My husband P is dream to cook for. He’s a bit like Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle “Whattaya call this, Love?”, in that he’s easily pleased. Unlike Darryl, he is also fairly discerning, so when you get a compliment it may actually mean something.
It means that he’s adventurous, not at all fussy, and we have great fun on wedding anniversaries ticking off all the 3-hatted restaurants in town.
But try as a might, I have not been able to overcome his childhood hatred of chokos.
For the uninitiated, chokos are from the cucurbit family, and grow rather like passionfruit on a rambling vine. They grow extremely easily in Australia, so most families have grown them at one stage or another. As a vegetable, they are (frankly) fairly bland, and Aussie mothers typically boiled them to oblivion, much like brussells sprouts. No wonder the poor choko got a bad rap.
In reality, chokos are extremely versatile. They can be steamed with butter and seasoned, cooked into chutney and interestingly – stir-fried. I hear they are wildly popular in Vietnam cooked that way.
So yesterday, under the stealth of naptime, I planted one. I’m hoping by the time he notices the vine it will be too late. If I go down the stir-fry route, I might even be able to slip them into dinner without him noticing.
500m2 in Sydney 
Unlike my husband, who is critical of anything he can’t identify or hasn’t been deep fried!!!
Hehe. You have my sympathy 🙂
Well I think I’m with your husband on this one, granted I’ve only had the boiled to oblivion variety, but I think it would take a serious amount of therapy for me to give choko another go. Good luck with keeping your secret long enough for the vine to take off.
Be open-minded! I found this video really interesting:
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/8112/Choko_stir_fried_with_beef_and_garlic_(trai_su_xao_thit_bo)
I think we have one of these growing from our neighbours onto our side fence. I’ve never really been sure what they are or what to do with them. I must find out for sure.
I had completely forgotten choko’s even existed….and frankly I was pretty comfortable in my ignorance but then again perhaps I will let you and Luke Nguyen persuade me to give them another go. Do you think I could use the stealth of naptime to dig up part of my lawn and give it over to more potatoes???? Hmmm Perhaps slightly more noticable than a choko vine.
I reckon you could hide a few more of your potato pots somewhere inconspicuous. On the roof perhaps?
Good luck with that. My husband hates seafood and cucumbers, so we have to work around that. He loves brussel sprouts but I hate them and aren’t willing to give them another chance. So we both miss out on stuff we like.
Well I’d hate to be accused of being closed minded, maybe I’ll get one in my fruit and veggie box. If so I’ll be sure to give this ago.
Calling them “Shrek Eggs” can get the kids to try them, so you could at least attempt to overwhelm him with numbers :-).
Choko soup is pretty good. Just use a pumpkin soup recipe, but use choko instead of pumpkin. I usually wing it with whatever stock, herbs, etc I have on hand. Blend it up at the end, and serve with a dollop of sour cream and a grind of black pepper. Yum!
I love all examples of ‘food marketing’ for children, and that there is one top-shelf idea! Shrek eggs – I love it!
And I never even considered the possibility of choko soup – I will definitely try it, thanks.