Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast

[ts]
This entry for Regional Recipes is a tad late, but I think we deserve an A for effort seeing as I am currently writing the copy (text) for this post on board an airplane! I would have to consolidate photos and text at a later time.

Oh, this is not an airplane. It's actually an "airbus", and I must say, I didn't realize thay can make a plane this small. It's unbelievably small -- or tight, I should say -- even for a short person such as myself!

Anyway, back to the food.

We had originally thought that we would miss this edition of Regional Recipes, but after some last-minute photo processing on my part (after weeks of being too busy to do any), I discovered that we did make something Chinese after all! In fact, if we weren't so tardy, we can actually submit three Chinese dishes.


lobsters boiling

[js]
My father mentioned a craving for lobsters and I am only too happy to oblige.

Not knowing how to choose live lobsters (or crabs, for that matter), I asked the seafood counter man at the supermarket to choose me three good lobsters.

They weren't on sale at that point and I probably paid $8.99 or something like that per pound, but that is better than paying $16 or 19 per pound if we chose to have lobsters at a restaurant.

The only problem was that we couldn't or wouldn't be able to cook the lobsters any other way but for boiling them straight up. We couldn't stir-fry the lobsters with green onions and ginger, for example, because we had no way of breaking them into pieces before they were cooked.

In the end, though, everything ends well, I suppose, because my father wanted lobsters cooked that simply.


the B breaking down the lobsters

[ts]
That's the B there, of Hong Ba (Red-Braised Pork Hock) fame, chopping up the lobster pieces. Thanks, the B!

Lobster Feast

Nope, these aren't lobsters. These are prawns!

[ts]
The next photo is not for the faint of heart, as the table looks a tad busy. But, there it is, our feast.



1. rice
2. lobster
3. lobster
4. spot prawns
5. Cantonese "roast pig" (courtesy of the B & family)
6. cherries
7. garlic butter
8. lobster
9. roast chicken legs
10. soy dipping sauce
11. okra stew
12. melted butter

We had lobster, prawns, pork, chicken, vegetables and fruits!

Lobster Congee


[js]
We had actually thought of making lobster congee while we were still in the midst of our feast. In fact, everybody at the table was already mentioning how good lobster congee is going to be.



[ts]
The next day, I placed the lobster shells in a pot with water to make stock. Then, I painstakingly removed any remaining flesh from the lobster remnants.


left: pre-shredded meat; right: shredded lobster meat

Method
No recipe needed here.



[ts]
We prepped some green onions for later. To start the congee, we simply sautéed some ginger pieces in some sesame oil, then added our rice, then the lobster stock.

We let the mixture come to a boil, then simmered the pot until the rice was cooked. We were a little off in our rice:liquid ratio, so we ended up adding more water near the end.



We seasoned with a little salt and the littlest amount of soy sauce. The lobster meat went in, then green onions.


tomalley

Oh, it's a strictly add-your-own-tomalley kind of affair, as not everybody is into tomalley.

Ta-da!



[js]
I daresay, when TS was making the lobster broth, I found the smell more intoxicating than the lobsters themselves.

To everybody's satisfaction, the resulting lobster congee was quite delicious. It had such depth of flavour and yet it was light at the same time.

You'd think that the end-all and be-all of lobster is going to be succulent lobster meat dripping with the sauce or condiment of your choice.

Of course, succulent lobster meat is something quite amazing in itself too -- but given this congee, I daresay the broth is where it's at -- this is the essence of lobsters.



eatingclub Hong Kong/Cantonese
Chicken Chow Mein
Cantonese Braised Beef Brisket, Two Ways
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Gailan (Chinese Broccoli) with Oyster Sauce, Two Ways
Chinese Pork Bone Soup with Carrots and Water Chestnuts
Hong Kong-style Curry Cuttlefish
Dimsum Seafood Trio: Black Pearl Prawn Toast, Scallop in Nest, Jewelled Rice Cup
Hong Kong-style Singapore Noodles (星洲炒米)
Hong Kong-style Stir-fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste (蝦醬通菜)
Hong Kong-style Stir-fried Rice Noodle with Beef (乾炒牛河)
Sweet and Sour Pork
Hong Kong-style Curry Beef Brisket (咖喱牛腩), 1st Attempt

More:
eatingclub vancouver Chinese

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Our Regional Recipes posts:
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Simmered Saba Mackerel with Daikon Radish (Saba Oroshi-ni)
Thai Fried Chicken
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney
Canadian Onion Soup with Oka Cheese
Muffuletta
Börek with Beef Filling
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheeks) with Brown Sugar Rub
Beef Salpicao
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)

We're submitting this to Regional Recipes, a blogging event created by Blazing Hot Wok that celebrates food from all over the world.

The region for this edition is China. The round-up will be hosted at Blazing Hot Wok and will be posted around/after August 20.

Regional Recipes information