Shiitake Mushrooms with Prawns

Fish and Seafood

Shiitake Mushrooms with Prawns
Ingredients:
1/3 pound dry scallops, one tablespoon wine, and a few pieces of ginseng
8 dry Chinese black mushrooms, large flower ones recommended
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon goose fat
1/4 pound shrimp, shelled
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon maltose
1 teaspoon ginseng liquor
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 teaspoon shrimp roe
Preparation:
1. Make a stock cooking the scallops, wine, and ginseng roots and three quarts of boiling water. Simmer for five minutes, turn off the heat, and allow to cool. Then mash the scallops and simmer for two hours, then strain and discard the solids.
2. Soak mushrooms for two days in cold water, changing the water every twelve hours. Drain them, remove their stems, rub them with the cornstarch, and rinse them.
3. Put goose fat in a casserole, add the mushrooms and three cups of water. Simmer on the lowest possible heat for eight hours, adding more water as needed. When done, drain and reserve both mushrooms and their liquid separately.
4. Pound or mince the shrimp, then mix them with the salt and stuff the underside of the mushrooms.
5. Make a sauce using one-quarter of the scallop stock (freeze the rest in one-quarter cup amounts for other uses), with the mushroom water, sugar, maltose and liquor. Simmer until volume is reduced to less than half.
6. Heat walnut oil, and fry stuffed mushrooms, prawn side down for up to one minute. Then remove them and arrange on a plate, shrimp side up. Decor with a small amount of shrimp roe on each, pour scallop-mushroom sauce in top, and serve.

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