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HONG KONG
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OMAR T IN HONG KONG
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HONG KONG RECIPES


Recipes Recipe Glossary
Tbl = tablespoon
t = teaspoon
lbs = pound
oz = ounce
g = gram
Note: Salt, for Omar T is either Kosher or Sea Salt
*throw away your highly refined salts

Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Ingredients
for 16 servings
CUSTARD FILLING
• 4 eggs, beaten, reserve 2 tablespoons for your pastry dough
• ¾ cup water, hot
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt, pinch
• ¼ cup evaporated milk
• vanilla extract, a dash, optional
PASTRY DOUGH
• 2 cups cake flour, plus extra for dusting
• 115 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons egg, beaten
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• vanilla extract, a dash, optional
Preparation
1. For the pastry, in a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, and salt. Then add softened butter. Bring the mixture together with your hands, careful not to knead the pastry dough too much or you will make the pastry tough.
2. Whisk the egg yolks and add the 2 tablespoons of beaten yolk to the flour mixture. Bring together until smooth. If the dough is too sticky, coating your hands with flour will help. Cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until the dough is firm.
3. To make the custard filling, melt sugar and salt with hot water (Double Boiler). Mix until dissolved then let cool.
4. Add the rest of the beaten egg yolk. Stir in sugar water and also evaporated milk (if adding vanilla, add now). Stir and combine everything well.
5. Strain the filling to ensure no lumps. Chill in the refrigerator.
6. Preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C.)
7. Take the dough out and divide into 16 equal portions. Spray the tart pan with a light coating of oil. Take one portion of your dough and roll it into a ball and place in your tart shell. Press the shell into the pan with your fingers. Try to make the wrapper uniform in thickness and avoid a thick bottom, without over working the dough. Repeat to finish all.
8. Pour the custard filling into the shells until it is about 80% full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the surface becomes golden brown and a toothpick can stand in the egg tart.
9. Cool down for several minutes and then take the egg tarts out of the pan. Serve while still warm.
10. Enjoy!

  FISH BALLS

CLASSIC, SIMPLE
- 2 1/2 lbs. (1.2 kg) Fresh White Fish – cod, pollock, mackerel, halibut, tilapia and/or shrimp, squid, crab
- 2 teaspoons salt (for shrimp balls, use only 1tsp salt)
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
Shrimp/Squid/Crab balls
Tip 1: shrimp/squid and or crab are great additions to a Fish Ball – For shrimp/squid or crab balls I recommend 2 to 1 white fish to shrimp, squid or crab for best results. Create your white fish paste first, separately chop your shrimp, squid or crab and then combine with fish paste. This way you will get some texture and purity of flavor from your additions. You can food process either shrimp or squid. Stop/start so as not to over process—leave some texture. Crab always does best, hand shredded or chopped.
Tip 2: In Hong Kong, I’ve found shrimp balls to be the most reliable – not only is shrimp a superior flavor, its meat holds up better than most white fish, which gets “fishy” quickly, tainting the flavor and texture of the fish ball.
Context: Fish balls are specific in their lack of additional ingredients, keeping their meaty quality. Other cultures soften this purity with additions such as cream, cheese and/or starches, see French quenelles, or dumplings
MODERN, ADDING COLOR AND FLAVOR
Add to basic recipe (all or just some of it for variety)
RED: fine diced peppers – sweet or spicy
GREEN: Fresh herbs – Parsley is classic, Thyme is a great contrast, Cilantro/Coriander and basil can work too
SPICE: Curry, paprika, dark chile, to name a few, can create more exotic fish balls in both flavor and color

CLASSIC PREPARATION:
- Rinse and dry fish meat.
- Place all the fish meat on a chopping board, using a Chinese cleaver to chop the fish meat progressively, for about 10 minutes.
- The fish will become slightly sticky as you chop. Add the salt and pepper and continue chopping for another 10 minutes, the fish meat will become a fish paste.
- Wet your hands with some water and a touch of oil Take a tablespoon of the fish paste onto your palm and shape them into fish balls. (If you refrigerate for 30 minutes first, balls will be easier to form).
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking
BOILED
Add to boiling water. They are done when they rise and float (don’t add too many at a time or you will drop the water temperature too low, which can hurt the texture
FRIED
To fry, roll in flour until it is evenly distributed. Fry over medium heat or in an oil temperature of approximately 170c/340f. They are done when golden brown.

