Dried Flounder

I have had dried flounder all my life without knowing it, it is one those ingredients that are hidden and you really don't notice it until you search for it. My discovery of dried flounder was through making my own version of wonton at home. Wonton is definitely my comfort food when I crave Hong Kong Cantonese food, it's simple yet comforting with its well-rounded favours of shrimp, pork and dried flounder powder. It is the ingredient that wonton needs to make it taste like wonton and a very important ingredient in wonton soup making it taste like what it is. I remember having little deep fried pieces of dried flounder with garlic and gai lan (mustardy Chinese greens) as well which are also an awesome dish on its own. I have also had dried flounder powder in home-made Chinese meat balls (pork), they were served at a hot pot and I could not stop eating them they were so addictive!

Surprisingly dried flounder is not fishy tasting at all, when combined with other ingredients it adds body to the dish and instead of adding another element into the flavour profile it rounds up all the other flavours in a comforting way. It is definitely not the prettiest ingredient to look at but definitely very versatile and cheap. You can find it at almost every Chinese supermarkets. I would recommend buying prepackaged ones as I have seen tiny little bugs in the dried flounders in the bulk section. I store my dried flounders in the freezer to extend its shelf-life and by peeling little pieces I make soup base for noodles and store-bought frozen fish balls and wontons (a staple at my house), who needs chicken powder and MSG when you have dried flounder, to give it extra flavour you can always heat the dried flounder with hot oil first before putting it inside the soup. What can I say, Chinese people are big fans of dried seafood. Here is the recipe for my very simple noodle soup base for one those Saturday late lunch because you slept in till noon and is starving by the time you brush your teeth and crave noodles at home....(I am sure everyone has Saturdays like this right?)

Recipe for Soup Base with Dried Flounder:
serves 1

-3 pieces of dried flounder (each piece the size of your thumb - this is a very causal recipe as you can see)
- 3 cups of water
-a dash of white pepper
-1 - 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
-a dash of salt
- toasted sesame oil (if you want)

Boil the above ingredient for 10 minutes and add in any protein or vegetables of you choice and noodles. Personally I really like my frozen fish balls, squid balls, octopus balls, beef balls (did I mention I like balls - I meant ball -shaped food..sorry..), as well as frozen dumplings, wontons. My noodle of choice is either fresh thick rice noodles or dried ones would do as well and udon noodles. Ultimately whatever ingredients you can boil and serve within 10 minutes is a good choice.

Don't be intimidated by dried flounder just because it looks ugly or pre-historic or fossil-like in the packaging because they do dry the whole fish with the eyes and ears and all (be careful of the scales on the skin - just peel the flesh off the skin to avoid the scales and don't be afraid to use the bones as well as you are only using it to flavour the soup not to eat whole pieces in the soup) - this ugly duckling contributes to many dishes that we might not necessarily notice but it truly transforms the simplest ingredients into something very comforting!