At Home with Chinese Cuisine (30 page)
Read At Home with Chinese Cuisine Online
Authors: T P Hong
Bean Curd with Crab Roe and Meat
蟹黃豆腐
Most of the crabs available in China are freshwater crabs. Saltwater crabs are also available but not as popular. Either way, the Chinese do not buy them if they are not moving. The tell-tale sign of freshness is the sweet and yet savoury umami taste of the fresh crab. If steaming is the cooking method, it has to be cooked just before serving. For the crab lovers, the pleasure of having crabs is in the picking, sucking, and longing for more.
I am fond of the flavour of both the crab roe and meat, but I am not a crab devotee who is eager to get into the act of picking and sucking when I see one. I am also fond of bean curds (ToFu in Chinese), and that explains why this is a dish from JiangSu Province that I often ordered while I was in Shanghai, the metropolis of crab lovers.
There are basically two varieties of bean curds available in the UK. The regular bean curd is a piece of white and soft pressed soya milk curd sealed in a packet with water. Because it is unpasteurised, it goes off easily. Once removed from the packaging, the unused portion needs to be immersed in cold water and refrigerated. Silken tofu is softer and much more fragile. It is pasteurised and sealed in an aseptic plastic tub for sale. It requires refrigeration and has a longer shelf life than the regular one. Both varieties of bean curds can be used for this dish. It is because I like the bean curds to be melt-in-the mouth soft in this dish that I use the silken tofu in this recipe. In China, the silken tofu is labelled as southern bean curd in Beijing and tender bean curd in Shanghai.
It is often said that only a patient person will have the good fortune of enjoying bean curds with soft texture. If you think bean curds look innocent enough, you are being misled – they are actually quite demanding. But they do reward you for your patience and gentle handling. If you gently simmer them and allow them to cool down in salted water, it will give them a head start to stay soft and to prevent the moisture in them from leaching out during the cooking process.
Crab roe gives the dish its rich orange colour and the taste of umami. Even though the crab season is short, crab roe can be found in jars, powder, tins, and frozen packs all year round. If you wish to do it yourself and stock up some in the freezer when the crab is in season, steam the crab and use toothpicks to remove the roe. If you are not able to get hold of the crab roe, a good substitute is the egg yolk of brined duck eggs. The yolk needs to be steamed and mashed finely first. Failing that, the humble carrot, finely grated, can be used. Stir-fry them in warm oil, and they impart a similar orange colour in the oil as the crab roe does. Some chefs then sieve the oil and carrot mixture and reserve the oil for cooking this dish.
350 g bean curd 1 spring onion, separate the white from the green, and finely chopped 5 g ginger, finely chopped 45 g crab roe 170 g fresh, frozen or tinned crabmeat 1 T ShauXing wine 1/2 t sugar salt and pepper 50–70 ml hot water 1/2 T cornflour with 8 ml water 45 ml cooking oil | Cut the bean curd into 1.5–2.0 cm cubes. Boil enough water that will more than allow the immersion of the bean curd pieces in the pan and lightly salt the water. Turn the heat down to the lowest and put the bean curd pieces in the pan. Allow the water to come to a gentle simmer. Switch off the heat and leave the bean curd in the pan. Drain the bean curd when you are ready to use it. To season the wok before cooking, please see “Wok” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Put the wok back to the heat source, adjust it to a medium-low heat, and add 30 ml of the cooking oil into the wok. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and stir until the aroma is released. Add the crab roe and stir to loosen the roe. Cook until the mixture turns foamy. Add the spring onion white and stir until its aroma can be detected. Add the wine along the rim, stir, and add the crabmeat. Stir to amalgamate them all. Add the water and stir. When the mixture starts to bubble, stir in the cornflour and water mixture a bit at a time to obtain the consistency you like. It is now a sauce, and the sauce should be light. Allow the sauce to bubble away a bit. Add the salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. When it returns to a simmer, drain the bean curd pieces and put them into the sauce. Stir gently and let the mixture simmer away for about 30 seconds. Plate on a warm dish with a slightly raised rim. Sprinkle the finely chopped spring onion green on top to serve. Another option of plating is to drain the bean curd pieces and put them on a warm plate with a slightly raised rim. Prepare the sauce separately. When the sauce is cooked, pour the sauce over the bean curd. Sprinkle the finely chopped sprig onion green to serve. |
Pan-fried Bell Pepper with Prawn Stuffing
甜椒釀蝦蓉
Stuffed pepper is a dish that can be prepared in many different ways in China. Peppers come in different tastes, colours, sizes, and shapes. When stuffed, they can be pan-fried, steamed, braised, or slide-slipped, but they are seldom oven-roasted. Prawns, fish, pork, and chicken are all popular ingredients for stuffing. When prawns, fish, or chicken are used, the stuffing needs to include a small quantity of pork fat to “lubricate” the leanness of the meat so as to give a smoother mouth feel and more layers of flavour.
