Destination Flavour China: Episode 8

Steamed Radish with Dried Scallops

Daikon, or white radish, brings out the umami flavours of the dried scallops. Adam Liaw shows how to cook this simple and delicious Steamed Radish with Dried Scallops dish.

So I'm going to make a very Fujianese dish, it's Steamed Radish with Dried Scallops. To make the dish is actually really simple. It starts with these beautiful dried scallops, they have so much flavor to them and the first thing I've got to do, is just soak them in some hot water.

I want to cut some thick rounds of these and peel them. Even slices a radish will ensure that they all cook at the same rate. I want to find a good plate to put all of this on. What I need is a flat plate that can fit inside my steamer. Now I want to scoop out the center of my radish and I also want to make sure that it's the same size as my dried scallop. I rub the daikon with salt and place one soaked scallop into each indentation, then it's into the steamer for about 45 minutes. And now for a sauce to go on top of the daikon and scallop.

This is what Fujian cuisine is so good at, taking the natural flavor of ingredients and then bringing them out with just a few seasonings that work on your tongue. Some salt obviously for saltiness, some sugar for sweetness, a bit of wine for also some more savoriness and some soy sauce that I got earlier. And for these scallops, I use quite a lot of water when I was soaking these before, because this has actually created now a deep scallop stock, that'll also be very savory.

Into the saucepan I put oil, the dried scallop stock, a bit of soy sauce and cooking wine. The result that I'm trying to get to, just a light seasoning, that's going to allow the natural flavor of those ingredients to come through. So together with a touch of salt and sugar, I add a touch of corn flour mixed with stock to produce a silky sauce that's the perfect consistency.

Now this looks absolutely fantastic. The daikon's given off a lot of its juices, but I don't want to lose that, because it's actually got a lovely sweet savory flavor from all the daikon. And then the daikon and scallop get covered in the delicate balanced sauce. A beautifully balanced Fujian dish, Steamed Daikon with Dried Scallops.