countryside flavor. A plate of stir-fried le le with winter melon, freshly served, releases an intoxicating aroma thanks to the careful stir-frying technique, precise seasoning, and perfect balance of flavors.
Remember: when stir-frying, don’t overcook the winter melon or it will lose its appeal. The melon should remain slightly crisp for the best texture. Stir-fried le le with winter melon is deliciously sweet and richly flavored, with the unique taste coming from the melon’s juices and seasonings infusing the meat, while the meat’s essence permeates the melon.
According to Tuổi Trẻ
