泥鳅钻豆腐 (Loach in Beancurd)
Heard of this seasonal dish from my china colleague..
泥鳅 which is loach can be found in low tide water, near the muddy area. This fish is quite small, with whiskers. To prepare tis dish, the loach hv to be starved for 3 days to clear their intestines. After that, they were washed and seasoned in wine/alcohol alive.. the soup is firstly brought to boil, then the dou fu is added. Then the loach r added, with the lid closed... As the water is too hot, so the loach will try to escape. The dou fu is still not hot, so they will try to crawl into the cold dou fu... tis is how the dish was named.
The pic above is the best I can get... heard tat if the loach did not crawl into the dou fu, tis means tat the loach is not fresh, or may hv died b4 added into the soup. But if the loach managed to crawl into the dou fu completely, they called it the 泥鳅王, king of loach.. faint.. I can't imagine tat they hv such a dish. It's quite popular in some places in china. Any1 tasted tis b4??
