crab and shrimp vermicelli, roma tomato, roe filled fish balls, thai basil

ingredients:

crab paste in soy bean oil
shrimp paste in soy bean oil
fish balls with roe - you can buy them at ranch 99
eggs
chicken broth
roma tomatoes, cubed
bean sprouts
thai basil
scallions
cilantro
lemon wedges
rice vermicelli
noodles
fine sea salt

directions:

1.  in a big soup pot, heat up chicken broth and cubed tomatoes to a boil.
2.  beat 2-3 eggs in a bowl and add two huge spoonfuls of both the crab and shrimp paste. mix together.
3.  when the chicken broth is boiling, slowly pour in egg/crab/shrimp mixture. after egg mixture comes together and is cooked in the broth, throw in the fish balls and reduce heat to a medium flame. season with salt.
4.  heat up another pot of salted water and cook vermicelli noodles.
5.  prepare side accompaniments. blanch the bean sprouts, cut lemon wedges, pick basil leaves, chope the cilantro, and slice the scallions.
6.  when noodles are cooked, put a moundful in the bottom of a bowl. top with hot soup and garnish with side accompaniments. serve immediately.

 *you can dip with fish balls in hoisin sauce and siracha. it's reallllly good.

tainan dan zhi mien

 


ingredients:

taiwan style minced pork (ingredients/directions see below)
shrimp
shirmp shells
pork soup bones
egg noodles
bean sprouts
chinese green chives
cilantro
garlic
black vinegar
hon-dashi
white pepper
salt

directions:

1.  make taiwan style minced pork.

ingredients :
   
pork belly, diced into small pieces by hand- food processor won't give you the same results.
ground pork
fried shallots (preferably the kind bought from taiwan street stalls- when you visit there, bring some back!)
soy sauce
rock sugar

directions:
  
heat oil in a pot and saute fried shallots.  if you don't have fried shallots, saute fresh shallots till browned and super fragrant.  add pork belly and saute for a bit then add ground pork. add soy sauce till
meat is browned and then add three times the amount of water. season to taste with rock sugar and let it
stew for awhile on low heat.

2.  boil pork bones for stock.  boil shrimp shells for shrimp stock.  make the shrimp stock super concentrated.  season pork stock the salt and hon-dashi.

3.   mise en place preparation:  mince garlic, cilantro, and cut chinese green chive into 1-2 inch pieces. cook shrimp and peel off the shells.

4.  cook noodles.  while noodles are cooking, put a bit of the minced garlic in the bottom of a bowl.  splash some black vinegar over garlic and top it with some white pepper.  using tongs, put noodles in bowl on top of the garlic mixture. blanch bean sprouts and chinese green chives in noodle water. ladle pork stock over noodles, add a bit of the shrimp stock in the bowl then spoon taiwan minced pork on top. add the blanched bean sprouts and chives, top with the cooked shrimp, and garnish with cilantro.  serve immediately.