Sunday, February 3, 2013

Recipe: Fish Maw with Mushrooms Stew

During Chinese New Year, certain ingredients with auspicious meanings are served to reflect good luck for the coming year. The pronunciation of fish ("yu" 鱼) is a homonym for abundance or surpluses in Chinese, so you will often find fish dishes during the reunion dinner. You can serve a whole fish (recipe for steamed fish here) if you can get your hands on a fresh fish, otherwise you can try this fish maw with mushrooms recipe.

Fish maw 鱼鳔 can be found easily prior to the Chinese New Year period. There are many places selling them, but my personal favorite are the ones from Eu Yan Sang (RM28 for 2 packs, 150g each). They come in "thick" or "thin" varieties, and we usually go for the "thick" variety as the mouthfeel is much better. These fish maw have already been deep fried, so all you need to do is to soak them in cold water for 1 hour before cooking. The pre-packed fish maw usually keeps for a few months, so you can buy more and cook them even after CNY.

Fish Maw with Mushrooms Stew


 Fish maw is nice in soups or stews. I like to cook them with some mushrooms, sugar snap peas and oyster sauce. You can use either dried Chinese or Shitake mushrooms. The fish maw is braised over low heat for 45 minutes to give it a slight chewy texture. The braising gravy is good over rice.

A good source of collagen



Fish Maw with Mushrooms Stew
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
90g fish maw (approx 4 pieces)
6 mushrooms, soaked for 2 hours
1 inch old ginger, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
50g chicken, cut into small chunks
2 tbsp oil
700ml water
2 tbsp oyster sauce, or more to taste
6-8 sugar snap peas, cut into half

To garnish
Coriander or spring onion



1. Soak the fish maw in a bowl of cold water for at least 1 hour before cooking. Drain and then cut into 2-inch lengths.

2. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the chicken and mushrooms, and cook for another 2 minutes, until chicken pieces are lightly browned.

3. Place the fish maw into the pot and pour over the water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to low heat and simmer for 45 minutes, covered.

4. Add the oyster sauce, to taste. Add the sugar snap peas and cook for 1 minute. Serve immediately.




* I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.

39 comments:

  1. Yummmmm!!!! Definitely a perfect dish for the Chinese New Year Eve reunion dinner.

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    Replies
    1. Hehe we always eat loads of this even before CNY :)

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  2. Yen, I like this dish very much! The fish maw that I had in Malaysia is a bit different from we have here. They are sundried(I think) for what we have here but I never bought it myself because my mother-in-law will cook the fish maw soup once a while or sometimes, she will give me in few packs which have already been blanched. All I have to do is to rinse them again b4 cooking soup. My MIL bought them from HK.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah some places sell them sundried and then usually you have to deep fry them first before using in stews.

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  3. Hi Yen! Fish maw is definitely one of the must-have ingredients for CNY dishes. I'm going to use that for my CNY Peng Cai next week!

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  4. Hi Yen, you mean Eu Yan Sang is selling fish maw for RM28 for 300g ??? Thats unbelievably cheap. Did you miss out the 1 infront of the 28? :p

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    Replies
    1. Yeah RM28! Hehe cheap right? But I think many outlets have run out cos it's so popular, but if u can find it, then do get a few packs.

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  5. I am going to do this dish too for the CNY EVE.. i will add chicken sea cucumber.. :)

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    Replies
    1. I also used some chicken to flavour the sauce. :)

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  6. Delicious dish! I usually cook it with pork! And I never miss out on the mushroom too! Love it!

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    Replies
    1. This is so simple yet a dish that every Chinese family can relate to and enjoy.

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  7. I need to have a big bowl of rice to go with your yummy dish , I love fish maw, yummy!

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    Replies
    1. Hehe we stock up many packs of the fish maw, so that we can cook it often too :)

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  8. a very common dish during cny! super yummy! and healthy with the fish maw! but expensive tho..

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    Replies
    1. Okla.. not too expensive. RM14 per pack, which can be cooked 2x.

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  9. i never tried cooking fish maw myself but quite keen to try cooking it too. Mmm..i think braising this with mushroom is a good idea, it can soak up more flavours from there ;)

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    Replies
    1. Yes definitely. Maybe this CNY can be the first time for you trying this!

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  10. i used to not like fish maw when i was a kid, but i gradually grew to appreciate it. now i love its texture, at least! :D

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    Replies
    1. Haha it's pretty tasteless, so depending on what the braising sauce gets its flavour from, it can either be great or still tasteless. :P

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  11. I miss my Grandma's fish maw soup. Yours looks very comforting too!

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    Replies
    1. I think I wanna learn how to make fish maw soup too.

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  12. My mum used to cook fish maw with mushroom, sea cucumber and fat choy, I miss that... :)

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  13. Warm and nice CNY dish...1 bowl of white rice pls...hehe

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  14. I haven't cooked with fish maw but I remember going around Hong Kong and seeing all of the different types offish maw you can buy! Fascinating stuff :D

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    Replies
    1. Yeah I think if I went to a wet market and saw all these different fish maws, I wouldn't know which to get. Mum introduced me to the current one we're eating and they really are great!

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  15. I love fish maw... love this classic especially CNY season...I like to add dried scallops :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes Jenn, I also added dried scallops the last time I made it. Tastes really good!

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  16. Yummy! This is the perfect dish to cook for CNY! :) Now, I'm craving for some. Will you share? hehehe...

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  17. I am so gonna cook this if I manage to find these ingredients in Moscow here :)

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    Replies
    1. Hehe hope that you will, or else ask your mum to send u a care pack.

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  18. Oh YUM! Love this dish & great for CNY reunion dinner!

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  19. This looks lovely though is very new to me...am loving to discover new food here!!

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  20. this dish can have 2 bowl of rice to go

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  22. Dried Fish Maw, Dried Shark Fins, Dried Sea Cucumber, Dried Shrimp, Dried Sea Limpets, Dried Abalone and Cow Gallstones. http://driedfishmaw.com

    ReplyDelete

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