Shanghai Senses: Recipes
The recipes below are for iconic dishes, most of which can be found in Shanghaiese restaurants and on many Chinese household dinner tables. For some people, myself included, these are the beloved eats that we grew up with, skillfully prepared by our grandmothers, aunts, and mothers. I still get a little weak in the knees from the seductive aroma of tea eggs; feel glee when I am about to unload some classic, melt-in-your-mouth velvety red cooked pork onto a bowl of rice; get excited about biting into a sumptuous Lion’s Head meatball; and rub my hands together in feverish anticipation of taking a spoon to the textures and layers in a sweet, comforting Eight Precious Jewels/Treasures dessert.
Please enjoy these recipes culled together by staff. Let us know what you think of them, or if you have any Shanghaiese recipes you’d like to share, you can do so on our Facebook wall or write us at: asianartmuseumsf (at) gmail (dot) com.
– Jennifer Yin, marketing communications associate
Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋
Shanghaiese Mom’s Red-Cooked Pork Roast 紅燒肉
Lion’s Head Casserole 獅子頭
Eight Precious Jewels Rice Pudding Recipe 八寶飯
Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋
Photo by Flickr user Puzzlemepuzzle. Recipe by Maria Koh.
12 eggs, preferably at room temperature
1/4 c. dark soy sauce
4 star-anise
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. chicken or vegetable broth
3 black-tea teabags
Put eggs in a pot and add enough water to cover. Put on stove over moderate heat, and let eggs boil for 10 minutes. Transfer eggs to a large bowl of cold water; let cool for at least 30 minutes.
Remove eggs from water. Gently crack eggs on kitchen counter or cutting board, making sure that the shells remain on the eggs. Do not peel. Set aside.
Put all remaining ingredients in large pot and add water (at least 4 c. water, or enough to cover the eggs). Put on stove and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and then add cracked eggs to pot. Let cook for at least 1 hour, or until egg shells and eggs take on the tea-broth’s brown tint.
Remove eggs from pot and serve, warm or chilled. (Eggs are usually served unpeeled; diners peel them themselves).
Save tea-broth in a container in refrigerator. To re-heat leftover (unpeeled) eggs, put tea-broth and eggs in pot and heat over medium temperature.
If you want to experiment with color and taste, substitute an oolong teabag for one of the black ones.
Shanghaiese Mom’s Red-Cooked Pork Roast 紅燒肉
Photo by Flickr user Ray Yu. Recipe by Maria Koh.
1 fresh pork butt or leg, about 7-8 lbs.
6-8 dried Chinese black mushrooms, pre-soaked in 1 c. cold water for at least 30 mins.
4 chunks fresh ginger (each at least thumb-size), peeled.
6 green onions, roughly chopped (including white portion)
2 c. cooking soy sauce (not “light soy sauce”)
1 c. cooking wine or sherry
1 c. rock sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
8 star anise
1-2 c. vegetable or meat broth (or as needed)
vegetable oil
Fill large Dutch oven or pot (big enough to fit pork) with water until about half full, and put on stove over medium heat.
Rinse pork under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels.
When water in pot comes to a boil, add pork. Cook until juices seep out and liquid is foamy, or about 15-20 mins.
Remove pot from stove. Take pork out and immerse it in another large pot or bowl of icy cold water. Let pork remain in water for about 5 minutes.
Transfer pork to a large strainer; let drain well, for 30 mins. Meanwhile, remove the soaking mushrooms from their water; set the mushroom water aside. Discard the boiled water from the large cooking pot, and rinse the pot.
Heat about 1T oil in the pot over low heat; add ginger and green onions and toss until browned. Remove ginger and onions to a small bowl.
Add 1-2 T oil to pot, and increase heat to medium. When oil is hot, add pork and turn so it browns on all sides.
Add ginger and onions back into the pot; add soy sauce and wine. Let come to a boil, and turn pork. Add rock sugar, salt, pepper, anise and mushrooms, and let come to a boil.
Add the reserved mushroom water and enough broth so that pork is at least half submerged in liquid. Reduce heat to low, and cover pot.
