We have selected three popular dishes as recipes. You can prepare these dishes individually, but together they can be presented as a set menu for six persons. When you choose to be prepare a set menu, please do not forget to serve steamed rice or noodles with these dishes. Good luck with preparing and enjoy your homemade Chinese specialities!
Steamed scallops
(Starter)
Required ingredients:
12 fresh scallops in the shell
2 spoons of black beans (rinse in cold water)
½ teaspoon delicate sliced ginger
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon sliced red chilli
2 spoons of vegetable oil
fresh coriander leaves
Mix the black beans with ginger and sesame oil. Prepare the wok to steam. Place a round grill below (a tart's grill will do fine). Pour boiled water in the wok till it almost reaches the upper edge of the grill. Cover the wok with a lid and boil the water one more time.
Place the scallops on a round plate (preferably a ceramic or a steel plate). Add the black bean mix to the scallops and place some chilli on top of the scallop. After you have reached the boiling point, place the plate on the grill. Close with the lid. Steam the scallops approximately five minutes on the highest fire level.
During the steaming of the scallops, heat the vegetable oil separately in a saucepan until it smokes lightly. Pour a little bit of heated vegetable oil on top of the scallops when they are steamed and garnish with a leaf of coriander. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Shrimps in Sechuan style:
(Main dish)
Required ingredients:
16 middle large raw and cleaned shrimps
1 spoon salt
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 liter vegetable oil (for frying)
SECHUAN SAUCE:
1 spoon light soy sauce
1 spoon dark soy sauce
½ teaspoon salt
4 spoons of white vinegar
1 ½ teaspoon of chilli sauce
1 spoon of oyster sauce
2 sliced garlic pieces
2 spoons of grated ginger
1 sliced red paprika
1 bundle of chopped spring onion
1 dried chilli pepper
2 teaspoons of cornstarch mixed with cold water
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
Peel the shrimps, but leave the tails on the shrimps. Remove the back veins of the shrimps. Be careful by removal, when you cut the back open. Do not cut too deep or the shrimps might curl up during stir-frying. Rinse the shrimps thoroughly with cold water and dab them dry with a tissue. Salt the shrimps and put them in the refrigerator for at least one hour. This will make them more firm. Sprinkle the shrimps with some cornstarch. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok till it starts to smoke. Fry the shrimps until they gain a golden colour. Put them aside.
Mix all the ingredients of the Sechuan sauce together and put it aside. Pour off the oil that you have used to fry the shrimps until you have 2 spoons of oil left in the wok and heat it again. Fry the garlic, ginger, paprika, spring onion and the grind chilli pepper for one minute in the wok. Add the Sechuan sauce to the wok and stir-fry everything for 30 seconds on big fire. Add the cornstarch to the mix and stir until it binds the sauce. Add the shrimps and the sesame oil to the wok and serve immediately after stirring for approximately one minute.
Enjoy!
Loo mai Chi
(Dessert)
Required ingredients:
300 gram sticky rice dough
2 spoons of sugar
1 spoon lard or margarine
3 spoons of cornstarch
1½ decilitre water
400 gram of sweet red beans paste
125 gram unsweetened, dried coconut
slices of red cherries (garnishing)
Clean the (smooth) work space thoroughly and put the dough on the work space. Sprinkle it with flour and make a small hole in the middle and add sugar and lard.
Fill a bowl with cornstarch and a full thimble of water. Knead airy and quick. The mix should feel tough. Add some extra cold water if the dough feels too dry. The dough must be smooth and soft, but not too wet.
Roll the dough until it becomes a string of approximately 3 centimetres thick. Cut the string in 20 equal pieces. Flatten them with the palm of your hand. Fill each dough piece with 1 teaspoon of red bean paste. Close the dough and roll it into a ball.
Grease a plate and put the dough balls on the plate. Steam them for 10 minutes. Roll the steamed balls (when they are still warm) in the coconut. Garnish each ball with a piece of cherry. Serve them when they are still hot.
Enjoy!
