You've seen Buddha, sure as hell wasn't the Great Wall
This Fujianese banquet soup is a slow-simmered treasure chest of dried seafood, meats and mushrooms in a rich, golden stock. We've skipped shark fin (it's unsustainable and banned in many places) and use the other treasures instead, so the soup still smells good enough to make monks climb walls. Plan for three days of soaking and one long, sealed simmer.
The challenge
- Sourcing 20+ luxury dried ingredients
- Days of soaking and blanching
- Braising abalone until tender
- Sealing the pot for a slow steam
Shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw, dried scallops, and about fifteen other luxury ingredients need sourcing before you even start cooking. Dried seafood sits in careful water changes for days - sea cucumbers need multiple blanching rounds, abalone braises for hours until tender, fish maw soaks until it transforms from hard chips into spongy texture.
Legend says the aroma was so intoxicating that Buddhist monks would jump temple walls and break their vegetarian vows to taste it. The name stuck, but so does the price tag and the days of preparation required to justify it.
Prep: 3 days soaking, plus 1 hour 30 minutes ย ยทย Cook: 5 hours
Ingredients
Dried treasures (start 3 days ahead)
- 2 dried sea cucumbers (about 60 g / 2 oz total)
- 40 g (1.5 oz) dried fish maw
- 50 g (1.75 oz) dried scallops (conpoy)
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 6 canned or fresh abalone (about 300 g / 10 oz), with canning liquid if using tinned
For the stock
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) chicken wings and backs
- 500 g (1.1 lb) pork ribs
- 150 g (5 oz) Jinhua or other dry-cured ham, sliced
- 6 slices fresh ginger and 4 spring onions (scallions)
- 3 litres (12 cups) water
For the pot
- 300 g (10 oz) pork belly or trotter, cut into chunks
- 6 chicken thighs, bone in, halved
- 12 quail eggs, boiled and peeled
- 200 g (7 oz) peeled chestnuts and 8 small taro chunks, fried golden
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp rock sugar, salt and white pepper to taste
Method
- Day 1: start the soaksSoak the sea cucumbers in cold water in the fridge. Soak the shiitake and scallops in separate bowls of cold water in the fridge. Change the sea cucumber water every 12 hours and keep it free of any oil or salt, which stop it softening.
- Day 2: blanch the sea cucumbersPut the sea cucumbers in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes, then turn off and leave to cool in the water. Slit them open, remove the innards and rinse. Return to fresh cold water. Repeat this boil-and-cool cycle on day 3 until they are plump and soft enough to pierce easily with a chopstick.
- Day 2: soak the fish mawSoak the fish maw in warm water for 4-6 hours (or overnight) until it turns soft and spongy. Blanch it with 2 slices of ginger for 5 minutes to remove any fishy smell, rinse and cut into large pieces.
- Day 3: make the stockBlanch the chicken wings and pork ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and rinse. Put in a clean pot with the ham, ginger, spring onions and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer very gently, uncovered, for 3 hours, skimming often. Strain; you want about 2 litres (8 cups) of clear, golden stock.
- Braise the abaloneIf using fresh abalone, scrub, simmer in 500 ml (2 cups) of stock with 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine for 2 hours until tender. If tinned, just slice in half and keep the liquid for the pot.
- Prepare the meatsBlanch the pork belly for 5 minutes and rinse. Brown the pork and chicken thighs in a hot wok with a little oil for 4-5 minutes, then deglaze with half the Shaoxing wine. Fry the taro chunks and chestnuts until golden.
- Layer the potIn a large clay pot or heavy casserole, layer from the bottom: pork, chicken, taro and chestnuts, then shiitake, scallops, sea cucumber, fish maw, abalone and quail eggs on top.
- Season and sealSeason the stock with the remaining Shaoxing wine, soy, oyster sauce, rock sugar, the strained soaking liquid from the shiitake and scallops and the abalone liquid. Pour over the pot to just cover. Seal the lid tightly with foil (traditionally a lotus leaf) so no aroma escapes.
- Slow cookCook in the oven at 150ยฐC / 300ยฐF (130ยฐC fan) for 2 1/2-3 hours, or steam the sealed pot over simmering water for the same time. The sea cucumber should be jelly-soft and the meat tender.
- Open at the tableBring the sealed pot to the table and break the seal in front of your guests so the aroma hits everyone. Taste and adjust with salt and white pepper, then ladle a bit of every treasure into each bowl.
- Watch for jumping monksBreak the seal on the pot and let the aroma escape. Check your fences. If anyone in your street starts climbing over walls to get in, you've nailed it. Serve in small bowls and take your time. It took you days, they can take a while too.
Tips from the trenches
- Keep sea cucumber soaking water completely free of oil and salt, or it will stay tough no matter how long you soak.
- Shark fin is unsustainable and illegal in many places; extra fish maw or a few strands of glass noodles give a similar silky texture.
- Simmer the stock gently and skim constantly; a hard boil makes it cloudy.
- Dried seafood is expensive, so buy from a trusted Chinese grocer and ask them to recommend sizes and soak times.
โFood is as much about the moment, the occasion, the location, and the company as it is about the taste.โโ Heston Blumenthal
