If you want to try a real Chinese dish, treat yourself to something unusual and, so to speak, exotic, then you do not need to go to Thailand or Bali. All ingenious, as you know, does not differ in complexity. Next to Blagoveshchensk is the Chinese town of Heihe. The salad that we will prepare today was named after this locality.
A feature of this dish is that it is prepared very simply and quickly. At the same time, it has a classic oriental, if not specifically Chinese taste. Thanks to this, salad has become so popular in Russia. It can be found in the menu of any restaurant in the Amur region. Products for the preparation of Heihe salad require simple, uncomplicated and, which is very attractive to the hostesses, inexpensive.
Grocery list
There are a lot of ingredients in the classic salad recipe, but don’t be afraid, they will all be found in your refrigerator. An extreme case is a nearby supermarket.
- A small piece of pork - 180-210 g.
- 180 g of white cabbage.
- A small carrot.
- Starch noodles (also called glass or transparent) - 60 g.
- A pair of spoons of soy sauce.
- Three cloves of garlic.
- Soybean or sesame oil - 2 tsp.
- A pinch of granulated sugar.
- One cucumber is fresh.
- Hot chili peppers (optional).
- A few pinches of Chinese Malasian seasoning (if possible).
- Salt (to taste).
- Wine white vinegar - 3 tbsp. l
Some housewives add freeze-dried wood mushrooms and tofu to Chinese Heihe Salad. But, as they say, each sandpiper considers its swamp to be the capital, so we will not argue about the classics and traditional recipes. If it is possible to get such ingredients, then add them to the dish.
Features of Heihe Salad Recipe
The first thing to do is cook the glass noodles. As a rule, it is simply filled with boiling water. Only half of it is required to be taken from the package; this will be quite enough for the Heihe salad. While the noodles are infused, we are preparing vegetables. By the way, if you still get freeze-dried mushrooms, then they are cooked with noodles. Pour mushrooms with cold water, put on a stove, wait for boiling and let cook for 3-5 minutes.
With the help of such a simple kitchen assistant, like a grater, grind cucumber, cabbage leaves and carrots. Everything should turn into long stripes-ribbons. If you consider yourself among those virtuosos who can do this with an ordinary knife, then get down to business.
As the locals say, getting real leaf tofu is sometimes problematic. There are very picky Chinese saleswomen who hold such a product "for their own". However, one can find an approach to their dry Chinese hearts. Experienced housewives living in border towns and often preparing Heihe salad know the secret. They advise you to say hello in Chinese and ask about the product in the seller’s native language. If you bought tofu, then cut the sheets into long strips. If you can’t get the goods, you can cook without it, the result will not change much.
Seasoning and sauce
In a separate bowl, chopped garlic, hot chili pepper (cut into thin circles), sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt, wine vinegar, Malasyan, a few drops of sesame oil should be mixed. Mix, let stand.
Meat
In the original recipe with a photo of Heihe salad, there is pork, but if you do not like this type of meat, you can replace it with chicken breast or turkey fillet. Cut the meat ingredient into long strips, fry in a mixture of sesame and sunflower oil. You should get quite fried meat pieces with a ruddy appetizing crust and a characteristic crunch.
If you do not dare to add fresh hot chili to the salad, then some housewives recommend using it before frying meat. Put the pepper pod directly in the oil and let it warm up a little. Pepper will give a small portion of its pungency to the meat, but the throat will not burn, even if you eat the whole salad alone.
Served warm salad. Below are vegetables, on top is a slide of fried pork. You can add a couple more tablespoons of aromatic oil, in which the meat was fried.
Fans of culinary experiments
In the salad, you can also use Bulgarian sweet peppers, beef, roasted peanuts, tomatoes, beef tongue, pork ears, red sweet onions, eggplant, Chinese cabbage.