Sin-Sul-Lo

Ingredients

• 5large dried black Chinese mushrooms
• ¼pound white fish fillets such as striped bass or flounder
• Salt to taste if desired
• ½cup flour
• 3eggs lightly beaten
• Peanut, vegetable or corn oil
• 16 to 20beef patties for sin-sul-lo (see recipe)
• 16long, unblemished scallions
• 1large carrot, about 1/4 pound, trimmed and scraped
• 20ginkgo nuts, optional
• 12shelled walnut halves, optional
• 4cups rich beef broth made from any standard recipe
• 16baby shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined
• 24beef dumplings (see recipe)

4 servings

Preparation

1. Put the mushrooms in a mixing bowl, and add warm water to cover. Let stand at least 30 minutes or until softened.
2. Cut the fish fillets on the diagonal into 16 to 20 small rectangles or squares measuring about 1 1/2 inches to a side. Sprinkle pieces with salt.
3. Dip pieces in flour; shake off excess. Drop pieces into the beaten egg.
4. Brush a Teflon skillet with a little oil, and add the fish pieces in one layer, cooking until the bottom of the egg-coated fish is set. Cook the pieces, turning occasionally, for about 2 minutes without browning. Transfer the pieces to a platter. Cut each piece in half.
5. Dip the beef patties into flour and then into the beaten egg.
6. Brush the Teflon skillet with a little more oil and, as the egg-coated beef patties are made, add them to the hot skillet. Cook about 1 minute and turn; cook about 1 minute on the second side.Transfer to a plate. Continue until all patties are cooked.
7. Line up the scallions into a neat, uniform bundle. Using a sharp knife, cut off the white ends, setting these aside for another use. Cut off the tips of the green parts to make center sections 6 to 7 inches long.
8. Coat the scallion sections liberally with flour. Dredge them in the remaining egg. Gather them 4 at a time into neat compact bundles. Heat a little oil in the Teflon skillet, and add as many bundles as the skillet will hold without letting the bundles touch.Cook about 30 seconds on one side until the egg on the bottom sets. Turn and continue cooking, turning once or twice, for a total of 2 minutes. Transfer the bundles to a flat surface, and cut each bundle crosswise into 1 1/2-inch lengths.
9. Squeeze the mushrooms to extract excess liquid. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices, and cut the slices into very thin strips. There should be about 1/2 cup. Set aside.
10. Drop the carrot into boiling water, and cook until tender. When cool enough to handle, cut lengthwise into thin slices. Cut each slice into neat rectangles measuring about 1 1/2 inches long. Set aside.
11. If the ginkgo nuts are used, cook them in a skillet in a little hot oil about 3 minutes. Let cool, and remove the shells. Set nutmeats aside.
12. If the walnut halves are used, drop them into boiling water and remove from the heat. Using a toothpick and the fingers, loosen the skin of each walnut half and remove it. (This is a tedious task.) Set them aside after removing the skin.
13. Before serving, bring the beef broth to a boil and add the solids -fish, shrimp, dumplings, beef patties and so on. This might be done in a Mongolian fire pot, the round, cylindrical utensil with a chimney, widely available where Oriental cooking utensils are sold. Heat throughly and serve.

1 hour 15 minutes