Lobster glass noodle soup with shaoxing wine.

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big head prawn, big head prawn noodle soup, Chinese, chinese lettuce, chinese soup, chinese soup noodles, coriander, dinner, easy meals, glass noodles, healthy, Home Cooking, huatiao, large prawns, lobster, lobster glass noodle, lobster glass noodle soup, lobster noodle, lobster noodle soup, lunch, Noodles, One bowl meal, prawns, seafood, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, Soup, South East Asian, stew, wine broth, wine soup

Here is the second half of the lobster (first half of which went to making the lobster pasta) and the easier recipe of the two. The original version called for fresh river prawns/big head prawns but since I had the lobster, I figured I could use that instead and add in some large prawns as a bonus. Since there is no recipe that I could refer to online I tried to recreate the taste the best I could remember. Turns out I’m actually quite satisfied with the results! Now without further ado, the recipe:-

Ingredients (4 pax)

• 1/2 lobster
• 6 large prawns (in my first attempt I used 3, but the attempt with 6 prawns tasted better)
• 1 inch ginger, sliced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine (maybe a dash more if you like)
• 5 cups chicken stock
• Chinese lettuce (I used a quarter of a head), cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 150g Glass noodles
• Spring onions chopped into large three inch sections.
• Coriander for garnish
• Finely chopped spring onions for garnish
• salt

The array of ingredientsGlass noodlesLarge lobster.

So we shall start with the prawns. De-shell all the prawns and set the shells/heads aside. Do NOT throw them away! Then devein them and cut each prawn into three sections.Size of the prawn heads and my hand, just for comparison. Lots of flavour in those prawn heads! 

Cut the lobster into half. If the lobster is as spiny as this one, do use a towel and be very careful when handling it. A pair of strong kitchen scissors would be a great help here.

More pictures of the lobster… as you can probably tell, I’ve added pictures from a second lobster noodle attempt into the mix. The second lobster looked way fresher and more succulent with its firmer white flesh and golden globules.

When you’ve managed to cut the lobster into half lengthwise, chop the tail into three parts and dig out some of the flesh from the head (I forgot to do that here) and set that aside with the prawns. Leave the orange/golden stuff behind.

Heat up some oil in a large pot and fry the ginger, garlic and onions until the onions are translucent and the aroma of the ginger comes out. It helps to crush the ginger before or during this step.Add the prawn shells and fry until half cooked (almost that coral colour they become when they’re fully cooked) before adding the lobster head to the pot.Continue frying for a minute or so, adding a little oil if it gets too dry. Then add the shaoxing wine to soak up all that flavour that’s coming from the prawn shells and lobster head. I actually would have liked to add another half cup of shaoxing wine but I was worried my family may not like the taste so I stuck with half a cup, but go ahead and use that extra half a cup if you like. 

Add the stock and simmer for around 15 minutes before turning off the heat. Cover the pot with its respective lid and leave it for perhaps an hour.

Then, remove the prawn shells from the stock (if you had a strainer bag in the first place, use it to hold the prawn shells because it can be a chore to pick them out from the soup).

Toss in the lobster and prawn meat that was set aside earlier, along with the spring onion sections, lettuce and glass noodles. The reason why we cook the shells and the meat separately is so that we can extract the most flavour out of the seafood from the shells without overcooking the meat, which is only added at the end. If you were to cook the meat right at the start, you’re going to end up with some very hard, overcooked and dry chunks of prawn/lobster which is such a waste of good seafood.

Place the lid back on and bring the soup to a boil.

Add the sesame oil at the end and season with salt. Top with chopped spring onions and coriander. Easy peasy!

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Spicy and Sour Szechuan Pork glass noodles

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Chinese, dinner, glass noodles, hot and spicy noodles, lunch, ma la, Noodles, pork, sichuan, sichuan glass noodles, sichuan hot and sour noodles, sichuan peppercorns, sweet and sour, szechuan, szechuan peppercorns, vinegar, zhejiang vinegar

Spicy and Sour Szechuan Pork glass Noodles

Back at Warwick I ate a lot of junk food. By junk food I mean instant noodles and pre-frozen meals. There’s one particular type of instant noodles that I used to love, some sort of Szechuan spicy glass noodles in numbing, vinegary soup and peanuts. I used to add lots of bacon to it, a sinful, spicy bowl on a cold winter day.

I don’t know where I can find this particular brand of instant noodles anymore so I searched online to see if there’s a recipe that comes close to the description of “Szechuan, spicy, numbing and sour” and I was pleased to come across this recipe ;D I adapted it slightly, not much change, and I loved the result! I must say though that there’s quite a bit of seasoning that goes into the noodles.

Ingredients (recipe taken and adapted from http://tofoodwithluv.blogspot.sg)

• 150g sliced pork tenderloin (or minced pork if you prefer it)
• 80g glass noodles
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 1/2 cups chinese cabbage, cut into 1.5″ x 1.5″ squares
• Oil for frying

• 1 tbsp chilli powder (or more)
• 1 tbsp chilli oil (“la yu”)
• 1/2 tsp chilli bean paste (“Douban Jiang”)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/3 cup water
• 2-3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp finely ground toasted Szechuan peppercorns/ or about 3-4 kernels crushed whole Szechuan peppercorn (or more if you like that numbing taste)
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• A handful of Chinese coriander/cilantro for topping

• Marinade:
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp water

Method

1. Marinade the pork and set aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes or until cooked. Rinse under cold running water for a minute until all the starch is gone. Leave it to sit in a bowl of iced water so the strands don’t stick.
2. Heat up 1 tbsp oil in a wok and brown the meat, if you are using minced meat, break it up as you go along. Push the meat aside and add 1 1/2 tbsp oil. Fry the garlic and ginger, then add the chilli powder, chilli oil and chilli bean paste. Fry for about a minute, then mix through with the pork.
3. Add the soy, wine, sugar, vinegars, chicken stock powder and water. Bring to a boil and simmer 1-2 minutes until the sauce is slightly reduced. Add sesame oil, Szechuan pepper and turn off the heat.
4. Toss the blanched vegetables and cooked noodles in the sauce until it’s thoroughly incorporated and transfer to a serving dish. Top with some chopped spring onions and cilantro.