Winter Melon(Dong Gua) in Pork Soup

Recently I visited a new open Asian market in Flushing,Queens..I was surprised the new Asian market location inside a Mall.A friend told me during the promotion period,parking is FREE for the 1 st 3 hours.Since the parking is FREE and I never been to that market,why not? I realized the market products price is OK..maybe it's still in promotion period or maybe it's low compare with others market...who know? Since the price is reasonable I bought plenty of seafood ,fish,meat ,vegetables and dry groceries.One of the dish that I cooked two days ago was Winter Melon Pork soup..I used 1/2 of the winter melon cross-sectioned to make longan(dragon eyes) sweet soup and the other half for the pork soup. Winter melon has little taste but absorbs the flavours of the food it is cooked with. It is best in soups or stew.Winter melon has a reputation as an excellent detoxification .Hope it's really effective since I badly need detoxification after eating all the spicy and oily food.

Ingredients:

1/2 cross section winter melon,about 2 lbs(removed the skin,cut about 1 x 1)

3 section ribs,chop small,blanched with hot water to remove grease

4-5 dried small squid,washed

2 candy dates

salt to taste

4 liter water or more

some chop scallion for garnishing
Method:

1:Blanched the chop ribs with hot water to remove fats and grease.Prepare medium stock pot with water at high heat.When water rolling boil,place ribs into the pot.Reduce the heat to medium.

2:Simmer the stock for 30 minutes before add in dried cuttle fish,dates and winter melon..Cook for another 30-45 minutes before add in salt to taste.

3:Remove from heat and serve warm with some cut scallion.