Butterfly Sea Cucumber
A Sichuan artisanal dish: sea cucumber is trimmed into a butterfly shape, stuffed with fish paste, decorated with shredded bamboo shoots and ham, steamed, then drizzled with clear broth.
Ingredients
Dried gray thorn sea cucumber (soaked and cleaned, sliced into 24 thin pieces and trimmed into butterfly shapes)
1 piece (about 200g)
Carp meat (minced into fine paste)
50g
Pork fat (minced into fine paste)
50g
Winter bamboo shoots (cut into 48 long strips and several short strips)
50g
Ham (cut into short strips)
50g
Black sesame seeds (for eyes)
10g
Egg whites (some used for the fish paste, some used to mix with bean starch)
50g
Ground white pepper
1.5g
Salt
5g
Bean starch
15g
Premium clear broth
250g
Clear broth
200g
Instructions
1
Prepare the sea cucumber
Soak the sea cucumber in boiling water and clean it, then simmer in plain water for about 25 minutes. Remove and slice into 24 pieces about 3 mm thick. Trim into butterfly shapes with a knife.
2
Make the fish paste
Mince the carp meat into a fine paste, and mince the pork fat into a fine paste as well. Combine them in a bowl with slightly more than 1 egg white, ground white pepper, salt, and a small amount of clear water, then stir into a fish paste.
3
Prepare the egg white and bean starch mixture
Mix half an egg white with bean starch until smooth to form an egg white and bean starch paste.
4
Assemble the butterflies
Poach the butterfly-shaped sea cucumber slices in clear broth with salt for about 10 minutes, then remove and lay flat on a board, patting dry with a clean cloth. Evenly coat the white side of each slice with the egg white and bean starch paste, shape the fish paste into olive forms, and place one in the center of each butterfly slice to form the butterfly's 'body'.
5
Decorate and shape
Cut the winter bamboo shoots into 48 long strips and several short strips, and cut the ham into short strips. Use the long bamboo strips as antennae, the ham strips and short bamboo strips as legs or body markings, and the black sesame seeds as eyes.
6
Steam to set the shape
Place the prepared 'butterflies' on a plate and steam for three minutes to set their shape. Remove and transfer to a soup bowl, then add premium clear broth, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Serve.
