Red Braised Soft-Shelled Turtle Skirt

Name: Red Braised Soft-Shelled Turtle Skirt
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Ingredients: 1000 g Fresh soft-shelled turtle skirt (cut into 5 cm long, 4 cm wide pieces, washed); 500 g Soft-shelled turtle meat (cut into large chunks); 500 g Hen meat (cut into large chunks); 250 g Pork belly (cut into large chunks); 50 g Soaked shiitake mushrooms (stems removed, washed); 50 g Garlic cloves (peeled, washed); 500 g Bok choy (outer leaves removed, tender parts washed); 100 g Rendered lard; 50 g Cooking wine (seasoning); 5 g Refined salt (seasoning); 2 g MSG (seasoning); 1 g Ground white pepper (seasoning); 20 g Scallions (half crushed, remaining white parts cut into sections); 20 g Ginger (half crushed, remainder minced); 50 g Soy sauce (seasoning); 50 g Yellow vinegar (seasoning); 20 g Wet starch (seasoning); 15 g Sesame oil (seasoning); 25 g Rock sugar (seasoning)

A traditional Hunan dish, made primarily from soft-shelled turtle skirt, slow-braised (red-braised) with chicken, pork belly, and other supporting ingredients. The turtle skirt is soft, tender, and rich; the sauce is thick like concentrated gelatin; and the color resembles amber.

2h 30m

Easy

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Ingredients

Fresh soft-shelled turtle skirt (cut into 5 cm long, 4 cm wide pieces, washed) 1000 g

Soft-shelled turtle meat (cut into large chunks) 500 g

Hen meat (cut into large chunks) 500 g

Pork belly (cut into large chunks) 250 g

Soaked shiitake mushrooms (stems removed, washed) 50 g

Garlic cloves (peeled, washed) 50 g

Bok choy (outer leaves removed, tender parts washed) 500 g

Rendered lard 100 g

Cooking wine (seasoning) 50 g

Refined salt (seasoning) 5 g

MSG (seasoning) 2 g

Ground white pepper (seasoning) 1 g

Scallions (half crushed, remaining white parts cut into sections) 20 g

Ginger (half crushed, remainder minced) 20 g

Soy sauce (seasoning) 50 g

Yellow vinegar (seasoning) 50 g

Wet starch (seasoning) 20 g

Sesame oil (seasoning) 15 g

Rock sugar (seasoning) 25 g

Instructions

Ingredient Preparation

Cut the fresh soft-shelled turtle skirt into 5 cm long, 4 cm wide pieces and wash. Remove stems from soaked shiitake mushrooms and wash. Crush half of the scallions and ginger, cut the remaining white scallion parts into sections, and mince the remaining ginger.

Blanching the Meats

Cut the soft-shelled turtle meat, hen meat, and pork belly into large chunks. Blanch them in boiling water, then wash. Place them in an earthenware pot lined with a bottom rack, add the crushed scallions, ginger, cooking wine, refined salt, soy sauce, yellow vinegar, rock sugar, and water (enough to submerge all the ingredients). Cover the pot with a plate, bring to a boil over high heat, skim off any foam, then simmer over low heat until the meats are 50% tender. Add the soft-shelled turtle skirt and shiitake mushrooms, simmer until the skirt is soft and glutinous. Remove the soft-shelled turtle meat, hen meat, pork belly, scallions, and ginger and discard.

Preparing Accompaniments

Peel the garlic cloves, wash them, and deep-fry until cooked. Remove outer leaves from the bok choy, wash the tender parts and set aside.

Stir-Frying and Plating

When serving, heat the rendered lard until boiling, add the bok choy buds, season with refined salt and stir-fry until flavorful, then transfer to a serving plate. Pour the soft-shelled turtle skirt into the pot, add the fried garlic cloves, MSG, and ground white pepper, adjust the seasoning, thicken the sauce with diluted wet starch, add the scallion sections and sesame oil, then transfer to the plate. Arrange the stir-fried bok choy buds around the edge, serve with two small bowls of ginger-vinegar sauce on the side.