Quick-Fried Curl-Cut Eel
Score the eel in crosshatches, coat with a starch marinade, then fry until it curls into rolls. Stir-fry the fried eel with winter bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms, then thicken the sauce with a starch slurry to finish the dish.
Ingredients
Live eel (cleaned, scored in a wheat-ear pattern, then cut into 4 cm segments)
525g
Fresh bamboo shoots, peeled (washed and sliced)
50g
Soaked dried shiitake mushrooms (washed and sliced)
50g
Vinegar
2.5g
Lard (about 100 g actually used)
1000g
Fine salt (used in portions)
2g
Shaoxing wine
15g
Sesame oil
20g
Starch (used in portions)
25g
Original broth
100g
Minced garlic
25g
MSG
1.5g
Minced scallion
15g
Ground white pepper
2g
Minced ginger
15g
Soy sauce
5g
Instructions
1
Step 1
After cleaning the eel, score the flesh side in a wheat-ear pattern, then cut into 4 cm segments. Place in a bowl, add 1 g fine salt and 15 g starch, and stir to coat evenly.
2
Step 2
Wash the bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms, and slice each separately.
3
Step 3
In a small bowl, combine the Shaoxing wine, 1 g fine salt, MSG, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, original broth, and 10 g starch, and mix into a sauce.
4
Step 4
Pour 1000 g lard into a wok and bring to about 70% hot (roughly 175 °C / 350 °F) over high heat, then add the eel slices. Once they curl into rolls, drain off the oil.
5
Step 5
Leave 50 g of oil in the wok, add the bamboo shoot and shiitake slices and stir-fry briefly, then pour in the prepared sauce, add the curled eel, toss a few times, drizzle with oil, plate, and sprinkle with ground white pepper to serve.
