Cockle Meatballs Recipe

cockle meatballs recipe
Today’s recipe is a Chinese cockle meatballs recipe I learnt whilst I lived in Shanghai but before that a little update about things.

I really expected when I quit my job working as a chef my life would become quieter and while it’s an awful lot less stressful I’m busier than ever with my freelance illustration work. I’ve picked up a few commissions recently, two of which came from my home country Taiwan. One job is to initially create 6 illustrations based on popular tourist spots in Taiwan for a Taiwanese souvenir company. The other is to illustrate a children’s interactive book this time for a publisher in Taiwan. I’m also working on a top secret commission job which I can’t discuss right now but this is also something I’m really excited about. One thing I will say, my illustration for the last project will be viewable in supermarkets soon.

Back to the food, I made these cockle meatballs around a month about but due to Chris and myself having absolutely tonnes of work to do we literally haven’t had time until now to sort out the photos and type up the recipe.

I ate these cockle meatballs while I lived in Shanghai but in Shanghai restaurants they use clams (蛤) instead for making this meatballs dish and they cook this dish with super sweet soy sauce, which is a bit too sweet for me. But in general, I really like this dish no matter the flavour or the presentation. So I remade this dish at home myself based on my memory of this dish but turn down the sweetness. Also, I found cockles are quite salty, so please be careful with the the seasonings.

cockle meatballs recipe
 

Cockle Meatballs Recipe

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 14 meatballs

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 14 cockles shelled
  • 250 g pork mince you can also use beef mince
  • 1 tsp ginger chop finely
  • 1 tbsp spring onion chop finely
  • 1 egg white

Seasonings

  • 1 tsp potato starch or corn flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients for sauce

  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 150 ml stock vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce or sticky soy sauce
  • 1 tsp potato starch mix with 2 tbsp water. Makes potato starch water

Instructions

  1. Leave the cockles to soak in water for a couple hours to get rid of any dirt.
  2. Pick the cockles meat out. Keep both meat and shells.
  3. Mix the mince, ginger, spring onions, egg white and all the seasonings in a big bowl. Use your hand to mix it evenly in the same direction for 3-5 minutes.
  4. Chop the cockles up and mix with step 3.
  5. Roll the mixture into small balls and put back into the cockle shells.
  6. Steam the meatballs for 7-9 minutes until the meat is cooked all the way through.
  7. Pour the oyster or stocky soy sauce, sugar and stock into a small sauce pan and boil at first then reduce down the liquid to about half the original amount. Gently stir the potato starch water into the sauce and keep the stove at a lot heat. Keep stirring while cooking and turn off the fire after the sauce has started to boil.
  8. Place the cockle meatballs on a plate and pour the sauce on it. The dish is ready to serve.
cockle meatballs recipe

Sixi Scallop authentic Chinese seafood dish

Sixi Scallop authentic Chinese seafood dish

sixi scallop recipe

Happy New Year everyone! Sixi scallops is my first post of 2011. I decided to make a quick, tasty and healthy dish for the first day of the year. Sixi in Chinese means “four happiness” or “four lucky, joy”, which also means a lot of happiness. So, I wish this dish can bring you a lot of luck and joy in 2011.

Recently as well as working none stop in my normal job as usual I’ve been preparing speeches for a Chinese New Year festival in Glasgow which is coming up in February and March. I think this dish is one of the healthiest dishes within Chinese cuisine. A lot of authentic dishes are actually really healthy and absolutely nothing like dishes one buys in the UK. Authentic Chinese dishes contain less meat and a lot more vegetable or soy bean products which are really good for our health.

So, here is the recipe for this Sixi Scallops. I wish all of you have a happy and healthy year and remember to keep visiting my blog during 2011.

Credit: All photos were taken by Chris at: http://www.chrisradleyphotography.com

 

Sixi Scallop authentic Chinese seafood dish

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 400 g scallops
  • 1 medium carrot washed and peeled. Cut into slightly thick slices
  • 1 red pepper cut into 2cm diamond shapes
  • 1 yellow pepper cut into 2cm diamond shapes
  • 200 g mange tout
  • 1 clove garlic chop finely
  • 1 slice ginger chop finely
  • 1/2 chili cut into thin slices
  • 1/2 cup stock

Seasonings

  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp potato starch 1 tbsp potato or corn flour starch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water, mixed evenly

Marinade for scallops

  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
  • 1 tbsp rice wine

Instructions

  1. Marinade scallops with rice wine and a couple pinches salt and pepper powder.
  2. Wash and peel the carrot and mange tout. Cut the carrot into thick slices
  3. Heat a wok with 1 tablespoon oil and stir-fry yellow and red pepper first for 2 minutes.
  4. Add carrot and keep stir-frying for another minute or two.
  5. Add mange tout, garlic ,chilli and ginger. Stir-fry everything for another 2 minutes.
  6. Add scallop, stock and cover the lid and cook for 2 minutes.
  7. Stir in potato starch and water and bring it to boil again. It’s now ready to serve.

