普天同慶 "溏心風暴"

There are three facts to string together here:

• My cousin and his family are in town again from San Francisco for Christmas;
• Mom is old-school and is the kind of person obliged to return favours, say, if someone treats the family to a big meal; and
• A pot of dried abalone has been stewing in the electric slow cooker for 3 days.

It actually took me three days to realize that mom was making abalone for my cousin, who loves the stuff. The key question for me was, would I be able to get my hands on some of the lion's share? Thankfully, I was home in the afternoon and gladly took up the role as official taster of the abalone sauce as mom started reducing the jus in a saucepan.

Mom got it right this time. My verdict was that the sauce was totally delicious. It was sticky thick (from the chicken feet in the slow cooker) but not overbearing, and full of the intense flavour of good Chinese ham. We got to kept half of the "loot" and gave the rest to my cousin. Some delighful midnight snacking ensued, and the extra abalone sauce (in easily meltable jello form from the fridge) made rice at dinner taste a whole lot better suddenly. =)

Childhood Snack: Mom's 蟹粉 + Instant Noodles

Excuse the potentially snobby but true headline. What I really wanted to say to start off with, is that eating healthily is a difficult notion, and a somewhat depressing one also. In the summer, I yearn for yummy ice-cream; in winter time, fatty hotpots reign. One would think Autumn is a tame season but hairy crabs (大閘蟹) always creep in to ruin the health run for me.

I think my mom's homemade 蟹粉 (cooked crab meat) is special because of 3 things: mom always uses large, fresh 大閘蟹 so the 蟹粉 is always chunky and never fishy, she has good technique when extracting the meat so there are minimal shell fragments, plus she possesses the correct Shanghainese "taste" when cooking it. I almost despise the paltry, puny and overpriced varieties at restaurants as they simply cannot compare in my biased opinion. Actually, come to think of it there are many picky tongues within the family and friends circle who can attest to her 蟹粉 being indisputably #1.

We can eat 蟹粉 in lots of ways: solo from the fridge (midnight snack), on toast (hors d'oeuvres snack), stir fried with bean curd (dinner dish); but my favourite combo has to be with instant noodles, sans soup (Mom likes it avec soup). It has to partner only with 公仔麵 (replaced by 出前一丁 from Nissin now). Anything else like egg noodles, spaghetti etc. just misses the plot. You see, when mixing 蟹粉 with the piping hot 公仔麵, its ability to soak up the oil and flavour means you end up with a rich and satisfying concoction. I think this is a simple but decadent lunch, or a super after-school snack.

So with a bit of nostalgia, I had exactly this for lunch. Yummy.

P.S.: the westernized foodie in me tried to make 蟹粉 risotto myself many years ago. It was good, but you know what, it was not 公仔麵 good.