I guess there isn't a restaurant in the south of China that couldn't run this up for you, even if it's not on the menu.
车螺芥菜汤 (chē luó jiè cài tāng)or clam and mustard greens soup. So ubiquitous is the pairing, that supermarkets sell ready to roll packs of clams and greens. I never buy them.
In restaurants, especially the cheaper ones, they can be a bit mean with the clams, so I like to make it at home where I can control things. And that's what I did tonight.
This was followed by a twist on another local classic beef with bitter melon- 牛肉苦瓜 (niú ròu kǔ guā) or 苦瓜牛肉 (kǔ guā niú ròu). Chinese restaurants usually put the main ingredient first, so in the first example there will be more beef than bitter melon - in the second, the melon will be more substantial.I've seen both on the same menu sometimes.
Normally, the beef is cut into slivers and stir fried with the melon, but tonight I decided to be abnormal! I minced the beef with garlic and fried it to col;our it, then added Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and half a large tomato that needed using. The melons were halved lengthwise and the seeds and pith scraped out. Then I stuffed the melon with the beef mixture, reassembled it and wrapped it in foil and finished it in the oven.
Served with rice.
While I got an acceptable dinner from my dish, it needs work before I can serve to anyone else, but I'm not disheartened.
Next time, I'll crack it.
