BC SPOT PRAWN FESTIVAL! Stir-Fried Ginger Scallion and Soy Spot Prawns

It's BC Spot Prawn Season! yay!

The season lasts from May to June and after seeing friends' Spot Prawn pics posted on FB I had a yearning too.  I sent the man down to T&T supermarket where they were on sale for $15.99/lb until May 18.

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on May 16, 2015 at 6:28pm PDT

The Spot Prawns were lively in their plastic bag.  These guys have pokey antennae and sharp spear-like tails and heads.  You have to buy the Spot Prawns with the intent to eat them within a few hours.  I kept them in the fridge for an hour before I was ready to prep them.  I am squeamish and even with rubber dish gloves to protect me from their sharp pointy bits, I couldn't handle how each prawn would squirm and hop out of my hand.  In the end, I held a prawn with tongs in my left hand and worked the scissors in my other hand. It gave me the willies...but I was not deterred enough to stop because I knew these prawns had to be cooked quickly to maintain their freshness.  After they die, the prawn flesh becomes mushy...bleh...inedible.  When cooked fresh, they have a firm 'n bouncy texture and they're sweet and juicy.  They do not require much fuss in terms of cooking.  

FISH CAFE

Fish and Chips


All 3 females were hankering for some fish and chips.  Stomach was outnumbered (again!)

Sometimes he just has to go home and crawl into this man-cave downstairs, with its big screen t.v. and watch some war movie or something with explosions, bloodshed, gore and gunfire.

XO SAUCE: HOT SAUCE HEAVEN

The first time I tried XO Sauce at a Chinese restaurant during dim-sum, I was wondering what the heck the “XO” meant. Could it mean it’s so good you’ll get “Hugs & Kisses”? nah. I knew XO sauce was expensive owing to its costly primary ingredient: dried scallops (conpoy). Initially, I didn’t know the name derived from its link to the premium XO Brandy. In fact, there isn’t any XO Brandy in any version of XO Sauce I’ve tried. “XO” seems to allude to its expense and its deliciousness. All the ingredients in the sauce are of a premium quality and special in this regard.

XO Sauce is a Cantonese hot sauce. You can eat it as a condiment with wonton soup, noodles, or dumplings. You can use it to make fried rice, fried noodles or put it in a stir-fry with veggies or meats.

Here’s a picture of the costly ingredient in question. The dried scallops I used in my recipe just happened to be pretty big whole scallops. You can also buy tiny itty bitty ones or broken scallops that of course taste the same but are not whole like the ones you see in this pic. These had been sitting pretty in my cupboards for at least half a year. I think if you freeze them, they’d last a really long time. I have used dried scallops in the past that have been hanging around for a few years and they were a little darker and drier, but had the same flavour. I have a feeling they could last almost indefinitely, though I have never had occasion to experience that in our household. Generally, I add dried scallops to “jook” (congee). I don’t really like fussing with the long soaking periods to create steamed and stewed dishes where you can actually rehydrate the suckers (intact) to go with fresh Chinese veggies.

It had never occurred to me to make hot sauce or even XO Sauce for that matter. However, the other day, my MIL gave me a bottle of homemade XO Sauce from her friend and it was da BOMB! I took to eating it dolloped on a boiled egg. I even got fancy and made devilled eggs (yolks piped with a piping bag) and decorated it with a smidgen of XO Sauce on the top; sprinkled with snipped chives. It was so good! Unfortunately, I ate all of those and there aren’t any pictures.

Try it on eggs, it’s out of this world and so easy! It’s also Low Carb and makes for a great snack when you’re feeling for something salty, savoury and spicy.

Notice that pool of oil in the sauce? Well, that’s how it’s preserved. You keep the XO Sauce in the fridge and it should keep for a few months (unless of course you’re me and eat it practically every day). I used fresh red Thai chili peppers and must confess it was a pain to deseed them. I wore rubber gloves and used a paring knife to split the chilies. I scraped out the seeds and cut off the stems. Then I rinsed them. I think that if you like your hot sauce really hot, you could leave more of the seeds in there. I like it mild.

