Chinese Tripe Stew
This is a master tripe stew recipe that’s good, but can be made better with your tweaks. I started with some guidance from my Yelp friend Chen Z then began adding stuff. Serves 8 as part of a dim sum meal, or 4 as an entree.
Ingredients:
2 lb honeycomb tripe
1 lb fibrous vegetables such as daikon, turnip, kohlrabi, rutabaga
1 c Fujain cooking wine (or Shao Shing)
3 c water
2 packets Spice for Spice Foods made by Oriental Mascod (or 1 T five-spice powder)*
2 star anise
2 cloves garlic
1 piece of ginger the size of your little finger, peeled and cut into three pieces
3 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
One bunch of scallions, chopped, green parts included
1 t salt
1 T sesame oil (optional)
2 T cornstarch
Method: boil tripe for 10 minutes; drain; rinse with cold water; cut into bite size pieces (approximately 1 ½ inches square). Add aromatics to wine and water in a 2 qt saucepan and bring to boil; add tripe. Cook 20 minutes. Add root vegetables and cook another 20 minutes. Fish out aromatics and add soy sauce, sugar, scallion pieces, salt and optional sesame oil. Return to a boil; spoon out a few tablespoons into a serving bowl and mix with cornstarch, then return this slurry to the pot and cook until well combined. The tripe should be tender and the vegetables firm but not crunchy. Serve in a bowl by itself or over rice.
Spice for Spice Foods, including deconstructed packet
* Spice for Spice Foods is a spice mix readily available in Asian markets. You get 4 bags stapled to a cardboard for under $2, and each bag contains two spice packets. Label says the ingredients are fennel (they mean anise), cinnamon, cloves and zinziber which is ginger. I tore one apart and found some fibrous stems that must be ginger stalks along with the other more recognizable items. If you can’t find it, substitute five-spice powder.
