Surprisingly I had my most share of pumpkin rice vermicelli back in California. The thing is that my own family doesn't really make "pumpkin" rice vermicelli, but it's like one of the most common Taiwanese household dishes.
So as an international student many many years ago, my fellow Taiwanese friends often invited me to their home and have family meals together during holidays. And guess what? They've always had pumpkin rice vermicelli on the table. Man that was such a comforting dish, especially when the chef (auntie) was very good at making all sort of Taiwanese dishes.
Taiwanese pumpkin rice vermicelli 金瓜米粉 -
Ingredients (about 6 portions)?
- 200 grams 100% rice vermicelli
- 360 grams matsusaka pork
- 300 grams pumpkin
- 150 grams wood ear
- 1/2 medium small cabbage
- 1/2 medium small carrot
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons dried shrimps 蝦米
- 2 stalks scallion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Few dashes white pepper powder
- 3 tablespoons goose's grease or olive oil
- 1 cup shiitake soaking water
- 1 cup chicken stock
How?
Rinse then soak the the dried shrimps using room temperature water. Once rehydrated a little, drain and pat dry with paper towel. Fine chop the dried shrimps.
Rinse and soak the dried shiitake mushrooms using room temperature water too. Preferably drinkable water. Once rehydrated, save the mushroom soaking water, which should be about 1 cup. Destem the mushrooms then slice the caps.
Meanwhile, slice the matsusaka pork to medium large bite size, preferably with a little thickness to it. If you can't find matsusaka pork, regular pork slices with a bit fat or even strips are doable too. Marinate and massage the pork using 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine.
Trim-off the tougher cabbage stem then slice the rest to medium threads. Trim-off the tougher wood ear center then slice the rest to threads too. Peel and julienne the carrot. Peel the pumpkin then cut into about 1mm thickness slices. Note that much of these veggies will slowly cook-down later on so bigger or thicker pieces are totally fine.
Destem and section the scallion. Peel and slice the garlic cloves.
Prepare the rice vermicelli according to package instruction. Some might require a short soaking time, some might need to quickly cook in hot water first. I used 100% rice vermicelli here so it gets soft and break apart easily. All I need to do was simply soaking the vermicelli in room temperature water till slightly separated then drain for later use.
Have a big wok or a big pot ready, if you have goose's grease then definitely use it, otherwise drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil instead. Switch to medium heat and add in chopped dried shrimps, garlic, scallion sections, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt right away.
Wait till the heat goes up and these aromatics start slightly browning on the edges. Add in pork along with the marinade. Sear till half-way cooked through then add in the shiitake. Continue to sear till aromatic for a little longer.
Add in carrot now. I prefer to add in the carrot early because I don't really like eating "hard" carrot in Chinese dishes. However, the actual cooking time is up to you. I myself actually cook the carrot sticks for two minutes first here.
Then add in the cabbage, wood ear, and pumpkin. Give it a quick stir-fry then season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 2 dashes of white pepper powder. Mix till evenly blended.
Pour in 1 cup of reserved shiitake mushroom soaking water and 1 cup of chicken stock. Bring to a light boil and cook for 3 more minutes.
Add the prepped rice vermicelli to the wok and mix till evenly blended with all the ingredients. Put on the lid and cook in medium or medium low heat all the way till the rice vermicelli reaches desired texture, should be around few minutes.
Remove the lid and do a final flavor check. Adjust with additional seasonings if needed. By the time most of the pumpkins should be semi-melted into the sauce already, adding a hint of sweetness to the whole rice vermicelli.
I also think that's the key to pumpkin rice vermicelli. If you can still find whole and hard pumpkin pieces in this dish, to me that means the flavors have not yet been fully soaked in yet, no good.
So memorizing the days in California, how lucky I was that I still get to eat all the authentic Taiwanese homemade meals back in California. Not the somewhat look-alike Taiwanese food at the restaurants, but true local-flavored home-cooked version with my friend's family.
The heart-warming feeling of friends and families gathered together and enjoyed countless homemade dishes. That feeling was rooted in my heart that I still treasure till now. You know I don't really get the same vibe here back in Taiwan. First of all my own family is kind of small, and secondly most of my close friends in Taiwan don't really know how to cook.
Good thing is that as long as I go ahead and buy that airplane ticket to fly all the way to America, at least I can still relive the holiday gathering moment again, surrounded by friends and so called my CA families with lots of delicious homemade food. Yes! I've got to make that happen again soon.
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