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Grace Lin
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Ingredients
  

  • dried shrimp and/or scallops
  • small amount of fatty pork
  • various mix-ins such as: sliced mushrooms, peanuts, green veggie (eg spinach, bok choy), shrimp, green onions
  • rice flour chips
  • salt
  • MSG
  • chicken bouillon powder

Instructions
 

  • Heat wok on high heat until just smoking.
  • Add in pork and allow fat to render, about 2 minutes (optional, can skip this step)
  • Add 5 cups of water and dried shrimp/scallop. Bring to a boil.
  • Add in green vegetables and your choice of mix-ins.
  • Add a handful of rice flour chips.
  • Add in about half tsp each of salt, MSG, and chicken bouillon powder - to taste.
  • Turn heat down and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

"Guo bian" (Dish #3)
My parents grew up in two vastly different parts of China - Fujian (near the coast, milder flavors, simple and satisfying) and Sichuan (spicy, bold, and rich flavors). My parents weren't big fans of each others' home cuisines, but I grew up with and loved both! This dish is from my dad's side and translates literally to "edge of wok" because of how it's made. It's like a cross between congee and noodle soup, best slurped down in a huge bowl. It starts with a seafood based soup and various mix-ins of choice such as mushroom, veggies, peanuts, wood ear. Traditionally, you drizzle a rice flour batter around the edges of the wok and after it cooks, you scrape it into the soup - resulting in thick rice noodles. We take a shortcut here using premade rice chips that you simply toss into the soup and rehydrate.