The recipe I developed doesn’t contain any JinHua ham (a dry-cured ham). Even a prosciutto might do. I didn’t feel like heading to the market to look for it. I just used more dried scallops instead. If you like a smoky-sweet flavour, do try finding some dry-cured ham and finely dice it up to add to the scallops. I imagine you could adapt the recipe to suit your tastebuds. You can play around a bit with the proportion of chilies, scallops, dried shrimp and ham. I used scallions and garlic too and think this is preferable to onion, but I guess you can substitute onion for the scallion.

I don’t like my XO sauce swimming in oil, so my version is kind of “dry”. If you like more oil, you can just add more to ensure that all the ingredients are submerged. You can use the hot oil for stir fries and as a condiment too. What a versatile sauce! My recipe makes a huge quantity of XO Sauce…enough for gifting. I would say it would make a great Christmas gift. You could scale it down easily.

CAKEBRAIN’S XO SAUCE

(makes approximately 5-6 cups of sauce)

• 300 g dried scallops (conpoy)
• approx. 50 g JinHua ham (optional)
• 150 g garlic
• 150 g fresh red Thai chilies, destemmed and deseeded (wear gloves)
• 250 g shallots
• 200 g dried shrimp
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons pure sesame oil
• kosher salt, to taste
• 4-5 cups grapeseed oil or flavourless oil

1. Prepare the fresh chilies first. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. After 15 minutes, or when the temperature has been reached, turn off the oven. Wearing gloves, remove the stems, split in half and scrape out the seeds. Rinse and dry between paper towels. Spread on a sheet pan and place in the turned off oven. Leave the oven door ajar and allow the chilies to dry, preferably overnight.
2. Wash and clean the dried scallops. Cover with hot water and soak for about 3 hours until soft (or overnight if you wish, refrigerated). Strain and reserve the scallop liquid for adding to stir-fries and stock or soups. Finely shred the scallops by hand.
3. Soak the tiny dried shrimp in hot water for 3 hours. Drain.
4. If using the dried ham, dice finely.
5. In a food processor, put the shallots, chili peppers and garlic in the bowl and pulse until finely minced. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
6. Using the food processor, add half the scallops to the processor bowl and pulse a few times. Empty into large bowl. Then put all the ham if using, and the drained dried shrimp in the processor. Pulse a few times until crumbled in appearance. Add this to the large bowl. Finally, add the other half of the dried scallops and mix thoroughly.
7. Heat 4 cups of oil over high heat in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the minced onion, garlic and pepper mixture. Saute until translucent. Add the dried scallop mixture and turn down the heat to med-low; continue stirring for approximately 20 minutes. If more oil is needed in order to submerge the ingredients, then add more.
8. Season the XO sauce with paprika and salt to taste. Stir in sesame oil. Continue to cook until there is no longer any moisture rising from the mixture.
9. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
10. Place in containers and seal. Store in the refrigerator.

SUPERSIZED SUSHI: GIGANTIC CALIFORNIA ROLLS

Have you ever had a craving for sushi?

I was at the local market handling a perfectly ripe avocado when the craving hit. I immediately added the avocado to my basket along with some of that fake crabmeat (surimi) made out of pollock. A fish with such an unappealing name surely needs to be processed into something else.

I had a 5-sheet package of "fancy" grade sushi seaweed in my cupboard at home, some Kokuho Rose brand sushi rice, a bottle of seasoned rice vinegar, and that weird Japanese mayonnaise in a squeeze bottle (Kewpie mayonnaise). Those are the makings for California Rolls!

Here's my recipe--actually I don't really use a recipe, I just kind of wing it, but this time I measured for your sake!

JUMBO CALIFORNIA ROLLS

these ingredients are the basics for a California Roll but you can kick it up a few notches by using the optional ingredients

3 cups cooked short-grain rice (white or brown) [I used Kokuho Rose brand]

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar [this comes prepared in a bottle]

2 cups surimi (fake crabmeat)

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 package sushi seaweed [I used a fancy grade 5-sheet package--the more expensive the seaweed generally, the tastier it is]

optional: these ingredients will definitely make your rolls tastier!

julienned English cucumber, tobiko for garnish, toasted sesame seeds, real crab meat
This is surimi. I know it's fake, but it's delicious!
You can substitute real crab meat if you're made of money. But if I were you, I'd rather splurge on the seaweed.

