Ingredients
200 g water-soaked shark fin, 50 g each of yellow cake (egg-based steamed sponge cake) and soft eggs (place whole eggs in a large bowl, cover completely with vinegar, and let soak for two days until the calcium in the shells dissolves, making the eggs soft), 30 g each of chicken paste and water-soaked dried shrimp, 20 g each of minced ham, cooked chicken, and pork.
Seasonings
30 g cornstarch, 20 g egg whites, 10 g each spinach juice, scallion, and ginger, 5 g lard, 2.5 g salt.
Instructions
1. Place the chicken paste in a bowl, add egg whites, wet starch, and salt, and mix well to form a chicken mixture; prepare 12 spoons—6 large and 6 medium—grease each spoon with cooked lard, then spread the chicken mixture evenly over the surface, smoothing it flat, and sprinkle the tip of each spoon with minced ham to create a lotus petal shape.
2. Mix the remaining chicken paste with spinach juice to create a green color. Grease a small wine cup, spread the green chicken paste inside, then evenly insert dried shrimp to form a lotus seed pod shape. Steam both the lotus seed pod and lotus petals in a steamer over low heat for 8–12 minutes until cooked, then remove.
3. Bring water to a boil in a pot, use a fine needle to prick a small hole in a soft-boiled egg, then gently squeeze the egg liquid into the boiling water to form thin egg yolk threads, once they float to the surface, remove them, take out the steamed lotus petals and lotus seed pod separately, place them on a cake base to form a lotus flower shape, arrange the egg yolk threads around the lotus seed pod to create lotus stamens, then trim the sponge cake into a round shape to form a cake base, and place it at one end of the fish plate.
4. Place the fish plate in a steamer for 2 minutes, then remove. Put the shark fin in a bowl, add cooked chicken, cooked lard, scallion segments, ginger slices, and clear broth, then steam until tender. Remove the chicken, pork, scallions, and ginger and set aside. In a wok, heat scallion oil to 70% hot, briefly fry scallion segments and ginger slices, then remove. Add soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, clear broth, salt, and the shark fin, simmer over low heat until the liquid is almost absorbed. Thicken with a water starch slurry, drizzle with scallion oil, and slide the shark fin onto one end of the fish plate. In a soup pot, bring clear broth, Shaoxing wine, and salt to a boil, thicken with water starch, drizzle with chicken oil, and pour over the lotus flowers to finish. This Lotus Shark Fin, a Shandong cuisine dish, is beautifully presented—the shark fin is soft and tender, the "lotus flowers" are delicate, and the soup is savory and delicious.