The following recipe is not your traditional Filipino upo* (winter melon) dish, because I turned it into a Chinese-style noodle soup. I decided to change it when I realized it didn’t look like a Filipino dish! LOL

*Because of my lack of experience in cooking vegetables, I really thought I was cooking patola (loofah).

INGREDIENTS
0.5 kg upo
5 cloves garlic
1 large onion
2 ripe tomatoes
1/8 kg ground beef sirloin
8 pcs beef mushroom balls
1 L water
1 beef broth cube
2 tbsp sesame oil
fresh white noodles
spring onions

PROCEDURE

1. Prepare ingredients. Roughly chop the garlic and onions. Then carefully slice the ripe tomatoes.
2. Sauté onions and garlic. Once the onions have started to caramelize, add the ground beef sirloin and star anise (Read about star anise here). When the beef is ready, add the upo and ripe tomatoes (They give color to the dish).
3. When the vegetables have started to cook, add water and bring to a boil. Add the beef broth cubes, mushroom beef balls and sesame oil (Sesame oil adds the Chinese flavor to the soup). Simmer for about 10-20 minutes. You may choose to add black pepper or some chili oil if you wish to make the soup spicy.
4. While simmering, cook the noodles in boiling water. Place a portion of the cooked noodles onto a bowl. Pour the soup on the noodles. Garnish with some spring onions. Serve while hot.

I served this to James who was pretty tired after leading three consecutive Bible studies. Although it’s not the Taiwanese Niu Rou Mien (Spicy Beef Noodle Soup) that he loves, he absolutely enjoyed this version.