Scallop and Radish
Family gatherings, dried scallops and radish are a good choice. It has a delicious taste and is rich in nutrition. When cooking, there is no need for overly complicated skills. Just follow the steps and this dish can become a highlight on the table and add a warm atmosphere to the gathering.
Required raw materials and substitutes
Main ingredients
White radish: Sweet and juicy, soft and delicious after stewing. It is the main ingredient of the dish.
Dried scallops: Enhance freshness and fragrance, giving the dish a rich seafood flavor.
Ham: Add salty fragrance and enrich the taste hierarchy.
Accessories
Scallion: Remove fishy smell and increase fragrance, help flavor fusion and make the overall fragrance more harmonious.
Ginger: Minced to remove fishy smell, stimulate the original flavor of ingredients and lay a delicious foundation for the dish.
Seasonings
Cooking oil: Heat oil in a hot pan to make the ingredients heated evenly and facilitate stir-frying and cooking.
Starch water: Used for thickening to improve the texture of the soup and make the dish more attractive.
Substitutes
White radish: Green radish can be substituted. The taste is slightly spicy but still sweet, bringing a different flavor.
Dried scallops: Dried small shrimps can be substituted. They are full of umami and have a lower cost.
Ham: Bacon can be replaced. It has a strong smoky flavor and is unique, enriching the taste experience.
Scallion: Onion can be substituted. It has prominent sweetness and unique fragrance, adding a unique flavor.
Starch water: Lotus root starch can be substituted. It has a fine texture and a slight sweetness, giving the dish new characteristics.
Does dried scallop need to be soaked in advance?
Dried scallop is best soaked in advance for 1 to 2 hours.
Because directly steaming dried scallop is prone to a situation where the outer layer is soft and the inner layer is hard, and the taste is uneven. After proper soaking and then steaming, dried scallop can better absorb the steaming moisture, the taste is more tender and even, and it can also better release the umami flavor.
Although there is a step of steaming with clear water in this production process, after two times of steaming, so soaking for 1 to 2 hours is enough. There is no need to soak for 4 to 6 hours as in conventional methods. However, if there is no time for soaking, direct normal operation is also possible, but the taste will be worse.
Secrets of success
Treatment of radish:
The slices should be uniform. It is best to cut diagonally. This way, it looks good and is easy to absorb flavors. The heat for stir-frying radish must be appropriate. Stir-frying until it is "slightly soft" is the key point. If it is stir-fried too soft, the texture is lost. If it is too hard, it won't absorb the flavors.
Treatment of dried scallop:
When steaming for the first time, the amount of water added cannot be too much or too little. If there is too much water, the umami flavor will be diluted. If there is too little water, the dried scallop won't absorb enough. The soup of the steamed dried scallop must be kept. This is the essence. Later seasoning depends entirely on it.
Layered placement:
Arrange the dish in the order of dried scallop → ham → radish. This can make the flavors of the ingredients blend well. Each layer should be placed neatly. Only in this way will the shape be beautiful when turning it over.
Thickening the soup:
Finally, when thickening, add the starch water slowly while stirring. Add oil at the end. In this way, the soup will be more lubricating and shiny.
Heat control:
The steaming times for the two times must be strictly controlled. The heat must also be stable. 20 minutes and 10 minutes cannot be wrong.
Seasoning details:
Use an appropriate amount of minced ginger and scallion knots. They cannot steal the limelight. Finally, sprinkle some chopped scallions. Not only does it look good, but it can also add a delicate fragrance.
What should I do if there is too much water from the radish?
To solve the problem of excessive water from radish in dried scallop and radish dish, the key lies in the pretreatment and stir-frying methods after slicing the radish.
After slicing the radish, sprinkle salt and marinate for 15 minutes first. Drain the water and then wipe it dry with kitchen paper. This can remove most of the water.
When stir-frying, be sure to use high heat for quick stir-frying. The pan should be preheated until it smokes. Put the radish slices in two or three times to avoid a sudden drop in temperature leading to boiling of the radish. When stir-fried to seven-tenths cooked, it can be taken out of the pan. Because it will be steamed later, this can avoid the radish being too soft and releasing water.
When arranging on a plate, pay attention to slightly squeeze the radish slices to squeeze out excess water. When thickening at the end, add a little more starch appropriately. In this way, even if the radish releases more water, the soup will not be too thin. If you are worried about too much water in the end, you can shorten the steaming time to 8 minutes during the second steaming.
INGREDIENTS
Main Ingredients
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·700g white radish
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·50g dried scallop
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·30g ham
Accessories
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·20g scallion
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·10g ginger
Seasonings
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·30ml cooking oil
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·An appropriate amount starch water
COOKING STEP
Step 1
Divide 700 grams of white radish longitudinally in half and then cut into oblique slices. Cut 30 grams of ham into slices. Tie 20 grams of scallion into a knot. Cut 10 grams of ginger into minced pieces.
