Crispy fried water chestnuts – Cui Zha "Xiang Ling"

Ingredients for 10 servings:

• 40 wonton wrappers, 10 x 10 cm
• n. B. Flour for the work surface
• 150 g minced pork, meger
• 200 g shrimp(s), raw, peeled, approx. 16 cm, frozen
• 2 tbsp sesame oil, dark
• 1 egg(s), size S
• 1 tbsp rice wine, golden yellow
• 1 tsp hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp fish sauce, dark
• 2 tsp Umami seasoning (granules), red
• 3 tbsp sago, ground (sago flour)
• e.g. salt and pepper
• 2 Pepper, red, long, mild to medium hot
• 40 g spring onion(s), only the green part
• 30 g spice lily (aromatic ginger)
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves
• e.g. Sago, ground (sago flour)
• n. B. Sauce (Chinese spring roll sauce, store-bought)
• e.g. frisée lettuce, leaves as required
• n. B. cucumber slice(s)
• 1 ½ liters of frying oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 35 minutes

A special kind of dim sum, Xiang Ling style, reminiscent of fried water chestnuts. Recipe from China, Eastern Coast.

Thaw the pastry shells in the package. Place the minced pork in a bowl. Halve the thawed shrimp lengthwise. Remove any gray-brown intestines from the back, if necessary. Pay particular attention to the last 3 cm before the tail end. Pat the shrimp halves dry and cut crosswise into approximately 5 mm pieces. Mix these with the sesame oil into the minced pork. Crack the egg and separate 2 tablespoons of the egg white for the gluten. Whisk the remaining egg with the rice wine, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, umami, and sago flour until smooth and mix into the meat mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roughly chop the washed or peeled vegetables. Remove the stems from the peppers, halve them lengthwise, remove the seeds, and cut them crosswise into approximately 1 cm pieces. Chop the prepared vegetables in a food processor (Moulinex or similar) and mix them into the meat mixture. Set aside until dry and kneadable with sago flour. Keep at room temperature until ready to use. For the glue, whisk the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt until smooth and keep in a glass jar using a thin pastry brush. For garnishing – depending on the number of guests – have bowls of spring roll sauce, flat plates, lettuce leaves and cucumber slices with toothpicks ready. Open the package of pastry wrappers, remove 5 thin slices from the block and keep them separate. Dust the work surface with flour and place 1 pastry sheet on it. Brush the edges with glue. Place a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in the center and spread it out slightly. Cover the meat completely with the bottom edge of the pastry wrapper and press gently. Then fold the left and right side edges over the meat at right angles to it and press gently again. Brush the glue-free side edges with glue and fold them towards the center so that the pastry wrapper looks like an open envelope. Turn the dough sheet over, brush the triangular top part with glue, fold it up over the underside and press gently. The first water chestnut is now complete. Continue in this way until all the meat filling or dough sheets have been used up. Heat the frying oil to 190 degrees Celsius and fry the filled dough sheets (water chestnuts alla Xiang Ling) in 4 batches until light brown on both sides. Drain well, arrange on serving plates and enjoy warm as finger food. Note: These “water chestnuts” are finger food and are served with toothpicks for dipping. The chopsticks in the picture are simply a reminder that this is a Chinese dish. They were served here as a main course for 4 people.