Ants Climbing Up a Tree

Title:
Ants Climbing Up a Tree

Yield:
6 Servings

Categories:
Chinese




Ingredients:





     1 lb Pork shoulder steak, boned


          -and finely chopped, not


          -ground


     2 tb Soy sauce, light


     2 tb Chinese rice wine or dry


          -sherry


     1 ts Ginger; grated


     6    Scallions; thinly sliced


     1 c  Finely chopped cabbage or


          -Napa (celery cabbage)


     1 oz Chinese dried mushrooms,


          -soaked in water for 2


          -hours,


          Drained and finely chopped


          -(reserve the water)


     4 c  Oil, peanut; for deep frying


     1    Package (4 ounce) glass


          -noodles (sai fun)


     2    Garlic cloves, chopped


     1 tb Hot bean sauce


       pn Sugar, granulated


          Pepper, black; to taste


     2 tb Cornstarch dissolved in 2


          -tablespoons water


     1 tb Oil, sesame, toasted






 Iceberg lettuce leaves, 2 or 3 for each person Bone and finely chop the


 pork. Do not grind this as you want very small pieces to "climb" on the


 branches of the noodles. Marinate the pork in the soy, wine and ginger for


 about 15 minutes. Slice the green onions. Finely chop the cabbage and


 mushrooms, reserving the soaking water from the mushrooms. Heat the oil in


 a wok until it is just beginning to smoke. Use good ventilation in your


 kitchen for this one! Open the noodle package and undo them a bit. Drop


 into the hot fat in small batches. They will immediately puff up into


 wonderful white crunchy noodles. Turn quickly to be sure that all of them


 are cooked. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Be very careful


 with this. You could burn yourself. Set the noodles aside. Heat another wok


 or frying pan and add 1 Tablespoon of the peanut oil. Add the chopped


 garlic and toss for a moment. Add the meat and marinade and stir fry,


 mixing it about, until the meat is tender but not dry, about 3 minutes on


 high heat. Remove the meat mixture and add the vegetables to the wok. Stir


 fry over high heat for 3 more minutes. Return the meat to the pan and add


 the hot bean sauce, sugar and black pepper. Stir fry for 1 minute and then


 add the cornstarch dissolved in the water. Stir until the sauce thickens.


 If you have too little sauce, add a bit of the water in which you have


 soaked the mushrooms. Add the sesame oil and stir. Place the fried noodles


 on a large platter and pour the meat and vegetable mixture over the


 noodles. Do this carefully so that the little pieces of pork and mushrooms


 will cling to the "branches". Toss at the table in front of your guests.


 Each person then takes a bit of noodle and meat sauce and places it in the


 center of a lettuce leaf. Roll it up like a burrito and enjoy. Serves 6-8


 as part of a Chinese meal Source: The Frugal Gourmet Cooks With Wine From


 The Cookie Lady's Files


 


 Submitted By   CHEF BRUCE HANNA


 


 File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmdja006.zip