To ensure the stuffing clings to the pepper, a light dusting of cornflour on the inside of the pepper is necessary. The light dusting of cornflour on the surface of the stuffing helps the stuffing to stay in shape when coming into contact with heat.
It is desirable for the stuffed peppers to be bite-sized so that they are comfortable to eat in the mouth and can be picked up easily by chopsticks.
2–3 large bell peppers 250–300 g prawns, shelled 50 g belly pork 1 T icy cold water 2 spring onion whites, finely chopped 5 g ginger, finely chopped cornflour for dusting 30 ml cooking oil 1 t cornflour mixed with 1 t water For the marinade: 1/2 t sugar salt and pepper 1/2 medium-sized egg white 1 T cornflour For the sauce: 150 ml chicken stock 2 t rice wine 1/2 t sesame seed oil 1/2 t sugar salt and pepper | Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Remove the stem and seeds of the bell pepper. Cut the bell pepper along the fibre into four equal-sized pieces. Cut each piece against the fibre into two or three smaller pieces (depending upon the shape of your bell pepper). Try to have all pieces a similar size. To prepare shelled prawns for cooking, please see “Shelled prawns” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Finely dice the prawns. Place them on a cutting board, add finely chopped spring onion and ginger together, and chop them with a knife or cleaver. While chopping, sprinkle the icy cold water on the mixture from time to time. Stop chopping when the prawns are still a bit coarse. Finely dice the belly pork and chop the meat with a knife or cleaver. Stop chopping when the meat is still a bit coarse. Place the prawn mixture in a bowl and add the coarsely chopped belly pork. Add the sugar, salt, and pepper. Use a pair of chopsticks (or your hand) to stir them vigorously in the same direction until the mixture becomes sticky. Add the egg white, stir to mix well, and add the cornflour. Stir in the same direction vigorously until the mixture is sticky again. Leave the bowl in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. |
Put the cornflour in a small sieve. Tap the rim of the sieve to dust a thin layer of cornflour inside the bell pepper. Shake off any excess. Fill each piece of bell pepper with enough stuffing to form a smooth dome. Dust the surface of the dome lightly with a thin layer of cornflour. Pat the cornflour down gently. Heat a wok over a medium heat. Add 30 ml of the cooking oil and swirl it to coat the wok. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the stuffed bell pepper. Put the stuffing side down until the surface turns golden. Turn and fry the other side until the bell pepper turns slightly translucent. If you have been generous with the stuffing, put the lid down and turn the heat down to cook for a couple of minutes. Arrange them on a plate with kitchen towel, bell pepper side down, to absorb any excess oil. Transfer the pieces to a warm plate and keep it in a warm place; one option is to rest the plate on top of a saucepan with simmering water. Place a wok over a medium heat. When it is hot, add the bowl of sauce ingredients into the wok. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it bubble away to reduce the volume by one-third. Add the cornflour and water mixture but not in one go; keep an eye on the texture while stirring. The sauce should be of a single cream consistency. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Pour the sauce over the stuffed bell peppers to serve. |
Cured mullet roe is considered a delicacy in Taiwan and China, as well as in places such as Japan (karasumi) and Italy (bottarga). In the Asia-Pacific region, China is catching up with both the production and the consumption in recent years. Quality wise, Taiwanese cured mullet roe remains the industry standard for the moment; it is a sought-after souvenir for tourists visiting the island.
Cured flathead mullet roe produced in Taiwan is salted, pressed, and sun-and wind-dried. Quality cured roe from wild mullet has a reddish orange colour, the ovaries are symmetrical in shape, the taste of saltiness is at the right level to enhance the taste of umami, and it has a firm-to-touch texture on the surface and a touch of softness in the centre. A pair of cured mullet roe weighs around 150–200 grammes. They are usually vacuum-packed for sale and can be kept in the freezer for 6 months or more.
