The boyfriend has been telling me about this clay pot dish for a while now. It's something that his parents make for him when he's visiting home and he absolutely loves it. It's a simple dish with layers upon layers of flavor - fatty pork, ginger and black pepper laced noodles, plump shrimp, and crisp vegetables -- what's not to love?
Since I had heard such rave reviews about it, we decided to head to Chinatown to pick up a clay pot of our own.
The flavors that really stand out in this dish are black pepper and ginger. I believe they are typically just layered whole towards the bottom of the clay pot, but since we all know that the boyfriend loves his spice, I decided to break them down into a paste that would permeate the whole dish even more. If you prefer a little less pronounced spice, I'd suggest cutting back on the black peppercorns by at least half.
After the spice paste and soy sauce mixtures are made, it's simply a matter of layering your ingredients in the clay pot. You start with some pieces of fatty pork (i.e., bacon), then layer in a few thin strips of ginger, add the spice paste, your bean thread noodles, the shrimp, and top it off with the soy sauce mixture. I start the clay pot cooking and then when it's close to done, add the vegetables so that they stay slightly crisp.
Once the clay pot is done cooking, take two spoons and mix all the ingredients together like you would a salad. What you wind up with is an awesome plate of noodles spiced with the pervasive flavors of black pepper and ginger. This spice is counterbalanced nicely by the more succulent bacon and shrimp while the crisp vegetables pull the whole dish together.
It's really no wonder the boyfriend loves this dish so much. And now that we have a clay pot of our own, he doesn't have to save his cravings for it for those special visits to his parents' house!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 shrimp
- 3 ounces woonsen bean thread/glass noodles
- 3 strips bacon cut into 1" pieces
- 1 cup chinese celery cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 Tablespoons ginger sliced thinly
- 1 Tablespoon garlic sliced thinly
- 1 Tablespoon black peppercorns use half if you prefer less spice
- 2 cilantro roots
- 2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 Tablespoon thin soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¾ cup water
Instructions
- Soak the woonsen noodles in warm water for ~10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Make your spice paste by pounding the garlic, ginger, black peppercorns, and cilantro roots together in a mortar and pestle. Add the peppercorns last so that they are coarsely broken.
- Make your soy sauce mixture by combining the oyster sauce, soy sauces, sesame oil, and water.
- Assemble your clay pot as shown above (from bottom to top: bacon pieces, a few thin slices of ginger, the spice paste, soaked woonsen noodles, shrimp, soy sauce mixture, and Chinese celery).
- Place on stove top with a heat diffuser and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes. Note: If you prefer the vegetables to still be a little crisp (like I do), add them in with 5 minutes left to cook.
- Once the clay pot is done, mix all ingredients together and enjoy!
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meilleurs lisseurs 2015
Hello I am so glad I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while
I was browsing on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and
would just like to say thanks a lot for a fantastic post and
a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I
don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read
a great deal more, Please do keep up the great jo.
meilleurs lisseurs 2015
Hello I am so glad I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while
I was browsing on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and
would just like to say thanks a lot for a fantastic post and
a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I
don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read
a great deal more, Please do keep up the great jo.
D
Hi!
We don't eat pork is there a sub for the beacon?
Rachel
I can't think of a good substitute, but you could always leave it out...
D
Hi!
We don't eat pork is there a sub for the beacon?
Rachel
I can't think of a good substitute, but you could always leave it out...
Katy
I used a covered stoneware casserole dish and did the same amount of time but at 375 in the oven and it turned out just fine.
Rachel
Great, thanks for letting us know!
Katy
I used a covered stoneware casserole dish and did the same amount of time but at 375 in the oven and it turned out just fine.
Rachel
Great, thanks for letting us know!
Linda
Hi,
This recipe looks delicious! I have a couple questions.. I see the ingredients say 12 shrimp but I only see 6 in your pictures. Where are the rest of the shrimp? Do you have any suggestions for a substitute for cilantro roots? I spent my day driving to every Asian market in San Diego and no one carries it.
Rachel
Hi Linda, my clay pot is pretty small, and will only hold half of this recipe at a time. That said, you can use as many shrimp as you like 🙂 Cilantro stems are commonly used as a substitute for the roots, although the taste isn't quite the same. Best of luck!
Linda
Hi,
This recipe looks delicious! I have a couple questions.. I see the ingredients say 12 shrimp but I only see 6 in your pictures. Where are the rest of the shrimp? Do you have any suggestions for a substitute for cilantro roots? I spent my day driving to every Asian market in San Diego and no one carries it.
Rachel
Hi Linda, my clay pot is pretty small, and will only hold half of this recipe at a time. That said, you can use as many shrimp as you like 🙂 Cilantro stems are commonly used as a substitute for the roots, although the taste isn't quite the same. Best of luck!
kit
hi rachel,
I tried this recipe for my bf's birthday dinner, he loved it!
It's easy to follow, and the result is good! thanks!
kit
Rachel
Great, glad you guys liked it, Kit!
kit
hi rachel,
I tried this recipe for my bf's birthday dinner, he loved it!
It's easy to follow, and the result is good! thanks!
kit
Rachel
Great, glad you guys liked it, Kit!
Chicha
@AnnO, probably too late now but I just want to share my experience with you. I don't have neither clay pot nor heat diffuser. I cooked it in regular pot and directly on the stove between med and high heat. I believe the bacon will help it from getting burn.
Chicha
@AnnO, probably too late now but I just want to share my experience with you. I don't have neither clay pot nor heat diffuser. I cooked it in regular pot and directly on the stove between med and high heat. I believe the bacon will help it from getting burn.
AnnO
I don't have a heat diffuser and would like to bake this in my clay pot in the oven. Any ideas on temp/time for that?
Rachel
Hi Ann! Unfortunately I don't have any experience with cooking it in the oven...
AnnO
I don't have a heat diffuser and would like to bake this in my clay pot in the oven. Any ideas on temp/time for that?
Rachel
Hi Ann! Unfortunately I don't have any experience with cooking it in the oven...