Stuffed broccoli with XO-Cap Cay

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 200 g minced poultry, frozen
• 150 g shrimp, raw, peeled, tailless, frozen
• 20 g celery leaves
• 1 tsp XO sauce, hot
• 4 g chicken stock powder
• 1 tbsp, heaped tapioca flour
• 1 tsp, heaped baking powder
• 1 tbsp sesame oil, dark
• 1 m.-large broccoli
• 400 g chicken stock
• 1 broccoli
• 40 g onion(s), red, small
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 20 g ginger
• 4 radishes
• 3 m.-large tomato(s), oblong
• salt and pepper
• 1 m.-sized carrot(s)
• 80 g broth (from the chicken stock, see above)
• 1 tsp XO sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• ¾ tsp tapioca flour
• 1 tbsp rice wine, dark, spicy-mild
• 3 tbsp sesame oil, light
• 1 tbsp sesame oil, dark

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

A special kind of festive side dish that takes time to prepare. Recipe from Hong Kong, China.

For the filling, rinse the celery and pick off the leaves. Thaw the frozen minced meat and cut into pieces. If the shrimp have a dark streak on their backs, cut them open and remove the intestines down to the end of the tail. Roughly chop the shrimp. Place them in a food processor (Moulinex or similar) along with half of the minced meat, the celery leaves, the XO sauce, and the chicken stock powder and pulse until creamy. Mix in a bowl with the remaining minced meat, the tapioca flour, the baking powder, and the sesame oil until smooth. Weigh the mixture and refrigerate until ready to use. Separate the florets from the broccoli stalks, leaving about 3 cm of stem. Halve large florets lengthwise. Set aside in lightly salted water. Rinse thoroughly before use, drain well, and count. For the Cap Cay, separate the remaining stalks from the broccoli stalks and halve them lengthwise. Cut off about 1 cm of the bottom of the stem, peel it, and cut it lengthwise into 30 x 4 x 4 mm sticks. Peel the onions, garlic cloves, and ginger. Quarter the onions lengthwise, halve the garlic cloves lengthwise, and slice the ginger thinly across the grain. Quarter large slices. Wash, trim, and quarter the radishes lengthwise. To garnish, wash two tomatoes, remove the stems, skin them, quarter them lengthwise, and remove the green stem base and seeds. Cut the quarters lengthwise into thin strips. Cut off the top of the remaining washed tomato so that it stands upright. While standing, make four crosswise cuts from top to bottom, leaving about 1.5 cm free at the bottom. Separate the petals from the core and bend them outwards slightly. Sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper and place in the center of the serving plate. Cut off the top of one washed carrot. Score the florets lengthwise 5 to 7 times and cut them crosswise into 4 mm thick florets. Bring the broth to a simmer. Remove the meat mixture from the refrigerator and divide its weight in grams by the number of broccoli florets to be filled. Stuff each floret from the bottom and around the stem with this meat mixture. Once half is full, add these florets, green side up, to the simmering broth. Once they have turned over, simmer for another 3 minutes, then remove them from the broth with a slotted spoon. Repeat with the remaining florets. Place the florets on the edge of a sufficiently large plate, alternating with the tomato strips. Blanch the carrot florets in the broth for 3 minutes. For the sauce, mix all ingredients until smooth and set aside. Heat the light sesame oil in a wok until very hot. Add all the ingredients for the Cap Cay and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Deglaze with the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Season the finished Cap Cay with the dark sesame oil, then arrange it around the central tomato, garnish with the carrot blossoms, serve, and enjoy. Note: In the photo, it looks like the center of the carrot blossoms is covered with something. This is not the case. The pulp of a ripe carrot is slightly lighter than its surrounding skin. Blanching will darken it slightly.