Pearl White Fungus
A snow fungus dish from the Manchu-Han Imperial Banquet, paired with pearl fish balls and finished with a drizzled starchy sauce.
Ingredients
dried white fungus (soak in warm water for 30 minutes, remove stems and discolored parts)
25 g
mandarin fish paste
100 g
baby bok choy (wash, take hearts)
2
cooking wine
15 g
fine salt
4 g
egg white
1
clear soup (used in two batches)
500 g
minced ginger (steep in boiling water for 5 minutes to make ginger water)
10 g
wet cornstarch
15 g
chicken fat
10 g
Instructions
1
Soak the white fungus
Place the white fungus in an oil-free porcelain container, add warm water, and soak for about 30 minutes. Rinse several times with clean water to remove debris, then lift out the fungus and use tweezers to remove the stems and discolored parts. Place the minced ginger in a bowl, add some boiling water, and steep for 5 minutes to make ginger water (discard the ginger solids).
2
Make pearl fish balls
Place the fish paste in a bowl, dilute it with 75 g of clean water, add 2 g of fine salt, and stir the fish paste vigorously in one direction until it becomes springy. Add the egg white and ginger water, stir in one direction until evenly combined to form a thin fish paste batter. Squeeze the batter into fingernail-sized balls, drop them into a pot of clean water, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the balls turn white, scoop them out as pearl fish balls. Reserve four or five aside; arrange the rest on a round plate in a large circle.
3
Simmer the fungus and bok choy
Blanch the cleaned bok choy hearts in boiling water once and lift out. In a separate pot, add 250 g of clear soup, add the white fungus and bok choy hearts, add a pinch of cooking wine and a pinch of fine salt, and simmer over the heat for 3 minutes. Remove the bok choy hearts and drain the white fungus in a colander. Place the white fungus in the center of the fish balls, set two bok choy hearts on top of the fungus, and place one pearl fish ball on each bok choy leaf.
4
Pour the sauce
Add 250 g of clear soup to a pot, bring to a boil over high heat, skim off the foam, add the remaining cooking wine and fine salt. Mix the cornstarch into a thin slurry with water, pour it into the pot to make a thickened sauce, drizzle with chicken fat, and pour over the pearl white fungus. Serve.