 

Prawn with Pineapple

Prawn with Pineapple

prawn with pineapple

I don’t like to moan but the fact is I’m really exhausted from work. As mentioned in a previous post the Fringe and Tattoo festivals are on at the moment and Edinburgh is horrendously busy.

I always crave food with strong flavours, such as this prawn with pineapple dish. I love the sweetness but also sourness from the pineapple. It always gives me refreshing vibes when I’m tired and it’s both quick and simple to prepare.

The preparation time for this dish is around 30 minutes. Maybe next August I will do a food project called “Chef exhausted from festival’s 30 minutes Eastern cuisine” lol, how do you think?

This dish is a favourite amonst Chinese people. The sweet and sourness from the pineapple perfectly matches with the prawns.

It also one of the most popular dish for banquets because no matter children or adults, they all love the taste of this dish and besides, it’s a colourful, pretty dish as well.

Credits: Preparation photos were taken by myself but final photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography

 

Prawn with Pineapple

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 3 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 16 prawns
  • 5 slices pineapple (canned is fine)
  • 1/2 cup corn flour
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise **
  • 1 tsp black sesame
  • 1/2 tsp white sesame
  • Few lettuce leaves for garnish

Seasonings

  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp rice wine
  • 1/2 egg white
  • 2 tsp potato starch

Instructions

  1. Peel the prawns and make a deep cut on the back of each prawn. Marinate with seasonings for 10 minutes.
  2. Cut each pineapple into 4 small pieces and drain the liquid.
  3. Mix cornstarch with a little bit water, coat prawns with the cornstarch paste, deep fry in 150C hot oil until cooked. Drain the oil from the prawn and leave it aside. Run pineapple pieces through oil quickly and drain off the oil.
  4. Arrange lettuce in a deep bowl. Mix pineapple and prawn together with mayonnaise.  Place the pineapple and prawn into that deep bowl with lettuce and it’s ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

** I prefer use Taiwanese sweet Mayonnaise and you can find the recipe with on my salad boat sandwich recipe.

 

Steamed Egg with Seafood Sauce

Steamed Egg with Seafood Sauce

steamed egg with seafood sauce

In Edinburgh I believe August must be every Edinburgh Chef’s worst nightmare. Edinburgh is an extremely busy city throughout the year but August brings the Fringe and Military tattoo festivals, which bring millions of tourists here every year. At the top of the Royal Mile, where both of the festivals take place is the entrance to the Witchery, the restaurant I work for. So, we are fully booked every night and there are always a million jobs that need to be done. (If you want to come to the Witchery, please make a reservation before you come to have meal, I beg you.)

After 3 days of really hard work in the kitchen, I just don’t have the motivation to cook a big meal so I I’ve recently been eating smaller and perhaps simpler dishes. I suddenly think about a dish that my mother usually cooked for my father and I after she came home from work. This dish is called Steamed eggs with Seafood . This seafood dish is really quick to cook and also really beautiful to look at. The most important thing is you can cook this dish within 30 minutes. Oh my!! It’s a great blessing for working mother and wife.

By the way, Do you still remember my last blog about our ceramic work?? Here is the final result photo of our ceramic works. We had great fun there and hope to go back to Doodle again soon. Personally made ceramic crafts could be a great souvenir to bring home if you visit Edinburgh.

Credits: Preparation photos were taken by myself but final photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography

picture frames

 

Steamed Egg with Seafood Sauce

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 6 prawns
  • 5 cooked mussels you can use any seafood you like including scallops or squids
  • 2 dried shiitake mushroms
  • 1/2 spring onion chop finely for garnish

Marinade for prawns

  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 pinch white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp potato starch
  • 1/4 tsp rice wine

Seasonings

  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp bonito powder (optional)
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp potato starch
  • 1/4 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp soy sauce

Instructions

  1. Soak dried shitake mushroom in the warm water for 5~10 minutes until it has softened and slice it.
  2. Wash prawns and dry. Mix with marinade for 5~10 minutes.
  3. Heat the 1 ½ cup water, salt, bonito powder in a pot until it’s hot but not boiling. Pour it into the beaten eggs and stir constantly when you’re pouring the seasoning into the eggs. Sieve the egg mixture into a bowl or deep plate and put half of seafood into the egg mixture. Cover the bowl with cling film and steam it for around 15 minutes to be done.
  4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil and stir fry the shitake mushroom, rest of the seafood and add oyster sauce, 1/2 cup water mixed with ¼ teaspoon potato starch, sesame oil, soy sauce. Bring it to boil and pour over steamed egg.