Stuffed Capsicums & Eggplants with Minced Fish (Chinese Dim Sim)

I was craving a popular dim sum in Hong Kong few weeks ago, called “Stuffed beancurd, eggplant and capsicum” (煎釀三寶). It’s a shame that I used up tofu and made only two of them.

You might have tried or seen this popular dim sim offered in Hong Kong restaurants. No matter how cheap or luxury the yum cha restaurant you go, this dish would possibly be on their menu. The stuffed capsicums are the most popular one, I think, as the sweetness of just cooked capsicums are blended so well with the black bean garlic sauce. As for myself, I love all vegetables that are stuffed with meat, then cooked in sauce with rich flavour. It tastes heavenly.

Ingredients:

• 320 gm white fish meat
• 1 capsicum
• 1 eggplant
• 18 gm dried shrimps
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tsp chopped spring onion
• 1 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chicken stock

Marinade:

• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp water

Seasoning:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 2 Tbsp water
• a dash of sesame oil

Method:

1. Rinse and soak dried mushrooms in hot water until softened and chop into dices. Reserve the soaking water to cook with capsicum and eggplant. Soak dried shrimps until softened. Rinse and drain well. Chop finely. Heat a bit of oil in a frypan to sauté mushroom and shrimp until aromatic. Set aside.
2. Separate fish meat from skin and bones. Cut fish meat into chunks and mince the fish in a food processor. If you do not have a food processor, just chop them with your cleaver. Transfer minced fish into a large bowl. Add marinade and stir in, mushroom, shrimp and spring onion, toward one direction only, either clockwise or anticlockwise because you want to produce some fish paste with springy texture. Until you feel really hard to stir, uour fish paste is ready then.
3. Rinse capsicum and wipe dry. Deseed and cut into squares, about 4 cm (1 1/2 inches) in length. Cut eggplant into slices about 2cm in thickness. Soak into salted water for 10 minutes. I find this method can help eggplant retain its fresh purple colour. Otherwise they would quickly turn black in colour once they are cut open and cooked. Drain well and wipe dry with kitchen papers. Sprinkle cornflour inside capsicum chunks and onto eggplant slices. Use a knife to stuff fish paste into/onto the vegetables.
4. Heat oil in a non-stick frypan. Place the side with fish meat on pan and fry over medium heat in batches if needed. Set aside.
5. Add oil in frypan and sauté black bean garlic sauce until aromatic. Pour in chicken stock (and mushroom soaking water). Bring to a boil. Add eggplants first and cook for a while, then followed by capsicum because eggplants need longer cooking time. If sauce dries up too quickly, replenish water if necessary. The amount of water you add depends on how high the power of your stove. The basic idea is to get all ingredients cooked through. The final step is to add thickening and cook the consistency to your preference. Dish up and serve hot.