Chayote Stir Fry

Top: Chayote, Bottom: Inside of chayote

Chayote - pronounced as "sai-yo-te" commonly know as a fruit, belonging to the squash family.  High in vitamin C & amino acid.

I recently learnt the versatility of this delicious fruit.  But first, let's get the technicality out of the way.  I know chayote is a fruit but I seriously consider this as a vegetable!  Every time chayote is used in my kitchen, it is used as the vegetable component of a dish.  Rarely to never, do I ever have cooked "fruit" with meat as a dish at dinner table.  So I shall deem chayote as a vegetable :)

Mild & fresh in flavour, it makes a great vegetable component to the soup I make every now and then called "Dinola" = a popular filippino chicken & ginger soup.  But this was the ONLY way I knew how to cook with chayote.  It was like a foreign vegetable just waiting for me to explore its potential.

Luckily, Benya who you would have read about in my "Benya's Bola Bola" post is well known in mr's family for her chayote dish.   This dish would be the ONLY vegetable mr would eat growing up  So of course, this dish was requested upon our recent vacation in Manila.  See the healthy looking pale green dish below? The flavour of this vegetable was so fresh and delicious.  Her version is stir fried with a little bit of minced pork and tomatoes.  Super simple and versatile to replicate back home.

Benya's chayote 

The great thing about chayote is that it absorb flavours very well.  Kinda like a sponge! :) You can mix chayote with just about anything you want to suit your palette.  Mushrooms + beef broth.  Shitake mushrooms + Tofu.  Shrimp with a splash of lemon.  Chinese black fungus + beef broth.  You are the chef here!

Thank you Benya.  English may not be your mother tongue language but you sure have taught me lots through the universal language of food. :)

My version of this dish? Minced Pork + Bell Pepper :)

my version

Ingredients:
2 chayote - peeled, there is no need to pit the center as it is edible. Sliced into sticks 1/2 cm thick
2 tbsp of marinated minced pork (from my Bola Bola recipe)
1/2 sweet bell pepper
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
splash of chicken broth
salt & pepper

Directions:
1.  Bring a pan to medium high heat with a splash of olive oil
2.  Once oil is hot, throw in minced garlic, toss for a few seconds to releash its aromatics
3.  Next throw in minced pork.  Separate pork into tiny pieces in the hot pan and cook through
4.  Toss in sliced chayote and pepper and add salt & pepper at this point. Coat with the juices in the pan.
5.  Add a splash of chicken broth and cover the pan and allow to cook on same heat for 5-8 minutes.  If you want a bit of crispyness, cook for 5mins, less crispy = 8mins.

Enjoy!