Simmer pork over low heat for 4-6 hours until very tender; when done, any outside fat layers on the pork should look glazed. About every hour, turn pork so that all sides soak up the red-sauce, and add more broth as needed.
Let pork cool slightly, for about 15 minutes, covered. Transfer to large serving bowl.
Serve with hot rice.
Lion’s Head Casserole 獅子頭
Photo by Flickr user Curry Puffy
Some say that this dish earned its peculiar name from its resemblance to its namesake. The meatball represents the head, and the majestic, big mane is made up by all the cabbage surrounding it. It’s rustic and hearty, but not too heavy either.
3 lb./ 1 head napa cabbage
1 lb. chopped pork
1 1/2 Teaspoon of salt
1/2 Tablespoon of sesame oil
1/2 Teaspoon of rice wine
1/4 Teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 cup water chestnuts
1 Teaspoon of chopped green onion
1 Teaspoon of chopped ginger root
1 Tablespoon of cornstarch
1 1/2 Tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 Tablespoon of water
Rinse cabbage lightly and remove 4 outer leaves; tear rest of cabbage into small squares; drain. Heat pan and 6 tablespoon of oil; stir fry cabbage sections until soft and add 2 cups of water; cook for 5 minutes over medium heat; remove and place in the bottom of a heatproof casserole.
Chop pork finely and mix with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon of rice wine, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of chopped green onion, 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger root, 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1/4 cup water chestnuts.
Lightly throw mixture against inside of mixing bowl to combine ingredients; separate into 4 portions and shape into balls. Coat each ball with pre-mixed 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of water.
Heat pan and 6 tablespoon of oil; fry pork balls on all sides until golden brown; remove and place on cabbage in casserole; cover pork balls with 4 outer cabbage leaves and add1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce; cover and simmer 1 hour over low heat; serve.
Tip: Try experimenting with bread to include in the meatball mixture. It adds a nice texture!
Eight Precious Jewels Rice Pudding Recipe 八寶飯
Sun-dried persimmon strips on top. Dragon eye alternated with lotus seed on side.
Red dates on side and date paste layered inside. Rice and Beijing honey dates on bottom rim.
Photo and recipe by Theresa Chen-Louie.
Eight-jewels or eight-treasures rice is a traditional, rice-pudding-like dessert still popular in Shanghai and the rest of China. It's commonly served during festive occasions, such as Chinese New Year and weddings, and is considered an auspicious treat bringing good fortune. The "jewels" are various dates, nuts and seeds that bring flavor, color, and texture to the sticky rice base, and despite its name, the dish doesn't always have eight different add-ins. Some Shanghai households make eight-jewels rice from scratch, but nowadays it's readily found in grocery stores, markets, and even 24-hour convenience stores.
1 1/2 cups sweet rice (glutinous rice)
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 Tbs oil
1/2 cup ground rock sugar or 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Strips of sundried persimmon in lieu of maraschinos cherry as used in restaurants
10 Dried Dragon eye fruit
10 Dried pitted Red Dates
5 Beijing honey dates
6 Dried white lotus seeds
1 cup date paste or black bean paste
Rinse sweet rice to get some starch out. Add water, rice, oil, and sugar to cook in rice cooker or over stove (bring to quick boil, then lower heat, simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20–25 minutes).
Steam the dried fruits for 15–20 minutes.
Use a glass bowl (4 inch diameter), chilled, and coated with Pam. Olive oil can be used though it does not stay on the side of the bowl easily. Place fruits on side of the bowl bottom first. Add rice layer. Line with more fruit, lotus seed on side of bowl. Add a layer of date paste ‐ warmed for ease of spreading. Add one more layer of rice. Place fruit design on top of rice if rice pudding is given as a gift. Leave some room on top to avoid ingredients overflow during steaming. Steam for one hour.
In the mean time, make sauce in pot by adding 1/2 cup of ground rock sugar to 1 cup of water. When boiled, add corn starch mixture (stir in 3/4 tbs corn starch or arrowroot to 2 tbs of water) Stir in 1 tsp almond or vanilla extract at the end.
Loosen edge of bowl with knife so that when bowl of rice is turned upside down on a plate, the ingredients slide out on the plate readily. Add warm sauce and serve
