Preserved Duck Egg Jellyfish Salad with Mustard Dressing (芥末粉醬皮蛋海蜇沙律, Gaai3 Mut6 Fan2 Zoeng3 Pei4 Daan6 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6)

Here’s a tasty salad I made for my family’s 2016 Thanksgiving dinner. The recipe is very similar to the salad I made in 2015: Shredded Tofu Jellyfish Salad (白豆腐絲海蜇沙律, Baak⁶ Dau⁶ Fu⁶ Si¹ Hoi² Zit³ Saa¹ Leot⁶). It’s actually quite simple to make, consisting mainly of opening packages and cutting the fresh ingredients. The mustard dressing really brought out the flavors in this salad. Unlike most salads, the dressing is made first and then the salad ingredients are added. The salad and dressing are actually made the day before serving, so this makes an ideal dish that can be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator.

Preserved duck egg is a unique ingredient in this salad. Preserved duck egg can be purchased at your local Asian market. Wikipedia has a good article on preserved duck eggs (also called century eggs) if you’re interested in more details. Use an egg slicer to cu the egg into small pieces.

Instant jellyfish comes in a package ready to use (hence the “instant” name). If I translated the Chinese correctly, it’s “jellyfish noodles”. The traditional method to prepare jellyfish is to soak dried salted jellyfish to rehydrate it before cutting into strips (at least a two day effort with a couple of water changes to remove the salt). So you see why packaged instant jellyfish is preferable.

Shredded tofu is also packaged and looks like noodles. This recipe uses both the regular (white) and marinated (five-space), but you can use all of one type if desired. The tofu needs to be parboiled before using (follow the instructions on the package), but other than that, there’s no other cooking needed before assembling the salad. The rest of the fresh salad ingredients are either cut or come already cut.

Enjoy!

Shredded Tofu Jellyfish Salad (白豆腐絲海蜇沙律, Baak6 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6)

Happy New Year! For the first recipe of 2016, here’s a tasty salad I made for my family’s 2015 Christmas dinner. It’s actually quite simple to make, consisting mainly of opening packages and cutting the fresh ingredients. The two notable ingredients are instant jellyfish and shredded tofu.

I’ve used instant jellyfish previously, Cucumber and Jellyfish Salad (Ceng¹ Gwaa¹ Hoi² Zit³ Saa¹ Leot⁶, 青瓜海蜇沙律), while the recipes are similar, the main ingredient for this dish is shredded tofu. Instant jellyfish comes in a package ready to use (hence the “instant” name). If I translated the Chinese correctly, it’s “jellyfish noodles”. The traditional method to prepare jellyfish is to soak dried salted jellyfish to rehydrate it before cutting into strips (at least a two day effort with a couple of water changes to remove the salt). So you see why packaged instant jellyfish is preferable. The jellyfish and cucumber give this dish a nice crunchy texture.

Shredded tofu is also packaged and looks like noodles. I’ve also used shredded tofu in another (cooked) recipe, Baby Bok Choy Sprouts with Shredded Tofu (白菜苗豆腐絲, Baak⁶ Coi³ Miu⁴ Dau⁶ Fu⁶ Si¹). The tofu needs to be parboiled before using (follow the instructions on the package), but other than that, there’s no other cooking needed before assembling the salad. The rest of the fresh salad ingredients are either cut or come already cut into small strips. Shredded tofu also comes marinated (five-spice), but the “noodles” are larger and could be substituted for the non-marinated version to give the salad another added taste.

Enjoy!

Chinese Barbeque Chicken Salad (手絲燒烤鷄沙律, Sau2 Si1 Siu1 Haau1 Gai1 Saa1 Leot6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Aug 2015. Some equipment was added and hyperlinks fixed.

If this recipe looks familiar, it is, since it’s a variation of the original Mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad (手絲鷄沙律, Sau² Si¹ Gai¹ Saa¹ Leot⁶) recipe. My Mom liked this version of the salad more than the original. This time when I made the salad, I decided to barbeque the chicken using the Mom’s Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (燒烤豉油雞, Siu¹ Haau¹ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) recipe. I marinated the chicken for a week, which is much longer than called for in the grilled chicken recipe, but other than that, making the Chinese chicken salad was the same. The recipe still makes enough salad to feed an army of relatives, so try making this the next time you have a family gathering.

Enjoy!

Mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad (手絲鷄沙律, Sau2 Si1 Gai1 Saa1 Leot6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Aug 2015. Some equipment was added and hyperlinks fixed.

