*  Exported from  MasterCook  *
 
                      GOLDEN PIGEON WITH WINTER MELON
 
 Recipe By     : 
 Serving Size  : 12   Preparation Time :0:00
 Categories    : Poultry                          Ceideburg 2
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
  600       g            Winter melon
   12                    Chinese ham slices (0.5 cm
                         -thick)
    2                    Young pigeons (approx 500 g
                         -each or a 1-kg chicken)
    4                    Ginger root slices
    4                    Shallots (white parts)
                         Cooking oil
                         -----MARINADE-----
      1/2   c            Light soy sauce
      1/8   c            Dark soy sauce
                         -----STEWING SEASONING-----
    1       t            Oyster sauce
    1 1/2   ts           Salt
      1/4   ts           Sugar
    4       c            Stock
                         -----SAUCE-----
    1       c            Stock
    1 1/2   tb           Cornstarch (mixed well with
                         -2 tbs water)
                         -----GARNISH (OPTIONAL-----
   10                    Sprigs of flowering chives
 
   I used Cornish Game Hens, but you could also use a cut up chicken. If
   you can't get winter melon, watermelon will work.  Winter melon is
   white, very mild tasting and a tad denser than watermelon.  I think
   you could get away using something like Honeydew too.  Have fun!
   
   Chef: Yip Kwai-sing
   
   Thirty-year-old Hong Kong-born Mr.  Yip has spent half his life in
   Cantonese restaurant kitchens.  He is best known for his fai choy
   chicken speciality and shark’s fin dishes.  As the leader of a South
   Villa Restaurant team in one of the Display Classes, he won also a
   Culinary Award Bronze Medal.
   
   Establishment: South Villa Restaurant, 58-60 Cameron Road, Tsimshatsui
   Kowloon.
   
   Chinese Cuisine Practical Class Platinum Award - Poultry
   
   “Happy Bird Crosses The Golden Bridge” presents an attractive image
   featuring the pigeon, a symbol of happiness to the Chinese.  The
   inclusion of winter melon, a summertime seasonal vegetable, as the
   imagined “golden bridge” is a culinary play on words:  the dish
   combines two traditional dishes providing a bridge between their
   contrasting textures and flavours. The garnish - flowering chives -
   is more than an aesthetic detail, symbolizing the greenery growing
   along the water’s edge.
   
   To prepare:
   
   1.  Mix the marinade and coat pigeons with it for 2 to 3 minutes.
   
   2.  Remove skin of winter melon and cut 12 slices about 5 cms wide,
   
   3 cms long and 2 cms thick.  Make a slit sideways on the longest side
   of each piece and insert one ham slice.
   
   To cook:
   
   1.  Deep-fry pigeons over a medium flame until golden.
   
   2.  Heat the wok or pot, add 1 tbs oil.  When it is very hot, stir-
   fry ginger and shallots for 1 minute.  Then add above stewing
   seasoning ingredients and pigeons, cover and braise over a slow flame
   for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove pigeons.
   
   3.  Reserve 1 cup of the pigeon braising stock, to make sauce later.
   
   4.  Double the remaining braising stock’s liquid volume by adding
   water, then immerse winter melon slices.  Cook for 5 minutes, then
   turn off heat. Cover wok, leave winter melon slices for a further 5
   minutes (thus ensuring they do not lose their shape through excess
   direct cooking).
   
   5.  Mix sauce ingredients with reserved cup of pigeon braising stock
   and heat.
   
   To present:
   
   1.  Cut pigeons into pieces and arrange across serving dish.
   
   2.  Place 6 overlapping winter melon slices on each side of pigeons.
   
   3.  Pour sauce over, and garnish with flowering chives.
   
   Makes 12 servings.
   
   From “Champion Recipes of the 1986 Hong Kong Food Festival”.  Hong
   Kong Tourist Association, 1986.
   
   Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; November 3 1992.
  
 
 
                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Plain Text Version of This Recipe for Printing or Saving