Steam Chinese Marrow with Clawfish

Happy New Year to you!

It's going to be a exciting year for me, taxing year too. Both my kids will be going to new school tomorrow. My son in Primary 1 and my daughter in Nursery.

My daughter will be going to her brother's old school and she is very familiar with the school environment and teachers there. So I'm not as worried. It's my son whom I'm worried about. Primary school life is so different, more disciple needed, much longer school hours, etc.

I'm praying that he can cope and adapt to the new environment and new school rules fast. As both my kids will be in different session, I might not be able to blog as much. So pardon me if I go missing for a while. I'll still blog as much as I could.

I know it might be a bit early for Chinese New Year. It's still 26 days away. But if you are thinking of what to cook for your CNY dinner, here's a suggestion.

Before you go to the recipe, my best wishes to you for a great year ahead and may you always stay in the pink of health!

Ingredients:

• 2 Crayfish, meat removed from shells
• 1 Chinese Marrow or Hairy Gourd (节瓜）
• 20 Wolfberries (枸杞子), soaked to soften
• 150g Stock
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Cornflour mixture (thickener)
• Cooking Oil

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 Egg White
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour

How to do it:

1. Cut crayfish into smaller pieces.
2. Marinate the crayfish meat for 20 minutes.
3. Skin the Chinese Marrow and cut into equal thickness.
4. Remove the center seeds by using a circle cookie cutter or just a spoon.
5. Blanch Chinese Marrow rings in hot oil for 1 minute. It helps keep the rings in shape and seal in the sweetness. Skip this step is you like.
6. Add in the wolfberries to the stock.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Drain the rings and add into the stock
9. Simmer for 3 minutes or till soft, depending on your taste.
10. Retain the stock.
11. Drain crayfish meat from marinade and stuff in the rings in a deep dish.
12. Steam for 12 minutes or till crayfish is thoroughly cooked.
13. When steaming the rings, prepare the sauce.
14. Add sugar to taste to the previously used stock for simmering the rings.
15. When the sauce starts to bubbles, gradually stir in the thickener to thicken the sauce.
16. Pour sauce over the steam rings with crayfish and serve.

Note:

• You can replace the crayfish with prawns.
• Remove heads and shells of prawns. Slit the back of prawns, devien and clean them before use.
• You can curl your prawns like what I did for this dish or simply use it as it is.
• Just place the back in the ring, that is, tail pointing up.
• DO NOT add egg white and corn flour in the marinade if using whole prawn.
• If using smaller prawns, you might want to consider either getting smaller/thinner Chinese Marrow so there the prawn can fill up the hole or shell the prawns and cut into smaller pieces like what I did with the crayfish.
• Adjust the steaming time accordingly as prawns takes a shorten time to cook. Over cooking will make the prawn tough.