Ingredients
1 whole black sea cucumber (250 g/about 9 oz), 50 g each of fatty pork, clear broth, and second stock, 5 g dried mushrooms, 25 g each of ham, dried scallops, and winter bamboo shoots.
Seasonings
Soy sauce 10 g (about 2 teaspoons), cornstarch 10 g (about 1 tablespoon), cooking wine 30 g (about 2 tablespoons), salt 2 g (about 1/2 teaspoon), MSG 0.5 g (a pinch), lard 50 g (about 1/4 cup).
Instructions
1. Hold the whole sea cucumber over a low flame for 2 minutes until the outer skin blisters, then scrape off the charred skin with a knife. Split the sea cucumber in half and soak in boiling water for two days to rehydrate. Remove, wash clean, then blanch in boiling water with cooking wine. Drain and blanch a second time in fresh boiling water. After blanching, pat dry with a cloth and score the inner flesh in a crosshatch pattern. Finally, simmer briefly in clear broth and set aside.
2. Dice the cleaned pork belly, winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ham, and dried scallops into small cubes; stir-fry them in hot lard to make the filling, first adding the pork cubes, then the bamboo shoots and other ingredients, along with soy sauce and cooking wine; stuff the prepared sea cucumber cavity with the filling, place it in a steaming bowl, add broth, salt, and MSG, then seal the bowl and steam in a steamer for 1 hour.
3. Pour out the original sauce, then invert the sea cucumber onto a serving plate. Mix the reserved sauce with water and cornstarch to thicken, then drizzle over the sea cucumber. This Sichuan-style "Yipin Sea Cucumber" dish features tender, glutinous sea cucumber with a savory and aromatic filling, often served as the first course in a sea cucumber banquet.