Maybe you’ve heard of Shark Fin Soup,
the forbidden delicacy once beloved by emperors and elites,
now banned in certain parts of the world.
We’ll get to that later,
but today my dad’s got a recipe
that tastes even better than Shark Fin...
Dried Scallop & Chicken Soup.
Unlike the former, this one is totally legal,
and very doable at home.
First, we’ll learn how to unlock the umami flavor
with our key ingredient:
dried scallops.
Hello, everyone!
People no longer make Shark Fin Soup.
So this soup, with the dried scallops,
has become the high-class soup in its place.
Let's prepare the dried scallops first.
Use pliers to break them into pieces.
Then we'll wash and soak them.
This is how I usually do it.
It shortens the soaking time.
Just crush it with the pliers.
Are there other ways?
You can also soak it as is.
Soak it in hot water.
Microwave it, until it's soft.
"Where can you get good quality dried scallops?"
Plenty of places have it.
You can get it in Chinatown.
You can buy it in Chinese grocery stores.
Also, dried scallops come in small sizes,
medium sizes, and big sizes.
The bigger the dried scallops, the more expensive they are.
The small ones are more affordable.
It's not about taste, it's about looks.
If you're giving them as gifts, you might want larger, prettier ones.
If you're just cooking at home, just get the cheaper, smaller ones.
Oh!
This is $100.
$100?!
How long does that last you?
Does it expire?
They don't have an expiration date here,
but we use them slowly,
so we keep them in the freezer.
So you have to freeze it?
You don't have to, but for quality, it lasts longer.
Dried Scallop, or 瑤柱 jiu cyu in Cantonese,
is a common ingredient used in Cantonese cooking
to infuse a fishy and umami flavor into a dish.
While it is possible to make dried scallops yourself,
you can buy them at most Asian markets or online.
Due to their current gourmet status,
some boxes cost hundreds of dollars
and are even given as gifts to friends and family.
It's also an extremely versatile ingredient,
used in sauces like Cantonese XO sauce,
in stir-fries such as Dried Scallop and Egg White Fried Rice,
in congees such as our Century Egg and Pork congee,
and of course in soups, like ours today.
Now, we’ll add some water to wash our crushed dried scallops.
Wash it with some water.
After they're washed, soak them in hot water.
Cover it with a lid.
Heat it in the microwave for 1 minute.
This way, they'll soften up very quickly.
It's boiling.
Put it here.
Keep it covered.
With the dried scallops prepared,
my dad will show you a few tricks to cut and marinate the chicken.
This is about 6 oz of chicken breast.
Trim the fat away.
Cut into big pieces.
Then, into slices.
Our chicken breast was frozen and partially defrosted here
to make cutting it much easier.
You can cut it like this, too.
We’ll first cut the chicken into slices,
then stack the slices and cut into strips.
Now, cut it into strips.
With the chicken cut, we’ll marinate it
with a 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of cornstarch, 2 tbsp of water,
and to give the chicken a good bite to it,
we’ll add a 1/4 tsp of baking soda.
After adding everything, mix it in with the chicken.
Stir the cornstarch well,
or, you'll get lumps.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
We’ll continue stirring the chicken until the marinade is well mixed in.
Now it's easy to mix, right?
All right, the chicken is marinated.
Now that we’re done marinating the chicken,
we can return to the dried scallops
we’ve been soaking for about 10 minutes.
The dried scallops have been soaking,
so they're ready now.
Pour the water out,
and squeeze the excess water out.
Be sure to save this soaking water, as we’ll use it later.
Use a spoon to shred them.
Or you could slowly pull them apart manually.
They're very easy to handle.
Just squeeze them.
We’ll use our hands to shred the dried scallops
until there are no more big pieces left.
All ready now.
Now with both our main ingredients prepared, we’ll start cooking.
Time to start making the soup!
Turn the stove on.
Add a bit of oil, 1 tsp.
Add the dried scallops,
and stir them around to lightly fry them.
Is it on high heat?
No, not too hot, take it easy.
Just lightly stir-frying.
We're frying to get the aroma from the dried scallops.
After putting the dried scallop in,
make sure to keep stirring to prevent it sticking.
Midori from Patreon asked,
"What can I use instead of dried scallops?
Can I use fresh ones?"
No, you need dried scallops for this.
You can use fresh ones for other kinds of seafood soup.
So fresh is okay?
If it's fresh, we don't call it Dried Scallop Soup.
Then it's Seafood Soup.
Fresh scallops taste milder.
These taste richer and more aromatic.
They're different flavors.
But she can't use fresh scallops by themselves,
she'd need shrimp, other things like crab meat,
to make a seafood soup.
It's irreplaceable for this soup.
Speaking of other ingredients,
You might be asking,
what’s all the hype about Shark Fin Soup
and why was it banned?
Originally from the Song Dynasty,
shark fin, or 魚翅 jyu ci,
was seen as a sign of wealth
and a magical delicacy believed to prevent heart disease,
increase one’s qi, and even boost sexual potency.
For centuries, shark fin was only available to Chinese elites,
but with the rise of the Chinese middle class,
the demand skyrocketed to unsustainable levels
in the late 20th century.
The global movement against shark fin soup
began in 2006, featuring stars like Yao Ming,
rallying to preserve endangered sharks
and stop inhumane practices.
The campaign worked and within a few years,
many countries banned the sale of shark fin
and inhumane fishing of sharks.
Interestingly, shark fin itself is flavorless.
