Steamed Moss Pie

Vegetables, also Vegetarian Foods

Steamed Moss Pie
Ingredients:
10 bamboo pith mushrooms
1 and 1/2 cups dried black moss, in Chinese, fa cai
10 Shanghai cabbage, their lower ends sliced off
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
dash ground white pepper
5 black mushrooms, soaked, stems discarded, and sliced in quarter-inch pieces
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon ginger juice
2 Tablespoons Yunnan ham, slivered
10 long scallion pieces
1 Tablespoon oil
1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon thin soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 Tablespoons cornstarch mixed with one tablespoon cold water
Preparation:
1. Soak bamboo pith in warm water for ten minutes, then cut both ends off each one, cut them into one-inch squares and blanch in boiling water for one minute, drain and squeeze out excess water.
2. Soak black moss for one hour in cold water, rinse it and drain it well. Then blanch it in boiling water for one minute, drain and squeeze out excess water.
3. Cut cabbages in half the long way, and blanch in boiling water for one minute, then drain and squeeze out any excess water. 4. Make a mixture of mushroom slices, fresh ginger, and ham and divide it into ten batches.
5. Wrap two halves of the cabbage around one-batch of the mushroom mixture and tie each with one piece of scallion.
6. Put some black moss on each package, and place on an oiled plate on a steamer basket and steam over boiling water for twenty minutes, then remove to a serving platter.
7. Heat the stock, oyster and soy sauces and the wine and the cornstarch and water mixture until it thickens, then pour this over the moss pies and serve.

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