MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01
 
      Title: Stuffed Lobster Tails
 Categories: Chinese, Appetizers
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
     12    Fresh lobsters (450 g)
    1/2 c  Diced water chestnut or
           - celery
           Cooking oil

MMMMM---------------------CORNSTARCH MIXTURE--------------------------
      1 pn Salt
    1/4 ts Corn starch
      1 tb Stock or water

MMMMM----------------------PORTUGUESE SAUCE---------------------------
      3 tb Butter
  1 1/2 tb Flour
    1/3 c  Coconut juice
    1/3 c  Stock or water
  1 1/2 tb Evaporated milk
  1 1/2 ts Curry powder
    1/2 ts Salt

MMMMM--------------------------STUFFING-------------------------------
    1/2 c  Raw chicken;
           - skinless, finely chopped
    1/2 c  Onion; finely chopped
    1/4 c  Abalone or
           - button mushrooms;
           - finely chopped
      8 sm Dried black Chinese
           - mushrooms; pre-soaked,
           - finely chopped
    1/8 c  Chinese celery or
           - Western celery;
           - finely chopped
      1 tb Dry shallots;
           - finely chopped
    1/3 c  Raw lobster meat, shrimp,
           - or ham; chopped
           Cooking oil

MMMMM--------------------------COATING-------------------------------
      2    Eggs; beaten
           Bread crumbs

MMMMM--------------------------GARNISH-------------------------------
      1    Dried scallops or
           - red pepper;
           - up to 2
 
  This is a relatively simple one. From the picture in the book, the
  lobsters are Australian rock lobsters or spiney lobsters. They're
  much smaller that our Maine lobsters. This probably fits the bill
  for the "New" Hong Kong cuisine in that it uses butter and milk.
  I'd think this would probably be quite good made with Dungeness
  crab as well as lobster.
  
  The literal translation, "Healthy and Spirited Dragon and Horse"
  cannot convey the symbolic values of the poetically rhyming Chinese
  characters. In the Cantonese dialect, a lobster is a "dragon
  shrimp" and the word for "horse" sounds similar to part of "water
  chestnut". Both creatures summon up images of power, stamina,
  elegance, and other desired virtues.
  
  To Prepare:

  Soak and wash dried scallops. Shred and deep-fry until crisp, and
  put aside for garnish. If using red pepper, chop finely.

  Remove lobster shells. Retain tails and clean. Set aside enough
  uncooked lobster meat required for stuffing, and dice it fairly
  finely. Chop remaining lobster meat into small square chunks.

  Prepare corn starch mixture, mixing well.
  
  To Cook:

  For Portuguese sauce, heat butter over low flame, add flour, then
  rest of sauce ingredients. Cook into a paste, set aside.

  For stuffing, saute ingredients in a little oil over low flame. Add
  Portuguese sauce.  Remove from heat and when cooled, stuff into
  bread crumbs.

  Heat until smoking, sufficient oil for deep-frying, lower flame,
  and immerse stuffed lobster tails (stuffing facing upwards) for
  5 minutes, or until golden. Remove from wok.

  Alternatively, bake unbread-crumbed stuffed lobster tails in a hot
  oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until surfaces are dry. Brush with egg and
  coat with bread crumbs, bake again until golden.

  For lobster meat chunks, heat wok, add 4 to 5 cups of oil. When oil
  is at medium heat add lobster meat and blanch to seal in the juice.
  Remove lobster. Clean and reheat wok with 1/2 cup oil, and stir-fry
  lobster with diced water chestnut (or celery) and corn starch
  mixture for 1 minute.
  
  To Present:

  Place stir-fried mixture in centre of platter, and sprinkle
  shredded dried scallops or chopped red pepper over.

  Arrange lobster tails in a circle around it.

  Recipe by Chef Ip Wah, The Regent Hotel, Kowloon
  
  Recipe FROM: Champion Recipes of the Hong Kong Food Festival, 1986
  
  Posted by: Stephen Ceideberg, Oct 28, 1992
 
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