Instead, the flavor in shark fin soup comes from the broth
and the fin itself is enjoyed mainly for the texture,
which can easily be replaced by many other ingredients,
such as vermicelli, mushrooms,
or imitation shark fin made from gelatin.
Our soup today, while not exactly an Imitation Shark Fin Soup,
is a similar seafood banquet-style dish
that is sure to hit the spot.
Now after 40-50 seconds of cooking the dried scallop,
we’ll add the water we saved from soaking it.
Add the liquid that we used to soak the dried scallops.
A can of chicken broth.
We’ll add one can or 14.5 oz of chicken broth here.
Then, we're adding water.
6-8 cups.
We’re adding hot water here that my dad already boiled,
so that it saves us some cooking time.
That's enough.
Bring it to a boil.
Now,
we're making the cornstarch slurry.
With such a big pot of soup,
I think we'll need 6-8 tbsp of cornstarch
in order to thicken it.
That much?
Yes, we're trying to thicken the soup.
If it's not enough, we'll add more.
We’ll mix our slurry with 6 tbsp of cornstarch
and 4 tbsp of water.
If your slurry isn't thickening the soup enough, just make more.
Cover it up.
Next,
stir the chicken around.
Now that it's boiling,
turn the heat off and let it cook for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, the dried scallops will have released all their flavor.
The soup will be tasty!
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
wonderful Patreon supporters for helping bring this video to life.
If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly,
head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
Turn the heat back on.
Let's take a look.
After 5 minutes of letting it sit,
we’ll turn the heat back on.
The dried scallops are wonderfully cooked.
Here are two subtle things my dad does
while adding the slurry to get the perfect soup consistency.
Let's add the slurry.
As low heat as possible.
Maybe even off.
It's very important that you don't add slurry on high heat.
Adding the slurry on high heat results in a big lump of cornstarch.
Watch me.
Slowly stir while you pour it in.
Then the cornstarch won't settle to the bottom.
Stir it at the bottom?
Yes, stir it at the bottom.
We’ll slowly pour in our slurry while mixing the bottom of the soup,
paying attention to the consistency.
It's nearly thick enough.
I'm turning the heat back on.
Let's see if it's thick enough.
"How do you get the right soup consistency?"
When you add the slurry, the heat's not on, right?
So add slurry until it feels about right.
If you want to thicken it more, add more cornstarch slurry.
It can be thin, or it can be thicker.
It's up to you.
Let's thicken it more.
My dad doesn’t think it’s thick enough here,
so we’ll mix some additional slurry together
with 1/2 a tbsp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp of water.
You can't just add cornstarch to it?
No! You'd just get a lump of cornstarch.
You have to make a slurry first.
It's okay now.
What's next?
Color, and flavor.
1 tsp of salt.
Lots of people use soy sauce to flavor it.
I'm using fish sauce today.
1 tsp.
Dark soy sauce.
1 tsp.
See if it's enough color.
If not, we can add more.
We’ll add another tsp of dark soy sauce here.
The dark soy sauce adds enough color.
It’s up to you how dark you want this soup.
Once we have our desired color, we’ll have a taste test.
Give it another taste.
It's good, we don't want it too salty.
Turn the heat back on high.
Add a little bit of oil to the chicken.
It lets them separate easier.
1 tsp.
Mix the chicken so they're not clumped up.
We’ll make sure the oil is well mixed into the chicken
before putting it in the soup.
Add the chicken gradually.
Don't dump it all it at once.
We don't want it on high heat right now.
Low heat.
Nudge them apart.
As you add them, stir them apart.
If it's on high heat, the chicken will clump together.
"What else can you add to this soup?"
Crab meat.
Real crab meat would be best.
Wow, that's really, really fancy soup!
What about mushrooms?
People generally don't put mushrooms in this soup.
Once we’ve let the chicken cook for 40-50 seconds,
we’ll continue adding seasonings.
Next, 1 tsp of sesame oil.
Then, a bit of sugar to balance the flavor. 1 tsp.
White pepper.
We’ll add about a 1/4 tsp of white pepper.
Okay, give it a mix.
We’ll continue stirring the soup so all the seasonings are mixed in well.
Then, the soup is ready,
except, one more thing...
Looking at it now,
the color's not quite dark enough.
Let's add some more dark soy sauce.
1/2 a tsp.
That's good.
Once the dark soy sauce is all mixed in,
we’re ready to transfer the soup to a bowl
and hear about how this compares to shark fin soup.
Hong Doy, time for soup!
So this was like a really fancy thing then.
Only for really special occasions.
Yes, for all of the important parties.
There's no shark fin soup anymore, so it's this soup now.
Before, we always had shark fin soup,
Wedding banquets, birthday parties,
they always had this.
When I was a kid, I remember it.
I remember seeing the shark fins in Chinatown.
But this tastes like the old shark fin soup.
Yeah.
It's similar.
Daddy, which one do you like more, between this and shark fin soup?
This one is better.
Really?
Shark fin is crispy.
This one is chewy.
But this tastes more refreshing than shark fin.
Shark fin doesn't have any flavor.
Do restaurants usually have this soup?
They have this.
Maybe they'll add a few more kinds of seafood.
Are dried scallops more expensive than shark fin?
No, they're not.
Because shark fin is rare, that's why it's expensive.
Our Dried Scallop and Chicken Soup is complete!
I hope you all enjoy it!
Cheers! Cheers to soup!
Cheers!
Yummy!
Yummy, huh?
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