Sea Cucumber with Scallion is a famous dish with a unique flavor among Han Chinese in Henan and close-by areas. It falls into the Henan cuisine category. Don’t stir the liquid starch immediately after it is poured into the pot. Wait 3 or 4 seconds, and then stir it even. Starch paste can make the cooking liquid bright.
Ingredients
Water-soaked little sea cucumbers: 1,000 grams; refined salt: 2 grams; scallion: 105 grams; monosodium glutamate: 3.5 grams; garlic sprouts: 15 grams; wet starch: 10 grams; ginger minces: 5 grams; chicken broth: 200 grams; ginger juice: 27.5 grams; scallion oil paste: 50 grams; sugar: 27.5 grams; vegetable oil: 150 grams; soy sauce: 12.5 grams; oyster sauce: 75 grams; yellow wine: 15 grams.
Preparation steps
1. Wash water-soaked little sea cucumbers clean. Put them into a pot of cold water and heat the pot over a high-temperature fire for about 5 minutes. Scoop them up. Let the water drain away. Cut scallions into 5-cm sections (100 grams) and minces (5 grams). Cut garlic sprouts into 3.3-cm sections.
2. Put the sautéing pan over a high-temperature fire. Pour in vegetable oil. Put scallion sections in when oil temperature is 80% hot. When the scallion sections turn golden yellow, remove the sautéing pan from fire. Scoop the scallion sections up and place them into a bowl. Add chicken broth (50 grams), yellow wine (5 grams), ginger juice (2.5 grams), soy sauce (2.5 grams), sugar (2.5 grams), monosodium glutamate (1 gram) to the scallion sections. Steam the mixture over high heat for 1 or 2 minutes. Take it out. Drain it. Keep the scallion sections for future use.
3. Put the sautéing pan over a high-temperature fire. Pour in vegetable oil (25 grams). Put in sugar (25 grams) when oil temperature is 80% hot. When the scallion sections turn golden yellow, add scallion minces, ginger minces, and sea cucumbers. Stir fry them, and then pour in yellow wine (10 grams), chicken broth (150 grams), soy sauce (10 grams), ginger juice (25 grams), refined salt, scallion oil paste (20 grams) and monosodium glutamate (2.5 grams). When it boils, put the pan over a small fire and cook it for 5 minutes. The broth is cooked over low or medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Then, let the stove work in high mode. Shuffle the stuff in the pan and at the same time splash diluted liquid starch over the sea cucumbers so that it clings onto them. Pour them into the dish.
4. Put the sautéing pan over a high-temperature fire. Pour in scallion oil paste (30 grams). When the oil heats up, put green garlic sprouts and steamed scallion sections into the pan. Stir fry them for a short moment. Then, sprinkle them over the sea cucumbers.
Notes
1. Process of scallion oil paste: pour vegetable oil (500 grams) into the sautéing pan. Add scallion sections (100 grams), ginger slices (75 grams), and garlic slices (50 grams) when oil temperature is 80% hot. Fry them until they turn golden yellow. Then, add caraway sections (100 grams). When the stuff is almost burnt, scoop it out of the pan. The remaining oil is scallion oil paste.
2. Don’t stir the liquid starch immediately after it is poured into the sautéing pan. Wait 3 or 4 seconds, and then stir it even. Starch paste can make the cooking liquid bright.
Sea cucumber is synonymous with ginseng, cubilose and shark fin. It is one of the eight most treasured delicacies in the world. According to A Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica, sea cucumber, sweet, salty, mild and nourishing, tonifies the kidney, replenishes vigor, facilitates urination, and cures impotence. It is comparable to ginseng, hence the name sea cucumber. Sea cucumber improves memory, delays the aging of sexual glands, and prevents arteriosclerosis, diabetes and tumor. Yet not all sea cucumbers have the above-mentioned treatment effects. The best sea cucumbers in China are the wild sea cucumbers from Zhang Zidao Island, Dalian—at a latitude of 39 degrees north. The island is far from land and the sea water is clean and unpolluted. Sea cucumbers here have a long growing period. As a result, these nutritious sea cucumbers—one of the best—are chewy and have thick cell walls. The output, however, is very limited. Only a handful of major brands like Good Fortune at the Door are available on the domestic market.