Egg Preservation: Giam Neng / Salted Duck Eggs

"Giem Neng" basically means 'salted egg'. It is delicious served with congee! Duck eggs are traditionally used for "giam neng" but you can use chicken eggs as well.

Ingredients

Duck (or chicken) eggs
Sea Salt
Water

Method

In a saucepan, boil enough water to cover the number of eggs you have. Add salt until no more dissolves in the water. Allow the water to cool to room temperature. Arrange your eggs in a non-reactive jar. Cover the eggs with the brine. Make sure that all the eggs are totally submerged in the brine solution. Allow the eggs to brine for 30 days.

Hard boil the eggs before serving

Nogh Hiang

I have been dreaming about this for ages but never got around to it because it not only takes a while to make, it took me sometime to find the correct bean curd skin for the wrapping. Nogh Hiang is a uniquely Hokkien or Teochew dish served in South-East Asia.

"Nogh Hiang" means "five fragrances" in Teochew. Basically, the roll is season with 5-spices. It is like  spring roll except it's rolled in a bean curd skin instead of a wheat-based skin. The roll is filled with seasoned minced pork and shrimp (optional) then deep fried.

It's usually served with sliced cucumbers and "lap cheung" (Chinese sausage). Use Kecap Manis as a condiment. I just served mine on its own with kecap manis over rice. I personally like ABC brand from Indonesia the best. While you can buy it from Amazon in a pinch, it will be a lot cheaper to purchase it from your local Asian grocer.

Bean curd skin is made by fishing out the skin that forms on the surface of soy milk. It is then dried. You could be able get the bean curd skin from the frozen aisle at the Asian grocer as well. There is a dried version that is not refrigerated. This is not suitable for this recipe.

Ingredients

Filling
2 lbs pork
1 medium jicama, peeled, diced and steamed
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp amino acids or soy sauce
1 Tbsp five spice powder
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
1 tsp white pepper (optional)
1 egg
1 Tbsp corn starch

Wrapper
Frozen bean curd skin
1 egg, beaten

Method

Get a steamer going. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the pork into a very course mince. Add jicama can pulse until you get a course mince. Add all other filling ingredients and pulse until you get a well mixed fine mince.

On a flat surface, lay out 1 bean curd skin. Form a meat roll and place it on an edge of the skin. Roll the skin and meat towards the opposite edge, folding the bean curd sides in into the package before sealing the final side with the some beaten egg. Repeat. Place the rolls in the steamer and steam until the skin turns translucent.

In a separate pan, heat oil over medium heat. To test if the oil is hot enough, place a dry fork in it. If the oil produces bubbles, the oil is hot enough. Place the steamed rolls one by one into the oil, making sure they do not touch each other. Fry each side until golden brown. Drain and serve.

Sweet Sour Meatballs

This dish is not traditional Chinese. It's closer in taste to American Chinese fast food, except without the garbage ingredients.

Ingredients

Sweet sour sauce (recipe here)
Meatballs (beef or venison is recommended for this sauce) (recipe here)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 Tbsp oil for frying

Method

Heat oil in a dutch over (preferred) or pan. Add onions and fry until soft. Add meatballs then sweat & sour sauce. Mix well. Cover and let simmer on low heat for at least an hour. Add some water if the mixture gets too dry

Serve over white rice

Dim Sum-Style Braised Deer Tripe

This requires time to prepare. You can buy beef tripe from Asian and Mexican grocers. I have even seen big packs sold at both Walmart and Sam's Club for about $5. I believe they are all bleached.

Obviously, the tripe from our deer was green tripe so it had to be cleaned and washed well. The best way to wash it (after cleaning) is to use rock salt (I just used sea salt). This will result in a grey-ish looking tripe. Without bleaching, I don't think you can get it looking white like those available commercially.

Next, boil the tripe in salted water for about 4-5 hours, with a couple of changes of salt water in between. I have to warn you that this whole process is, well strong-smelling. "Barn-y" if you will - it will STINK.

Towards the end of the boiling, the smell will dissappear and leave what I call the 'tripe-y' smell. It's hard to describe what this smell is, you'll recognize it if you've grown up eating it.

After boiling, allow to cool and slice it into thin strips.

The following it revised from a braised beef recipe I found online. You can follow the ingredients exactly from that recipe but I used what I had on hand.

Since I had neither Hoisin sauce nor much soy sauce left, this is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

Deer (or beef) tripe, cleaned, cooked and sliced thin

Oil  

Sauce

Dark soy sauce

Black bean sauce or paste

Sugar

Honey

Molasses

Shaoxing Wine (or dry sherry)

A few drops of Sriracha chili sauce 

Garlic powder

Garlic, peeled and minced

1 star anise

Black whole peppercorns

Five spice powder

Carrots, peeled and chopped

Chicken Stock

Salt

Corn starch (for thickening)

Cilantro (for garnish)

Method

Saute the tripe in hot oil in a dutch oven. Add the black bean sauce/paste and mix well. Add the chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients except the salt and corn starch. 

Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 4-5 hours. When everything is cooked and soft, add salt if necessary. To thicken the gravy, add water to corn starch in a separate bowl (never add corn starch to water as it will be VERY difficult to mix).  Mix until you get a paste. Add it to the stew and allow it to simmer until thickened.

Serve over rice or egg noodles and garnish with cilantro.