My way...completely peel off all the skins and remove all the seeds....then blend with an electric blender and boil with congee OR
now my son is elder, boil the hairy gurd with congee first...then pick it out and grind with meat before serving with the congee.
I use same method as chunkiuBma to cut the melon, but I add all the content of the melon in the congee. When the congee is half way done, than I add the melon, the melon needs to be boiled for one hour in order to make it soft.