Beggar's Purse Squid (Lotus-Pouch Squid)

Name: Beggar's Purse Squid (Lotus-Pouch Squid)
Prep time: 1 h 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Ingredients: 300 g water-soaked squid (alkali-treated, pressed into peach shape); 50 g fish fillet (skinless and boneless, minced); 50 g pork fat (minced); 10 g egg yolk (cooked into thin omelet and shredded); 10 g cherry (cut into thin wedges); 25 g green vegetable stem (blanched, cut into diamond shapes and strips); 10 g kelp (cut into fine strips); 10 g black moss (fat choy); 25 g Shaoxing cooking wine; 3 g white pepper powder; 4 g salt; 30 g egg white; 20 g starch (bean or cornstarch); 0.5 g MSG (monosodium glutamate); 15 g scallion (smashed and steeped in water); 15 g ginger (smashed and steeped in water); 750 g clear broth (consommé)

A Sichuan-style decorative dish. Squid is used as the outer wrapper, stuffed with a fish paste filling and shaped like a small purse. Garnished with vegetable stems and kelp for an attractive, colorful presentation.

1h 35m

Easy

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Beggar's Purse Squid (Lotus-Pouch Squid)

Ingredients

water-soaked squid (alkali-treated, pressed into peach shape) 300 g

fish fillet (skinless and boneless, minced) 50 g

pork fat (minced) 50 g

egg yolk (cooked into thin omelet and shredded) 10 g

cherry (cut into thin wedges) 10 g

green vegetable stem (blanched, cut into diamond shapes and strips) 25 g

kelp (cut into fine strips) 10 g

black moss (fat choy) 10 g

Shaoxing cooking wine 25 g

white pepper powder 3 g

salt 4 g

egg white 30 g

starch (bean or cornstarch) 20 g

MSG (monosodium glutamate) 0.5 g

scallion (smashed and steeped in water) 15 g

ginger (smashed and steeped in water) 15 g

clear broth (consommé) 750 g

Instructions

Prepare the squid

Soak the alkali-treated squid slices in hot water to remove the alkaline flavor, drain well, then place them in a pot with the broth, Shaoxing wine, and white pepper and blanch until cooked through. Lift out, let cool, then use a peach-shaped mold to press each squid slice into a peach shape and pat dry.

Make the fish-pork mousse

Pound the fish meat and pork fat separately with the back of a knife into a fine paste, picking out any tiny bones and sinew, then chop once more across the blade. Smash the scallion and ginger and steep them in clear water. Loosen the fish paste with the scallion-ginger water into a smooth slurry, then season with salt, white pepper, and Shaoxing wine. Stir the pork paste vigorously in one direction, then add the egg white and wet starch and beat until glossy and fluffy to make the fish-pork mousse.

Prepare the garnishes

Whisk the egg yolk, spread it into a thin omelet, then cut it into fine strips. Cut the cherries into thin wedges. Blanch the vegetable stems, then cut half into thin diamond-shaped pieces and the other half into short strips. Slice the kelp into fine strips about 1 cm long. Mix the egg white with dry starch to make an egg-white starch paste.

Shape the dish

Brush the peach-shaped squid slices with the egg-white starch paste. Pipe the fish-pork mousse into small round balls and set them on top of the squid slices. Press five strips of egg omelet neatly along the pointed tip of each peach to form whiskers. Tuck a folded strip of kelp into the tail of the peach as a ribbon. Press four cherry wedges onto the mousse in a flower pattern. Lay the vegetable strips along beneath the flower to form stems. Place two small diamond vegetable pieces on either side of the stem as leaves, and tuck a little black moss under the stem as soil.