Braised Sea Cucumber with Quail Eggs
This Beijing-style dish features a striking black-and-white palette with a glossy finish, showcasing a small amount of richly flavored, tender, slow-braised sauce.
Ingredients
soaked large dried sea cucumber
1
quail eggs
8 to 12
ginger slices
Shaoxing rice wine
20 g
white sugar
6.5 g
caramel color
a pinch
soy sauce
salt
MSG
water chestnut starch
80 g
chicken fat
12.5 g
clear chicken broth
Instructions
1
Step 1
Fry the soaked large sea cucumber in hot lard briefly to remove any fishy odor and make it easier to braise until tender.
2
Step 2
Sauté lard, scallions, and ginger slices in a wok, then add clear chicken broth and the sea cucumber to the pot. Simmer over low heat until tender, then remove and set aside. Return the sea cucumber to the original pot (skin side down), add clear chicken broth, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, MSG, and caramel color. Continue cooking for about 2 minutes, then increase the heat to high. Add wet water chestnut starch to thicken the sauce, stirring and rotating the pot several times. Flip the sea cucumber over (skin side up), then drizzle with a small amount of chicken fat and three-flavor oil, rotating the pot several times. Finally, transfer the sea cucumber to a serving plate.
3
Step 3
Place the quail eggs in a bowl of warm water (do not use boiling water to avoid shell cracking), add salt and steam until fully cooked. Then soak in cold water for a moment, remove, and peel off the shell and inner membrane. Place in a clean pot, add a small amount of clear chicken broth, salt, and MSG, simmer briefly. Add a small amount of wet water chestnut starch to make a thin sauce, drizzle with a little chicken fat, then pour the mixture next to the sea cucumber on the serving plate to serve.
