Today I feature a simple seafood stir-fry, the scallops however go through a special pre-cooking step which rids the bay scallops of their fishiness and imbues them with a gingery fragrance. The first time I bought frozen bay scallops here, I just cooked them straightaway after de-frosting which did not yield the kind of scallops I was used to eating at Hong Kong style restaurants. Thanks to my parents who discovered this 'secret' step which all Hong Kong chefs use to pre-cook certain seafood like abalone and sea cucumbers before cooking with other ingredients. I decided to try this with bay scallops and this step truly helped make my scallops tastier and totally fishiness-free! This might be common knowledge to some of you who are used to cooking these seafood but growing up in Malaysia, yours truly hardly had to cook and only started doing so seriously after living abroad - I am delighted to share this step with you and you really have to try it to believe it.
The pre-cooking step is simple - garlic, smashed ginger slices (with skin) and green onions (the white part) are saute till fragrant, then a splash of Shaoxing Wine (Chinese Rice Wine) is added. Chicken broth is then added to the mix and brought to a boil. The scallops are then pre-cooked in this mixture for about 1-2 minutes. This step is essential to ensure non-fishy scallops and to intensify the 'sweetness' of the shellfish. Incidentally, this was the first time I tried this step and my scallops tasted wonderfully fragrant and the broccoli added a nice crunch to the dish.
For another easy stir-fry dish, try my Beef with Chinese Bok Choy Recipe
Ingredients:
20 small bay scallops
2 florets broccoli
For pre-cooking:
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 slices fresh ginger root, smashed (with skin)
2 stalks green onions (only the white parts)
1 cup chicken broth
For cooking:
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Dash of sesame oil
Dash of light soy sauce
Method:
First, as described above, pre-cook the scallops in the mixture above. After 1-2 minutes, remove the scallops from the mixture and discard the latter (the mixture should be milky after the scallops cook for a bit). Next, clean the pan and saute the garlic slices in 1 tablespoon of oil until fragrant. Turn the heat down and add the soy sauce, sesame oil and oyster sauce. Place the pre-cooked scallops into the wok and stir-fry briskly. Finally, add the blanched broccoli and stir-fry quickly for about 30 seconds, coating evenly. Do not cook for too long to avoid over-cooking the broccoli. The blanching of the broccoli helps to avoid the broccoli from being in the wok too long (hence avoiding the wilting of the vegetable).
Note: You can add cornstarch at the end if you want your sauce to be thicker.
Scallops with Broccoli Stir-fry Recipe
Monday, November 03, 2008 | Labels: Chinese food, Chinese recipes, Quick meals, Seafood Recipes, Vegetables |
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Smoky Wok by Smoky Wok is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.smokywok.com.
13 comments:
Thanks for your tip about removing the fishiness of the scallops ... will try out your tip next time :)
Very good tip! Thanks for sharing the secret. I went to a wedding recently that served seafood that would have tasted better if they used your tip.
I like this simple recipe much with broccoli should be fine. Anyways enjoying your blog posted.
Tan;)
wiffy - hope it turns out good for u :)
SIS - ur welcome! my parents found out from a HK cook hehe
Tan - thanks again!
Mmmmm, great recipe!
my favourite dish!!reserve some for me ,please:))
sharon - thanks!
beachlover - u can have as much as u want hehe
mmm... looks yummy... :)
hey mikky! thanks :)
Ya...i was just abt to say it is scallops with broccoli stir fry and not the other way round...cos there are so many scallops ;p
Was eating this dish not long ago. Have added a link to your site. Nice recipe blog!
Hi I am going to try this tonight. One thing you may want to clarify is the blanched broccoli, you refer to it but you never have a step to blanch the broccoli.
Some folks might not know what it means (boiling the vegetable for a minute and then putting it ice water).
^ Jane, thanks for pointing it out :D Hope this dish works out for you
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