Pork and Mixed Mushroom Fish Ball Stew (燉菇魚蛋豬肉, Dan6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Juk6)

This is actually a very simple to make slow cooker (aka crock pot in the USA) recipe. The dried ingredients just have to be soaked before it’s assembled in the slow cooker. This is also another seafood-meat combination dish that the Chinese love to make. The fish balls are available packaged in your Asian market’s refrigerator or frozen section. Throw in some vegetables, mushrooms, and bean curd sticks, and you can have a slow cooker stew for dinner by doing the preparation work for cooking in the morning.

In the USA, what are called country-style ribs is actually pork butt (which is actually the pork shoulder) cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) wide strips. The “ribs” are available prepackaged at the supermarket either with- or without the bone. I recommend getting the boneless version to make preparation easier. You can, of course, cut your own “ribs” from the pork butt, but why bother when they’re already available pre-cut. The pork also has fat running through the meat, which should not be removed, as the fat adds to the flavor and texture of the stewed pork when cooked in the slow cooker. In fact, pork prepared in this manner without any visible fat would be very dry after cooking.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 lb.	1 kg.	Boneless pork country-style ribs (豬肉, zyu1 juk6) or boneless pork butt, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) cubes
1 lb.	500 g.	Mixed mushroom fish balls (菇魚蛋, gu1 jyu4 daan6)
10	10	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated
3	3	Dried bean curd sticks (腐竹, fu6 zuk1), rehydrated and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1 lb.	500 g.	Carrots (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), lightly crushed
2 slices	2 slices	Ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
1	1	Dried date (蜜棗, mat6 zou2)
1	1	Dried tangerine peel (陳皮, can4 pei4)
2 whole	2 whole	Star anise (八角, baat3 gok3)
1 stick	1 stick	Cassia bark (桂皮, gwai3 pei4) or cinnamon stick
¾ oz.	20 g.	One piece rock sugar (冰糖, bing1 tong4) or white sugar (白糖, baak6 tong4)
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Tapioca starch (木薯澱粉, muk6 syu4 din6 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Dark soy sauce (老抽, lou5 cau1)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
		Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid and/or chicken stock (雞湯, gai1 tong1) to cover the ingredients in the slow cooker

 

Equipment

3.5 in.	9 cm.	Soak-out cooker to hold the spices in the slow cooker
6.5 qt.	6 L.	Slow cooker (crock pot) to cook the stew
		Slotted spoon
		Fat separator

 

3.5 in. (9 cm.) Soak-Out Cooker

Instructions

1. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, and remove the stems. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried bean curd sticks in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the bean curd sticks for at least one hour. The dried bean curd sticks may be broken first if they’re too large for the container. Remove the bean curd sticks from the rehydration liquid and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces.
3. Place the liquid sauce ingredients into the slow cooker: dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry. Add the tapioca starch to the slow cooker and thoroughly mix the tapioca starch together with the other ingredients.
4. Put the dry spices into the soak-out cooker: lightly crushed garlic and ginger, dried date, dried tangerine peel, star anise, cassia bark or cinnamon stick, and rock sugar. The rock sugar may be placed directly into the slow cooker if there isn’t room in the soak-out cooker. If using white sugar, add and mix the sugar directly into the slow cooker. Place the soak-out cooker into the slow cooker.
5. Cut the boneless pork country style ribs or pork butt into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces and place into the slow cooker. Put the Shiitake mushrooms, bean curd stick pieces, and mixed mushroom fish balls into the slow cooker. Add enough of the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid to just cover the ingredients.
6. Wash and cut the carrots into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal and place into the slow cooker.
7. Cover the slow cooker, set the heat to low, and allow to cook for up to 8 hours. When cooking is complete, use a slotted spoon to remove the ingredients from the slow cooker and into the serving bowl. Use a fat separator to remove any excess fat from the sauce, and then pour the sauce into the serving bowl. Serve the dish with steamed rice.