FISH BALL SOUP INGREDIENTS:
• fish bones, discard the fish head
• 1 can chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 oz. (56 g) Chinese seaweed, 紫菜
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• white pepper and salt to taste (none necessary)
FISH BALL SOUP TOPPING:
• garlic oil
• some shredded lettuce leaves
• 1 stalk scallion, cut into rings
FISH BALL SOUP PREPARATION:
1. Get a 5-quart soup pot, put in the chicken broth, water, and fish bones. Bring to boil over high heat, and then let it boil on low to medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the soup is flavorful.
2. Remove the fish bones, turn to high heat and drop the fish balls into the Soup.
3. Add the Chinese seaweed, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste. When the fish balls float to the top, turn off the heat.
4. Transfer the fish balls soup into serving bowls, add the Toppings and serve immediately.

Tip 3: If whole fish, filet and save bones for soup – Discard skin and head.

Spicy Fish Ball Sauce
• 2 cups water
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• 1 head garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 Thai chili peppers, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
In a saucepot, combine water, soy sauce, garlic, shallots, chili pepper, brown sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Stir well until well blended and smooth.
Bring to a boil, stirring regularly, for about 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened.

*A trick to the fish balls' soft, springy texture is slapping and pounding the fish paste over and over until it turns from sticky and grainy, to smooth and glossy.

  Kung Pao Chicken

Basic Ingredients
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 1 ounce hot chile paste
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts
• 4 ounces chopped peanuts

Instructions
Velveting the Chicken (Chinese tenderizing technique)
Marinate chicken pieces in a mixture of cornstarch, baking soda and Chinese wine (or sherry or rice wine). You can also use vinegar. Flash fry, quickly in hot oil before finishing them off in the stir-fry with other ingredients. The cornstarch/soy/wine marinade not only provides amazing flavor to the chicken, it acts like a protective coating which seals moisture inside the chicken, creating beautiful golden edges while preventing the chicken from overcooking.

Marinade: Combine 1 tablespoon wine, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon cornstarch/water mixture and mix together. Place chicken pieces in a glass dish or bowl and add marinade. Toss to coat. Cover dish and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

To Make Sauce: In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon wine, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon cornstarch/water mixture, chili paste, vinegar and sugar. Mix together and add green onion, garlic, water chestnuts and peanuts. In a medium skillet, heat sauce slowly until aromatic.

Meanwhile, remove chicken from marinade and sauté in a large skillet until meat is white and juices run clear. When sauce is aromatic, add sauteed chicken to it and let simmer together until sauce thickens.

Orange Cuttlefish

Ingredient:
One large cuttlefish - A squid-like, marine mollusk
Wash the cuttlefish until its clean to remove all the grit, ink and sand (You can use the black ink for pasta ☺)

Cut off the tentacles just in front of the eye. Remove the cuttle bone from the cuttlefish. Gently cut the outer skin and then peel off the skin. Picking up the tentacles, push out the beak (mouth) from the bottom and pull out. Remove any excess water with some paper hand towels
Marinate:
4 tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
pinch Salt
2 tablespoons cooking honey
2 tablespoons grounded assorted spices

Spread the marinade all over the cuttlefish and set aside for 15 minutes. Mix one tablespoon of orange food coloring and one tablespoon of lukewarm water and mix well. With the aid of a disposal glove, apply the coloring over the entire cuttlefish.

In a saucepan big enough to place the cuttlefish, add three tablespoons of Hoisin Sauce and one tablespoon of Mirin (or a Sake on the sweeter side) together with one bowl of homemade chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the marinated cuttlefish and adjust the heat to medium low and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the cuttlefish.

Do not overcook the cuttlefish otherwise it will turn rubbery.
Turn off the heat and leave the cooked cuttlefish in the pot for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the pot and set aside.
Serve the sliced cuttlefish with the sauce from the marinade.



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