Agar-Agar Salad

enlarge image

Have your photo featured here. Send it to food@asiasoc.org

Serves 4.

Ingredients

30 g/1 oz refined agar-agar strands
1 bundle flowering garlic chives
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon peanut oil
250 g/8 oz fresh bean sprouts

Dressing
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons oriental sesame oil
2 teaspoons honey

Directions

Soak agar-agar strands in cold water for 30 minutes to one hour while preparing the rest of the salad. Wash the flowering chives and snap off any tough lower ends. Finely chop some of the stalks to yield about 3 tablespoons. Cut the rest of the chives into bite-sized lengths and drop into boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain and immerse in iced water to set the colour. Drain as soon as they are cold.

Beat the eggs, season with salt and pepper and stir in chopped chives. Heat a heavy frying pan and cook just enough egg mixture to coat the pan with a thin layer. When set but not browned turn egg sheet onto a plate and rub pan lightly with oil before making another. Continue until all the egg is used up. When cool, cut into thin strips (to make this easier, stack egg sheets and roll them into a cylindrical shape first).

Wash bean sprouts, pinching off any straggly tails. Drain the agar-agar well and cut into bite-sized strips. Combine all the ingredients, cover and chill. In a bowl whisk together the dressing, first crushing the garlic to a smooth paste with the sugar. Pour over the salad, toss and serve.

Tip: To make this a more substantial dish, cold noodles, strips of cold cooked chicken or slices of smoked bean curd may be added.

Recipe excerpted from Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon (Periplus Editions, 1998)