Chinese Recipe : Shark’s Fin Soup

Serves 6 to 8 Ingredients: 2 tbsps sesame oil 1 spring onion/scallion finely chopped 1 inch fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped 4 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, drained and sliced 2 tbsp Rice wine 2 1/4 quarts or 9 cups chicken stock 4 oz ready prepared shark’s fin, soaked for 1 hour in cold water and drained 8 oz. boned chicken breast, shredded 8 oz small shrimps, peeled 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce 1 1/2 cornstarch, blended with 1 tbsp chicken stock A dash of black vinegar or brandy (optional) Directions: Heat the oil in a pot. Add the spring onion, ginger, mushroom and rice wine and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour over half the chicken stock, add the shark’s fin and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, shrimps and soy sauce. Pour the remaining chicken stock and the cornstarch mixture, and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low again and simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve at once with black vinegar or brandy. Don’t be scare after you hear the shark’s fin!!! Although it sounds really horrible, shark’s fin is really tasty in the soup, and Chinese really like this soup! Shark fin is very expensive because they are very rare and more sharks are under protection. people can not kill sharks as easily as they did before. However, there’s a question pop up in my mind, is there any shark’s fin selling in Canada? If someone know it, please let me know!!

Chinese Recipe : Spring Rolls

Serves 4 Ingredients: 8 spring roll skins 2 oz. thinly sliced pork, cut into thin strips Mixture A: 1 tsp Chinese rice wine or sherry 1 tsp soy sauce and cornstarch A few grain of pepper 2 dried large Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water and drained. Cut into strips. 2 ½ oz. boiled bamboo shoots, cut into strips 2 cabbage leaves, cut into strips ½ tsp salt Flour-and-water paste Oil for deep frying plus 3 tbsp more oil Directions: Combine the pork and Mixture A. Let sit for 15 minutes. Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a wok, and stir-fry the pork briefly. Remove. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil and add the salt. Stir fry the vegetables, then mix in the pork. Turn off the heat and let the filling cool thoroughly. Place some of the filling a little above the center of each spring roll skin. Fold the upper edge over the filling, turn in the 2 sides, and roll it down to the bottom. Brush the bottom edge with the flour-and-water paste to seal it thoroughly. Heat the deep-frying oil over moderate heat. Deep-fry the spring rolls until golden. Turn them frequently. Serve immediately with table seasonings. I think most people would like to order springroll when they order chinese food. However, isn’t it more fun by doing it yourself? I tried this recipe before, but i skipped the Chinese rice wine and had sesame oil instead, when you don’t have rice wine at home, and you don’t want to buy one, sesame oil will be a good choice for you. Springroll is the best appertizer when you have a party at home! Let’s make some and share it with your friends! Here is the video which teaches to make vietnamese springroll, it is a bit different from chinese style, but still taste good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw-7pYq7wSc