King Yuen's Delicacies

by: Qiongdan Yuen

Hong Kong China: Hai Bin Book Company 2003, Paperback
ISBN: 962-365-742-0

Reviewed by: Jacqueline M. Newman
Summer Volume: 2006 Issue: 13(2) page(s): 27 and 28

This is a revision of a 1999 book we never saw before. The author is a well-known dramatic actress who goes by the stage name of King Yuen. Revised from the original, this edition is in Chinese and English; the language(s) of the original unknown. Ms. Yuen is a native of the Liaoning province; she now lives in Hong Kong, knows about Chinese and mixed Asian foods, and shares that enthusiasticly and effortlessly.

The forty-three recipes include eleven from friends, the rest are her own. They represent golden oldies and modern mixtures. There are ones for Stuffed Crab Claws and others for Chicken Wings with Coke. One uses dried scallops and XO paste, as she calls this sauce. Another uses dried scallops in a dish called Sweet Potato with Dried Scallops and Preserved Duck Eggs. There are others for Fish and Lotus Root Cakes, Smoked Fish in Suzhou Style, Tea with Bottom Shell of Tortoise, and Noodles with Squid and Pork. All have one or more pictures of Ms. Yuen wearing an apron; most include a culinary hint, but only in Chinese. A few show her eating the finished dish or in a different expressive pose. Many are delicious dishes. A Chinese friend we showed the book to said, "I think it is going backwards and forwards." Not sure what she means; what is your assessment?

Stewed Potato, Conpoy, and Preserved Duck Egg
Ingredients:
2 dried conpoy (dried scallops), soaked for one hour in a cup of warm water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 potato, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 preserved duck egg, quartered
1 scallion, cut into one-inch pieces
Preparation:
1. Remove scallops and reserve the liquid, and separate the scallop into its own shredded pieces.
2. Heat wok, add oil and fry the scallops for one minute or until fragrant. Then add potato and tomato pieces and the reserved water from soaking the scallops. Simmer for one hour.
3. Add scallops and duck egg pieces and simmer another ten to fifteen minutes, then serve.

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