Luffa / Sponge Gourd / 丝瓜 / Sī Guā Recipes!

We are excited to be growing lots of sponge gourds, or luffas, at our farm this year! Sponge gourds are used in many parts of Asia, but they are difficult to find in grocery stores in the U.S and may be unfamiliar to some of us who grew up here. We hope that this blog post can give you some ideas for ways to prepare this delicious vegetable!

The sponge gourds that we grow on the farm are harvested when they are a young fruit. At this stage, the sponge gourd is similar in taste to zucchini, but they are softer and sweeter. If left on the vine to fully ripen, they become highly fibrous and inedible. In fact, at this stage, the gourd itself can be processed to be used as a sponge!

Culturally Significant Uses

China

In Mandarin, sponge gourd is known as sī guā (丝瓜). The vegetable can be served a variety of ways, including stir-fried with pork, shrimp, or chillies*, or steamed with garlic*. 

India

Sponge gourds are widely used in cuisines across India. In Bengali cuisine, jhinge posto is a popular dish consisting of sponge gourd cooked in a poppy seed paste with green chillies and nigella seeds. In North India, sponge gourd is often served as sabzi, including masala wali turai ki sabzi (masala curry) and turai pyaz hari mirch ki sabzi (stir fry with green chili and onions). Finally, in South India, sponge gourds, and especially sponge gourd skins, are used in chutneys. 

Thailand

In Thailand, it is common to see sponge gourd, or buap hom (บวบหอม), stir-fried with egg. Popular add-ons to a sponge gourd and egg stir-fry include pork, dried shrimp, chillies, garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce (see recipe and video*). 

Japan

In Japan, sponge gourd is known as hechima (ヘチマ). A popular dish is hechima no soboro miso ni*, or sponge guord simmered with ground pork in miso sauce. To make the dish, simply cook ground pork in oil, add the peeled hechima and water, and simmer with sake, mirin, and miso (1:2:1 ratio) for a few minutes! 

How do you like to enjoy sponge gourd? Let us know if you have a favorite recipe or decide to try any of these recipes! 

*Note that some of the linked recipes are not in English, but they can be translated using Google’s built-in translate feature in the browser window. If the recipe is a Youtube video, you can select the setting to auto-translate the captions to English.