February 2006
Shida
by Celia Cheng
STIR-FRIED BEAN SPROUTS
dried scallops, red chili and a touch of Taiwanese
rice wine
I’m sure you are thinking, “Bean sprouts. What’s the big deal? They’re cheap and don’t have much taste.” I think bean sprouts suffer a bad rep due to the western creation of chop suey. Shida’s wife, Benrei, will spend an hour cleaing the mung bean sprouts, making sure that the heads are removed and only the clean body sprouts are remaining. Yes, this can be a truly labor-intensive dish. Like the Kuo’s, this is a subtle and understated dish. Shida stir-fries the sprouts with dried scallops (a popular ingredient to add to vegetable dishes), which adds a rich flavor, red chili peppers, which aren’t really spicy, and a dash of Taiwanese rice wine. This dish is so clean-tasting you feel like you are cleansing your soul with every bite you take. The sprouts are slightly crunchy in texture but so easy to eat that they just glide down your throat. Believe me, you’ve never imagined that you could be asking for seconds or thirds of bean sprouts, but you’re bound to not get enough of Shida’s. Bean sprouts are another essential dish on a Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner menu as we take the "sprouting" meaning very literally and hope to prosper by eating this vegetable.
