Scallop Clusters | Sybaritica

The technique used in the preparation of these little appetizers is very much like the Japanese ‘Kakiage’ style of Tempura. However, I have departed from the Japanese roots a little by combining chopped scallop meat, not only with shredded Wakame seaweed, but also some finely diced Chinese Preserved Sausage. I still want to play around with the basic theme in variations to come, I think, but the result here was very good indeed …

The Ingredients

• 2 – 3 Scallops, diced;
• ¼ of 1 Chinese Preserved Sausage, finely diced;
• 1/8 Cup of shredded, reconstituted Wakame Seaweed;
• 6 Tbsp. Flour;
• 1 pinch each Salt and Baking Powder;

First, add the salt and Baking Powder to the flower and then stir in sufficient water to make a moderately thick batter.

Mix the solid ingredients together and then add the batter a little at a time, stirring until everything is very liberally coated. You may have a little batter left over but this is better than having too much in the mix.

Finally, add generous heaping teaspoons of the mix to hot oil and deep-fry until the ‘nuggets’ float and turn a nice golden color. Serve piping hot with a sauce of your choice. Here, I used equal parts of soy, rice wine and lemon juice.

Anyway, as I said, these turned out very nicely but, as I was cooking, I began thinking of a variation involving pan-frying rather than deep-frying… I’ll keep you posted…

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