My Mom would make her Chinese chicken salad for family gatherings, and since I have a very large family, there is no such thing as making just a little Chinese chicken salad. She would roast two chickens and hand shred the meat. Hand-shredding (手絲, sau² si¹) the chickens was an important step, since the Chinese believe that hand-shredding adds flavor to the dish (just be sure your hands are washed and clean!). All the other ingredients also require time to cut, chop, and crush in order to get to the finished dish. Note that making this recipe is a two day process.

I just recently asked my Mom for the recipe (which is found later in the post). The first time I made the dish, it didn’t turn out right. I used chicken parts and increased the amount of dressing. All wrong; since you need the gelatin from a whole chicken to flavor the dish, and just a small amount of dressing is required since the salad is almost “dry” when compared to the “wet” dressing used in most salads.

My second try was more successful. This version of the recipe is slightly different from my Mom’s original, with minor changes to the salad and dressing ingredients and quantities, and the taste was close to my Mom’s too. However, the quantity of salad hasn’t changed, so there’s still no such thing as just a little Chinese chicken salad.

Enjoy!

Greek Yogurt Cantaloupe Pasta Salad

This is a nice dish for those hot days when you want something cool to eat. You get the sweetness from the cantaloupe and a nice sour tang from the dressing. This recipe is very similar to the Greek Yogurt Soy Sauce Chicken Pasta Salad dish (whose recipe can be found here). The main difference in this recipe is the use of cantaloupe instead or chicken, making this dish vegetarian.

Enjoy!

Greek Yogurt Soy Sauce Chicken Pasta Salad

This recipe is very similar to the Soy Sauce Chicken and Peach Pasta Salad dish (whose recipe can be found here). The main difference in this recipe is the use of nonfat Greek yogurt and the addition of artichoke hearts and Kalamata olives. The Greek yogurt actually holds up better at being a dressing than regular yogurt. I made this dish for a family gathering the night before and mixed the dressing with the salad the day of the gathering. The dressing was still emulsified after being refrigerated overnight.

Enjoy!

Seafood Pasta Salad

 

This recipe was updated on 11 July 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I was thinking about making a pasta salad with seafood, and low and behold, shrimp came on sale. So my timing was good since you can really use any available seafood to make this salad. I decided to add two “fake” seafood ingredients, imitation crab flakes and imitation shark’s fin. Most people are familiar with imitation crab flakes, but probably not with imitation shark’s fin. I’ve always used imitation shark’s fin in soup, so this is the first time I’ve used it in a salad.

Imitation shark’s fin is a gelatin-based product that is made to resemble the real shark’s fin long transparent cartilage strands. Both the real and imitation shark’s fin have no taste, but it’s the texture that makes it an interesting ingredient. The imitation version comes packaged frozen and when defrosted, look like transparent brown noodles. I prefer to use the imitation given how the real version is obtained.

Another interesting ingredient is fresh seaweed. You can get fresh seaweed (and the imitation shark’s fin) at your local Asian market and it comes as long strips or tied into bow-ties. I used the bow-tie version in this dish and it gives an added crunch to the dish, as well as a distinct flavor.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Chicken and Peach Pasta Salad

There was an article in the local newspaper’s food section on barbequed peaches. That gave me the idea to include peaches in a chicken salad that I was about to make using leftovers from the Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (Siu¹ Haau¹ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹, 燒烤豉油雞) recipe. While I didn’t barbeque the peaches, they tasted great after briefly baking (after halving and pitting) in my toaster oven.

I used a balsamic yogurt dressing and it turned out to be an OK dressing, but it lacked the tang I expected. The next time I made this dressing, I used rice vinegar, instead of balsamic, and upped the amount of lemon/lime juice, and it tasted much better. The yogurt dressing is also healthier than a mayonnaise based dressing.

The first crop of cherry tomatoes from my garden was also available, along with some very small Sungold tomatoes (some no larger than ⅛ of an inch). I also included button mushrooms and some basil to complete the pasta salad. In addition to the pasta salad, I made Garlic Garlic Bread to complete the meal.

Enjoy!

Cucumber and Jellyfish Salad (Ceng1 Gwaa1 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6, 青瓜海蜇沙律)

 

This recipe was updated on 30 Dec 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

This salad might seem to be an unusual combination of ingredients, cucumber and jellyfish, but it’s one that I grew up with and was one of my Grandmother’s favorite dishes. You used to have to buy salted jellyfish, soak it multiple times to hydrate and to remove the salt, and then cut it into long strips. Now it comes pre-packaged (as “instant jellyfish”) and ready to eat! The dressing is sesame oil and rice vinegar.

It’s easy to make and I used to make it for work potlucks. I would get quizzical looks from people and when asked what it was, I would just say, “It’s a Chinese Cucumber Salad, have some, you’ll like it”. After people gobbled it up, I would tell them what was really in it.

Enjoy!