Rosie Makes Mrs. Chiang's Shrimp and Pork Balls.

Regular readers know my love of Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook.
Mr. Hawthorne and I have made 6 or more of Mrs. Chiang's dishes
and all have been successful.

Here's a bit of the history behind the book:
Somehow, Mrs. Chiang was Chiang-hied by the husband and wife team of John and Ellen Shrecker.

The Shreckers were in Taiwan studying Chinese culture and pursuing Chinese language studies and their love of Chinese food.  Mrs. Chaing grew up in Szechwan and eventually made her way to Taiwan where her cooking became famous.  When the Shreckers first tasted Mrs. Chiang's food, they were astonished at the difference between Mrs. Chiang's authentic Szechwan fare and what passed for Chinese food in American restaurants.  The Shreckers had discovered zhen wer, or "true taste," a classical principle of careful preparation, attention to detail, and practice, blithely ignored by American Chinese restaurants.  So impressed with Mrs. Chiang's cooking, the Shreckers condescendingly offered to bring Mrs. Chiang back to America, to Jersey for crying out loud, to look after their children as well as to cook for them, while Mrs. Shrecker pursued her PHD.  Mrs. Shrecker hounded poor Mrs. Chiang in the kitchen, following her about with a small notebook, while Mr. Shrecker practiced his Chinese language and translated for wifey. 

The book is a "must-read."  

Here's a tid-bit from Chapter Six:

Mrs. Chiang's arrival in America completely altered our life style. We began to give dinner parties, dozens of them, for her food was so good, we felt obliged to feed all our friends."

 All the time, Mrs. Chiang is taking care of the Shreckers' little rugrats.

 
Today, I'm trying a new one dish from Mrs. Chiang -
Shrimp and Pork Balls or xiayuan.

Shrimp and Pork Balls

3/4 pound ground pork
 (The fatter the pork, the lighter the balls.)

3 TB soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

4 scallions

1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger

1 mound shrimp

Mrs. Chiang calls for 7 fresh water chestnuts

and admonishes the "canned ones are no substitute!"

I'm using canned...

2 tsp salt

2 egg whites

1 TB Chinese rice wine or sherry

1 1/4 tsp ground roasted Szechwan peppercorns

1 cup cornstarch

Peanut oil for frying

Put pork in a large mixing bowl.

Add soy and sesame oil.

Chop scallions into tiny pieces and add to pork.

Peel ginger, mince, and add to pork.

Pulverize shrimp.

Mrs. Chiang gives each shrimp a good solid whack

with the flat side of her cleaver.

She finishes the shrimp off by giving them

100 strokes with her cleaver.

Chop water chestnuts into tiny pieces and add to mixture.

Add salt, egg whites, wine, peppercorns, and cornstarch.

Mix well until completely blended.

While the oil is heating to 340°-350°,

form the mixture into 15-16 plum-sized balls.

Helps to keep your hands moist to prevent sticking.

Frying in batches, carefully lower balls into hot oil.

Lower flame slightly and cook for about 8 minutes,

turning them and keeping them separated,

until they're golden brown.

Drain on paper towels.

Pork, soy, sesame oil, ginger.

Your hands are your best kitchen tools.

 

Add in the minced water chestnuts.

 

Anybody OCD? 

Whack-a-shrimp!

 

100 chop-chops.

You want the shrimp to look like a paste.

Add to pork mixture.

 

 Mix well.

 Add in beaten egg whites.

Toasted Szechwan peppers.

Sherry.

 

And corn starch.

 

40 strokes with a wooden spoon.

Scoop and roll into balls.

 

Delightful little morsels of Asian goodness.

 



Sweet Asian chili sauce.

Sprinkling of scallions.

The Hawthornes Prepare Mrs. Chiang's Shrimp Balls.

 One of our favorite cookbooks

 is Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook.

One of our across-the-canal-neighbors, Gervais,

makes the most excellent egg rolls that he shares with us.

He told me his recipe came from Mrs. Chiang's book,

so I had to order it and we've both

 made wonderful meals from her recipes.

 Today, we're making Fried Shrimp Balls

adapted from Mrs. Chiang's recipe.

I say adapted because Mr. Hawthorne

doesn't bother to measure

and when he does he doesn't measure correctly.

Shrimp Balls

 12 ounces shrimp

12 ounces ground pork

3 TB soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

2 scallions

3/4-inch piece fresh ginger

1 tsp salt

2 egg whites

2 tsp Chinese rice wine or sherry

3/4 tsp roasted, ground Szechuan peppercorns

1/2 cup cornstarch

Place pork in large mixing bowl and add soy sauce and sesame oil.

Clean scallions, then chop the white part into tiny pieces.  Add to the pork.

Peel the ginger and chop it very fine, until the consistency of coarse bread crumbs.  Add to the pork.

Shell and de-tract shrimp.  (It's not a vein running down the back, so I don't say "de-vein."  It's the digestive tract.)  Pulverize the shrimp by mashing it into a paste with the flat side of a cleaver.  After mashing, give it 100 strokes with the cleaver.  Add shrimp to the pork mixture.

Finally add salt, egg whites, wine, peppercorns, and cornstarch.

Mix well, giving at least 40 vigorous strokes to thoroughly blend.

Shape into balls the size of golf balls.

Heat peanut oil to 350°.  Drop the balls carefully into the hot oil, one at a time.  Never crowd the pan.  It lowers the temperature of the oil and you'll end up with a greasy product.  When the balls go in, they immediately sink to the bottom of the pan.  In about 2 1/2 minutes, they bobbed back up to the surface, a beautiful golden brown.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

Mrs. Chiang recommends you serve these simply with a salt and pepper mixture -

1 1/2 tsp salt with 1 TB freshly ground black pepper.

I also served with a Sweet and Hot Chili Sauce.

 

 Mr. Hawthorne pounds the shrimp.

 

 Chop chop chop.

 

 Minced ginger and scallions.

 Your hands are your best kitchen tools.

 Mix in the shrimp.

 

 Egg whites in.

 Chinese wine.

 Cornstarch.

 Toasted Szechwan  peppercorns.

Heh...

Watch these, because the first time I toasted them,

they caught on fire!

 Mortar and pestle them.

 Then add to rest of mixture.

 Roll into balls.

And fry.

 

 Outer Banks SeaSalt with cracked black pepper.

 

 Sweet Asian Chili Sauce.