In the kitchen

At the market the other day I bought fresh water chestnuts, they kind of aren't that easy to come by and I was lucky to ask the right woman at the right time. I had been imagining my favourite dish, Xia Song. Xia meaning prawns/shrimps, Song I guess meaning cut up in little bits. Or I guess, Shrimp Lettuce Cups.

This is my favourite dish EVER!!! Water chestnuts with the addition of You Tiao - which is dough deep fried until crazy crispy. (You Tiao is typically a breakfast dish eaten dunked in hot fresh soymilk.) Then the shrimp, ginger, some special flavours. And there you have it. Cold crispy crunchy lettuce leaves form the wrapper of this insanely delicous dish. I think I did an excellent job. Steve said it was pretty darn good. It's served at higher end restaurants here and at wedding banquets so it's a pretty hard act to follow. I initially asked my sister in law, who is an excellent cook, for the recipe. She came back to me today saying it was too mafan (hassle) to bother with. I explained I had actually done it last week and enjoyed the results. I had Steve google Xia Song and there was one excellent video on there, of a Taiwanese woman making it. Were I a better photographer you'd be really feeling it with me right now....