Step 2
Put 50 grams of dried scallop and ham slices on a plate and put them in a steamer.
Step 3
Add a little clear water to the dried scallop and put 1 slice of ginger; put 1 slice of ginger in the ham and steam over water for 20 minutes.
Step 4
Pour 20 milliliters of oil into the pot. After heating, pour in the white radish and stir-fry until slightly soft. Pour it out and set aside.
Step 5
Prepare a bowl. First place the dried scallop in, then put the ham slices, and then layer the white radish slices one by one.
Step 6
Pour in minced ginger and scallion knot, pour in the scallop water steamed out, put it in a steamer and take it out after steaming over water for 10 minutes.
Step 7
Pour the radish juice steamed out into the pot, add an appropriate amount of starch water to thicken, pour in 10 milliliters of oil and stir evenly.
Step 8
Take a plate and cover it on the bowl. Invert the bowl and the plate to complete the plating. Then pour some soup on it.
Step 9
Finally, sprinkle some chopped green onions and you can taste the delicious food.
More recipes worth trying
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Recipe variations
Adding seafood ingredients: You can put in a few fresh shrimps or a few clams to make the soup have a stronger seafood flavor and enrich the taste levels. The sweetness of shrimps complements the dried scallop well. After the clams are spit out sand and washed, put them in. The cooked soup has a unique fresh seafood fragrance.
Changing vegetable varieties: Replace some white radishes with carrots. The sweetness of carrots can inject new vitality into the dish. The color is also more vivid and dazzling. Or add some mushrooms. The unique aroma of mushrooms can enhance the flavor of the whole dish and make dried scallop and radish no longer monotonous.
Adding starchy ingredients: Add cooked glutinous rice or barley rice. Absorbing the essence of the soup, they become soft and delicious. It not only increases satiety but also gives this dish a different flavor, as if it is a brand new staple food.
Trying different plating styles: Not limited to the traditional inverted plating. Layer dried scallop, radish, and ham in a shallow plate. Like making a salad, pour on the soup and then sprinkle some edible petals or colorful vegetable shreds as decorations to make it more modern and visually more attractive.
Eating suggestions
Staple food pairing: It is best to eat with white rice. The soup of this dried scallop and radish dish is particularly fresh. Scoop a spoonful and pour it on the rice. The rice absorbs the soup fully, which is both filling and satisfying.
Eating sequence: First, pick up a piece of radish and taste the soft and glutinous radish soaked in the freshness of dried scallop and feel that sweetness. Then take a bite of ham. The salty and fragrant taste immediately spreads in the mouth. Compared with the sweetness of radish, the taste is more prominent. Finally, eat the dried scallop and chew it slowly to taste its unique freshness. Eating in this sequence can taste the good flavors of each ingredient.
Seasoning assistance: If you like, you can add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and a little white pepper when eating. Balsamic vinegar can remove some of the greasiness in the dish and make the taste refreshing. As for white pepper powder, adding a little spiciness can immediately stimulate the appetite and make it more enjoyable to eat.
FAQs:
When buying dried scallop, choose those golden yellow and shiny ones. The water temperature for soaking should not exceed 40 degrees, otherwise the freshness will be lost. When steaming, add just enough clear water to reach one-third of the dried scallop. If there is too much water, the freshness will be diluted.
If there is still a fishy smell, add some minced garlic or minced scallion white when thickening. This can remove the fishy smell and make the dish more flavorful. The steaming time of dried scallop for 20 minutes should be accurate. If it exceeds, it will become old and the fishy smell will be even heavier.
If you can't eat it immediately, store it in a thermos for a while. When eating, heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds or steam it for 1 minute. But don't heat it for too long. Otherwise, the radish will become even softer and the dried scallop will become dry and tough.
Take the dried scallop and radish dish as an example. The soup is best in a semi-flowing state, so that there is a little thickening on the radish slices but it's not so sticky that it's uncomfortable. If you think it's too thick, use the soup left from steaming the dried scallop or directly add hot water. Doing so not only adjusts the thickness but also keeps the umami taste from escaping.
When adjusting, turn the heat down and simmer slowly. Otherwise, it may become thicker and thicker as it cooks. If the dish has already been served, add some hot soup or hot water to dilute it when eating.
It is best to separate the dried scallop and radish before heating because the two ingredients require different heating times. Dried scallop is easy to become dry and tough, while radish is easy to become soft. Heating separately can better control the heat. The soup should be heated separately. You can add a little hot water to adjust the thickness.
If using a microwave oven for heating, it is recommended to place the ingredients evenly and choose medium heat for heating for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip it once in the middle. Eat immediately after heating to avoid repeated heating to avoid affecting the taste and nutrition. It is best to cover it with a lid or plastic wrap during heating to keep the moisture from evaporating.
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