The roe is edible as it is from the pack. To benefit from the Maillard Reactions, a popular method of preparing it is to peel off the outer membrane, brush the surface of the roe with spirit or aged ShauXing wine, and then grill or pan-fry it in a flat-bottom pan over a medium-high heat for 1–2 minutes until both sides turns golden. A blow-torch is my preferred tool to do the job because it gives me more control over how golden I wish the surface of the roe to be.
Leave the roe to cool down slightly. Holding the knife on the slant and thinly slice the roe diagonally. Arrange them on a plate and serve them with thinly sliced garlic, white stem of the leek, the small radish with red skin and white flesh common in the West, or white radish (the elongated white root sometimes referred to as daikon). Put a piece of garlic, leek, or radish on top of the roe and munch them together.
Sea Cucumber, Sea Cucumber Braised in Scallion Oil
海參,蔥燒海參
Sea
Cucumber
The sea cucumber is a marine animal that belongs to the echinoderm family. Other better-known edible echinoderm family members include starfish and sea urchins. The sea cucumber has a worm-like appearance that does not appeal to everybody. It is often found at the bottom of the seabed near the reef or where kelp and seaweed are abundant. It cannot swim, but crawls with its ambulacral foot by muscle expansion and contraction. It has an elongated body with spiky skin and tubular feet running along the body. And it uses camouflage for self-protection from predators.
The sea cucumber is quite demanding of its living environment. Pollution and natural disasters, such as typhoons, can have a detrimental effect on its speed of growth and its culinary quality. It takes at least 3-4 years to grow into an adult in the natural environment. But as the demand for it keeps increasing in the East and Southeast Asia, sea cucumber farming is a lucrative business to get into. It can now be found along the Scottish coasts as well.
The Chinese name for the sea cucumber is HaiShen, meaning the ginseng of the sea. It is regarded both as a delicacy and a tonic with a long history of being used as food and as a medicine. Nutritionally, the sea cucumber is high in protein (they contain more than ten varieties of amino acids) and very low in fat. The collagen it contains is popular with the young and the old, and in particular, those who seek to improve their skin complexion.
Sea cucumbers are available fresh, vacuum-packed fresh, dried, and reconstituted. The dried one is the easiest to get hold of from dried goods markets or specialty shops.
There are various methods to reconstitute the sea cucumber at home. The process involves repetitive steps during which it is important to stay clear of grease and acidity. Seek advice from the vendors in terms of how much the particular variety of dried sea cucumber you buy will yield in weight when reconstituted. A rough guide is that dried sea cucumber will yield around three to five times the weight when reconstituted.
To reconstitute dried sea cucumbers: wash them with a soft brush to clean the surface. Leave them to soak in filtered or spring water in the fridge for two days. Make sure they are submerged in water completely. Change the water once or twice a day. On the third day, they should be softer to touch and have doubled or tripled in size. Put them in a clean saucepan with cold water. Place the saucepan over a medium heat and bring the water to a gentle boil. Cook for twenty to thirty minutes depending upon their size. Leave them to cool down completely in the cooking liquid. Check whether the sea cucumbers are soft enough by holding them between your fingers and waggle to see whether they bend naturally in a fifty-degree angle and bounce back quickly. Go through the cooking process again if they fail to pass the fifty-degree test.
The next step is to clean the sea cucumber: Slit the belly open and remove any remaining internal organs and impurities such as sands, and rinse well. Leave them to soak in filtered or spring water in the fridge for one or two more days depending on their size. They are then ready to be used for cooking.
Reconstituted sea cucumbers ready for cooking can be found in either up-scale supermarkets or traditional markets. Do be aware that unscrupulous vendors often use chemicals in the drying or reconstituting processes to make the sea cucumber more attractive in size and colour to consumers. It is recommended to buy them in whatever form from reputable specialty shops, especially when you are after the top quality ones. They are quite pricey.
The Chinese regard the sea cucumber from the northeast coastal area of China and Japan to be of the best quality. Colder seawater in the north slows down the growth of the sea cucumber, therefore giving it a more delicate flavour, in particular a “crunchy” and bouncy texture in the bite. LiauNing Province in the northeast China by the gulf of BoHai, with DaLien as its major seaport, produces some of the top quality finger-length wild spiky sea cucumbers called CiShen (
刺参
). They are protected by the Chinese GIP legislation.
