Smoky Wok

How has your Chinese New Year been so far? I am pretty sure I have put on some pounds with the relentless eating that goes on during this festive season!  Here's a classic Chinese New Year dish for today's feature - a deluxe pot of braised shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops, dried oysters and abalone.  The abalones I used were of the canned variety and they are usually graded according to quality.  For this dish, I think it's important to marinate the mushrooms first and cook them separately instead of dumping everything into the pot and simply start braising.



Anyhow, this is still a relatively simple dish to make and is definitely well suited for Chinese New Year with all the goodies and the auspiciously named ingredients! 



This post is part of Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.


Serves 4

Serving suggestion: with steamed rice

Ingredients:

12 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked until soft and squeeze out excess water)

Marinate with:
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

5 cloves garlic, smashed
3 stalks green onions, white parts for cooking and green parts for garnish
6 dried oysters, rinsed
6 dried scallops, rinsed
1 packet of 'fatt choy', soaked quickly
1/2 Nappa cabbage, sliced

Condiments: (mix in a separate bowl)
1 tablespoon Chinese Rice Wine
2 tablespoons light soy sauce (I used Yuen Chun's)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 lump rock sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I used Yuen Chun's)

3/4 cup water or more if required

Method:

Firstly, heat up a wok until almost smoking.  Add 2 tablespoons oil.  Turn heat to low and add 2 cloves garlic.  Add in the marinated mushrooms and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.  Dish out and set aside.

Clean the wok quickly.   Heat until almost smoking again.  Add 3 tablespoons of oil.  Turn heat to low and add the rest of the garlic cloves.  Add in the white parts of the green onions.  Stir fry until aromatic.

Add in mushrooms again and cabbage.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and then the condiment mixture.  Transfer all into a large claypot for braising.  Add in the water and bring to a boil.  Braise covered on low heat for about 45 minutes.

Do a taste test and add more soy sauce if desired.  Serve hot with steamed rice.