While she was out conquering Mount Shahbandar, I made a light sauce to go with the noodles (oyster, light, pepper, sesame oil, sugar & water) and fried some crunchy shallots and had some carrot cake and laid on the couch with my feet up...
Above is Mark's first serving, and here is his second. Wm made 20 wantans for Hazel without prawns due to her allergies.
I really love wantans when they have more prawns than meat in them, as in the ones here. If you look hard enough, you can just see the pinky glow of the prawns beneath the wrapper.
How do you make wantans?
Take some meat and mince with some fat (use chicken for a halal version), put aside. Coarsely chop some prawns (make sure you remove vein). Put minced prawns into a large bowl. With a pair of chopsticks, stir them in one direction only (don't ask me why :P), then gather the prawns in your hands, raise arms, and slam prawn mixture into the bowl - do this maybe 15 to 20 times. This will make the prawns more 'crunchy and springy'. Then mix prawn mixture into meat mixture and season very well with light soy, white pepper, sesame oil, salt and a bitty pinch sugar. Add 'secret ingredient' and marinate for at least 6 hours.
And now for the secret ingredient. Restaurants will NEVER tell you why their wantans always have that unique taste which you find difficult to duplicate at home. Well in HK a certain kind of dried unsalted fish is used. As we can't get that fish here, you can cheat by using ikan bilis OR silverfish (the little dried white fish about an inch long). Here's how - soak the fish in water to get rid of excess salt, then dry fry in a pan till brown and crispy and pound into powder form. Add 2 tablespoons or so to your meat/prawn mixture and it will make a world of difference. Try it.
The loosely wrap the meat/prawn mixture in the wrappers, and throw them into boiling water, till they float. (takes 8 to 10 mins) Then drain and toss in shallot oil and the soy mixture described above and eat with noodles.
Posts