The sea cucumber is a versatile ingredient. It can be used in braising, stewing, slide-slipping, stir-frying, hui dishes and more. And it can be added to a soup, stew or stir-fried rice. By itself, it does not have a strong taste. It relies on the sauce or thickened cooking liquid to coat the surface to enrich its flavour. It is its texture that adds an interesting dimension to the dish, and for the Chinese, a touch of luxury.
Take care not to over-cook the sea cucumber. After being reconstituted and blanched, it takes only minutes to cook. To keep the raw reconstituted sea cucumber for later, submerge it in water in a container and leave the whole container in the freezer.
This ShanDong dish is the signature sea cucumber dish in China, and it is often served on formal occasions, as a treat, or when the host wishes to demonstrate his or her generosity and hospitality. It is easy to identify its origin as ShanDong Province, which is known for its production of quality scallions and sea cucumber.
The scallion oil used in this recipe is oil flavoured with scallions, ginger, and coriander stems and roots. Scallions are about the size of the leek in the West. They are used in northern China similar to how spring onions are used in the south. The top pick for this dish is the ZhangQiu scallion (
章丘大葱
) from ShanDong Province. As a contrast to the usual pungent taste associated with scallions, the ZhangQiu scallion is praised for its mild taste with a subtle sweetness.
The most traditional method of preparing this dish requires the scallion oil to be added in three separate stages during the cooking process so that the flavour of the oil well permeates the sauce. It is before plating that you add the oil for the third time. It serves to flavour the sauce and to give an inviting shine to the dish. The leftover oil has to be refrigerated and can be kept for 3–4 days.
200 g LiauNing spiky sea cucumbers, reconstituted 100 g scallions or spring onion whites 20 g ginger (for ginger water) 1 T dark soy sauce 2 t cornflour mixed with 10 ml water For the scallion oil: 100 g of scallions or spring onion whites, coarsely sliced 50 g ginger, coarsely sliced 6 garlic cloves, coarsely sliced 50 g coriander stems with roots attached, cut into 1 cm segments 120 ml cooking oil For the sauce: 1 T ginger water 2 t rice wine 2 t dark soy sauce 2 t oyster sauce 2 g crystal (rock) sugar salt and pepper 150 ml chicken stock or water | Ginger water is prepared by mixing the same volume of water and ginger juice obtained from pressing ginger in a garlic press. Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Trim 100 g of the scallions or spring onion whites into 7-8 cm sections. They are cut slightly shorter than the length of the reconstituted sea cucumber. To prepare the scallion oil: Over a medium-low heat, heat the wok until hot. Add the oil and wait until it is hot. Add the ginger pieces to stir-fry. Wait for the oil to bubble around the ginger gently and then add the scallion and the garlic. Wait for the oil to gently bubble around the herbs and then add the coriander. Stir-fry until scallions start to turn golden; switch off the heat and leave them to infuse. Drain the contents when the oil is cold. Take care not to burn any of the herbs – an unpleasant bitter taste can easily be detected when the scallion is burned. Heat a wok over a medium heat until hot. Add 60 ml of the scallion oil and wait until it is hot. Add the sections of scallion and fry until they catch a golden hue. Set aside 75 ml of the juice mixture and place the scallion sections in the remaining juice mixture in a heatproof bowl. Steam them over a high heat for 5 minutes. When it is done, bring them out for later and discard the juice mixture used. To prepare the sea cucumbers: Place the sea cucumber in cold water in a pan. Place the pan over a medium heat and stir occasionally until the water starts to bubble gently. Drain the contents in a colander. Heat the wok over a medium-high heat until hot. Add 30 ml of the scallion oil and heat it until hot. Add the sea cucumber and stir. Add the dark soy sauce and stir several times so that the soy sauce coats the sea cucumber. Add 3 T of the sauce mixture and stir constantly. Add the scallion sections to the wok. Turn the heat down a little and add, for the second time, 10 ml of the scallion oil, stirring gently. Take care not to damage the scallion sections because they are soft and fragile. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Turn the heat down to a medium level. Drizzle half the quantity of the cornflour and water mixture in a circular motion into the wok; wait for a few seconds before stirring. Make sure the cornflour and water mixture is evenly distributed and the liquid in the wok thickens slightly to coat the sea cucumbers. Drizzle more of the cornflour and water mixture into the wok only if the sauce looks watery. Add 10 ml of the scallion oil and stir to mix. It is then ready to be served on a warm plate. |