I first tasted this in a Xinghua restaurant in Singapore. Xinghua is an offshoot of the Min Nan language, branching off to develop on its own more than a thousand years ago. The cuisine also developed separately.
Today, this dish demonstrates how a simple dish such a steamed clam can taste so good, when a community gets isolated and creative in cooking.
Ingredients:
- 20 odd razor clams, live and free of sand
- rice wine, 100ml (you can use any strong liquor such as whiskey to replace this)
- garlic, 5 cloves, minced
- oil, 5 tablespoonful
- light soy sauce, 3 tablespoonful
- salt and pepper to taste
- garnish: coriander, spring onion, chopped
Steps:
- Prepare your steamer: either a wok or a big pot with about 5 bowls of water and a stand for your plate, cover and bring to boil.
- Place your clams in your steamer plate, add rice wine, salt and pepper, light soy sauce.
- Heat a pan in the meantime. Pour in your oil and when it is hot, stir-fry your garlic and add a bit of salt. When it is golden brown, open your steamer (about 6 minutes into steaming) and pour over your clams.
- Take over plate out of your steamer. Garnish with coriander and spring onions. Serve
