Stuffed Sea Cucumber

Fish and Seafood

Stuffed Sea Cucumber
Ingredients:
1 large sea cucumbers
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
4 slices fresh ginger, diced
4 scallions, diced
1 square inch roasted pork belly, diced finely
1 Tablespoon rice wine
1/2 cup corn oil
1 cup peeled, deveined, and diced shrimp
20 quail eggs
1 cup diced roaste duck or goose
10 black mushrooms, soaked, stems removed, and diced
1/2 cup diced bamboo shooots
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 envelope (one tablespoon) powdered chicken bouillon
1 cup minced greens such as bok cai or spinach
2 Tablespoons cornstarch mixed with six tablepoons cold water
1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
Preparation:
1. Soak sea cucumbers, just covering with bottled water, until soft, changing the water every three or four hours. It weill take about two days to get them very soft. Keep them covered and in the refrigerator during this process. As soon as possible, probably during the first day, remove any innards, and rinse well with tap water, then continue the soaking process.
2. Put sea cucumbers in a pot and cover with fresh water, and simmer until they have swollen and are soft to the touch. This may take a couple of hours; it depends upon how long they have been dried. Carefully remove them from the water so as not to tear the sea cucumbers, and set them upside down to drain.
3. Heat sesame oil, and fry ginger and scallions for one minute, then fry pork belly and the rice wine for another minute, then remove from the heat.
4. Heat corn oil to about 300 degrees F. and fry the shrimp just until they turn pink. Remove them and set aside. Then fry the quail eggs, and remove and cool them, then shell them.
5. Return the oil to the heat and add the duck, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots and fry for one minute, then drain well. Add the shrimp to this mixture, and the oyster sauce and chicken powder and mix well. Stuff the sea cucumbers.
6. Set them out on a heated serving plate. Put the quail eggs around them.

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