Hot and spicy pot (Ma La Tang) II

Chinese Ma La Tang

Continued from yesterday’s post…

When this dish got popular in China, its recipe spread to different regions. It seems, however, that different areas have adopted it differently, probably according to their own local taste. Just like outside China, all the Chinese cuisine has been adapted differently to the taste of each foreign country. :))

People in Northeast China say that the recipe for this hot and spicy pot is also slightly different to the original one. So, here is how I make it.

Well, saying that, the easiest way of making it is actually to buy the ‘sauce’ base from the Chinese supermarkets. They normally come in a big ‘sachet’, you just need to ‘squeeze’ it out, then boil it with water, and add in whatever the ingredients you like. You need to ask for ‘Ma La Tang’ soup base. If you do use them, I suggest you use half of the portion each time, or gradually add in, because it can be very very spicy!

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83. Fried bean curd sheet wraps with vegetable fillings (V)

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Chinese bean curd wraps

This is not a recipe from North East China, :)) This recipe comes totally from my ‘passion’ towards eating - try to make anything that I can eat. Ha..

The original recipe comes from Cantonese dim sim; the ones in Cantonese restaurants in England are often wrapped with duck mince and vegetables. I have never been a ‘duck’ fan, but I really like this way of cooking, so I went to buy dried bean curd sheet, and made my own vegetarian recipe.

Actually, to my surprise,  the dried bean curd sheet I bought is produced in Zhejiang, a province near Shanghai; also, in contrast to Cantonese dim sim, the recipes suggested in the package involve only vegetables, so I guess this vegetarian version is not my own invention after all. :))

Anyway, if you are like me, and love the crispiness of the bean curd sheet after it being fried, and love the combination of the vegetarian fillings with the crispy ‘skin’, you will like this recipe. :)

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80. Chinese mushroom recipe: stir fried mixed mushrooms (V)

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Chinese mixed mushrooms

I have to confess that I never really liked mushrooms, especially those usually called ‘Chinese mushrooms’, which have a ‘thick' and a bit ‘meaty’ texture.

Well, it is probably because in Chinese cuisine, this kind of mushrooms are always cooked with meat; for example, the most famous such dishes is ‘mushroom and chicken’ pot, which is supposed to be very healthy, and help with body recovering, especially for women after giving birth. But, I never liked meat that much, especially chicken, so I always tried to keep mushrooms away.


So really, it is not that I cannot eat mushrooms or don’t like them at all; it is more because of the combination with meat. But, I honestly did not know any Chinese mushroom recipes without meat.

About three years ago, when we went back to China, in a ‘fast food’ chain restaurant, we ordered a mushroom vegetarian dish - it was impressively good, especially for a ‘fast food’ stand. Since then I have been trying several different mushroom recipes without meat. Hey, you know, I actually really like mushrooms now.

Mushrooms in Chinese Cuisine

In Chinese cuisine, there are too many different types of mushrooms, I could not even name them all. And sometimes they don’t really look like ‘mushrooms’， for example, shimeji (Cha Shu Gu), black fungus (mu’er), white fungus (yin er), enokitake (jin zhen mo)，

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18. Dumplings with crabmeat filling

Chinese dumplings with crabmeat filling

蟹肉饺子

(For an introduction to dumplings, see Chinese dumplings, Chinese dumplings.)

You probably spotted the different shape of dumplings on the bamboo board in the photo.:)) It is because I have more pastry sheet left than  fillings, so I used two sheets for one dumpling.

My auntie taught me this, she could make dumplings of any shape you can name. I remember, she used to make shapes of ‘chicken, ‘fish’, ‘flower’… in order to get me interested into eating dumplings (I was very picky when it comes to food, when I was little.)

This is a recipe that another of my friends has asked for.  I must say, however, that crabmeat dumplings are not very common in Chinese Northeast cuisine;  they are much more popular in the Southern provinces, and most of the popular recipes combine crab meat with pork mince. In those recipes, crab meat doesn't act as "main ingredient" in the filling, but rather gives a fresh seafood touch to the meat mince.

I am a big, huge seafood fan, never have had much passion towards meat. Put it this way, I am scared of all the animals, dogs, cats, spiders… you name it, but I am never scared of seafood --- oh, not entirely true, I mean, as long as they don’t bite me, like crabs. :))

Most of the seafood in Northeast Chinese cuisine is simply steamed to keep the freshness, we prefer to buy them fresh, not frozen, for the ‘safety of having seafood’. As you know, if seafood is not fresh, it could easily cause lots problems, like, diarrhea..




Seafood dishes count as a ‘good treat’ and are supposed to be more expensive than other dishes. Here is a photo I took when my friends treated me an amazing ‘seafood’ feast when I went to back to China last time (September is the best season for this).

The appeal of the crab is not only for its tasty meat, but also the fun of eating it (... you know, trying to get the meat out of the shell).

Once, I was so happy and surprised to find frozen crabs in Sainsburys’ that almost immediately I picked two up and put them into my shopping basket. However, when I was about to prepare them, just realized that they were ready to eat -- the meat was picked up ready and stuffed back into the shell --- very easy to eat, but … no fun !!! … However, this is still great for crab meat dumpings.

I always thought that crab meat by itself in the dumpling filling does not have strong taste anymore, so since a friend asked, I went to look for suggestions --- What I found out is that crab meat goes well with scallops and prawns, and if you put some Chinese mushrooms in, even better --- I tried this recipe, not bad.

Here you go.

Ingredients:

Crab meat (As I said before, if you can find the ones sold in Sainsburys’ frozen seafood section, it would be great, if not, the ones in cans also do, but any extra liquid needs to be excluded. We bought a pack of crab meat from the seafood market, it mixed with yellow york -- not ideal choice, I think having only the white part is better.)

Scallop (Again I prefer the ones in Sainsburys’ frozen section, they come small size, taste good, and not expensive, good for making the fillings like this.)

Prawns (Sainsburys’ is doing promotion for some prawns, very good value.)

Mushroom (It is a kind of Chinese mushroom, with very thick ‘meat’, it gives very strong influence in the dish or the fillings like this.)

Dried beancurd sheet (see Chinese food made with soya)

Others: Oil, sesame oil, salt, cooking wine. ( I did not put many seasoning in, because I prefer to keep the original freshness from the seafood).


Preparing:

1）Soak a few mushroom and one dried beancurd sheet in hot water for 15 minutes or until mushroom is very soft and chop them into small pieces possible.

Chinese soaked mushrooms

2） Mince the scallops and prawns (couple of handful each).


Mixing:

1）Mix minced scallops and prawns with crabmeat ( from 2 crabs), and add in chopped mushroom and dried beancurd sheet.

2） Put around 4 tablespoons of oil, and 2-3 tablespoons of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of cooking wine into the mix. Mix everything well.

  ------ The filling is done, ready for filling into the pastry sheet of dumplings.


For making the pastry sheet of dumplings, see Chinese dumplings: the pastry sheet

For wrapping up the dumplings, see Chinese dumplings -wrapping it up

Chinese dumplings with crab meat fillings 

For boiling and serving the dumplings, see Chinese dumplings - boiling and serving

Note, however, that since this is a seafood filling, which is very easy to cook,  you only need to bring the water to boiling once . Oh, btw, if you are a bit worried the ‘safety of seafood’, have some garlic to go with these dumplings. Isn’t garlic a natural and powerful antibacterial remedy?:)