• In a large bowl, combine the seasoned rice vinegar with the hot cooked rice. Set aside to cool. Toss gently occasionally.
• Using a bamboo sushi mat, lay the roasted sushi seaweed glossy side down. Usually there are little indentations on the seaweed--these should run vertically on the mat.
• Spoon about 1 cup of the cooled seasoned sushi rice onto the seaweed. Spread the rice evenly over the seaweed. I often use a little paring knife to help me spread...I know, it's not orthodox but it keeps my hands from getting sticky! Real sushi chefs wet their hands in clean water continuously so the rice doesn't stick. They just use their hands to spread the rice.


• Take whatever filling you desire and line it up along the bottom edge of the seaweed/rice mat. Of course if you use other fillings, you won't have a California roll. I've used canned salmon or tuna, cucumber, cooked egg (scrambled), red peppers, teriyaki shitake mushrooms and the list goes on and on. Pretty much anything goes. If you want, you don't have to use raw fish at all. At this point, you can also add the mayonnaise or other thick sauces as well.


• Using the bamboo mat, roll the sushi away from you. Use the mat to help press close the roll.


• Slice the sushi rolls with a sharp knife. It helps if you clean the knife sporadically. Often, with the larger rolls, I use a serrated bread knife to cut the rolls. It helps avoid crushing the rolls (I know! also unorthodox and not very Japanesey--I'm not Japanese!) It works. Take my word for it. You won't have smushed rolls.


• Serve with a high grade soy sauce for sashimi/sushi. I like Yamasa. Kikkoman is good too. Pickled ginger and wasabi will only make it better.

SIZZLING GINGER GREEN ONION CLAY POT OYSTERS

ginger green onion clay pot oysters

mise en place: green onion, yellow onion, chinese sausage(laap cheung), bbq pork (cha siu), ginger

I was hankering for some deep fried oysters and decided to make my homespun rendition of Sizzling Oyster HotPot, a Cantonese Clay Pot dish served in restaurants
start with whatever you have in the fridge. I had chinese sausage (laap cheung) and bbq pork (cha siu). Often, I've tossed a spoonful of pineapple tidbits in or deepfried tofu. Almost anything goes!
in a ziploc bag, coat oysters in heavily seasoned cornstarch/flour mixture. then i shallow fry them until golden. at this point, it's hard to resist eating them
in a clay pot, add sliced ginger and saute until fragrant
toss in the onions and continue sauteing until translucent; then chuck everything else in!

add the oysters last and toss to mix. unfortunately, i forgot to take a picture after i tossed the oysters with everything else! i just wanted to eat it

BAKED FRESH OYSTERS WITH TARO

my new favourite recipe book for chinese food focusses on the use of the oven

I purchased an interesting recipe book the other day and have been very happy with the first few dishes that I've tried out of it. The recipes are not complicated and they usually call for only a few ingredients. More importantly, they have been tailored for oven use and this makes me happy. It allows me to set a timer and forget about it while I tend to the kids.

I was particularly impressed with a delicious and creative Baked Oyster Dish. Instead of oysters in the shell (which I hate to pry open), I opted for oysters in a little plastic bucket from the local fish market. I used a gratin dish and did everything else that the recipe called for and must exclaim that it was quite fast to prepare.

the trusty taro root

deep-fried taro cubes. nothing wrong with that!
add the sauted minced ginger, onion, green onion and garlic to the fried taro

The only tricky part of the recipe was deep-frying the taro. Since the taro was cut in little cubes, it cooked relatively quickly. It didn't spatter because taro tends to be dry. I used a little saucepan with oil in it just to cover the taro cubes and it worked out fine. The taro doesn't absorb much oil at all.

You mix the taro and onion mixture with salt and pepper. In another bowl, you mix a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise with a small pat of butter. You combine both mixtures together and then spread it on the oysters. Pop in a 400F oven for 10 minutes. Then broil for another 3-5 minutes, until golden brown. Yum!

CURRIED PEANUT SHRIMP

These are great for the barbecue. Skewer and grill or broil under the broiler

1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup orange juice
2 T reduced far creamy peanut butter (or regular)
1 T dijon mustard
1 1/2 t curry powder
1 t vegetable oil
1/2 t salt
1/4 t chili sauce with garlic
1/4 t crushed red pepper
32 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (1 lb)
cooking spray for grill
bamboo skewers, soaked; or metal skewers

• combine all ingredients except cooking spray. Marinate the shrimp for 30 minutes
• Skewer shrimp with optional veggies on bamboo skewers
• Grill.