Cold Fungus and Watermelon Rind

Cold-mixed wood ear and watermelon rind is a typical country-style dish. It is not difficult to prepare. Let us learn about this dish together.

Cold Fungus and Watermelon Rind

Cold dishes are indispensable on the summer table. Compared with stir-fry, cold dishes are simple and easy to make, but it is not as easy as imagined to make cold dishes delicious and hygienic. Like most people, I used to think that making cold dishes is just to rinse fruits and vegetables under the tap, then slice and dice them and season them. In fact, it is not the case. To borrow a chef's words: to make cold dishes, you must also understand the connotation and characteristics of the dishes. This sounds a bit bluffing at first, but it really enlightened me. From then on, when making cold dishes, I always keep the chef's teachings in mind. I have tried and failed many times, but I have tried again and again... I finally have a cold dish that I can show off. Cold fungus and watermelon rind is one of them.

Ingredients for cold fungus and watermelon rind

200g watermelon rind, 20g black fungus, salt, chili oil, sesame oil, MSG (according to personal taste)

How to make cold fungus and watermelon rind

1. Cut the watermelon rind into strips and the soaked black fungus into strips. Blanch the black fungus in hot water and cool it in ice water for 5 minutes. Marinate the watermelon rind strips with salt for 10 minutes.

2. Gently remove some water from the pickled melon rind (it is best to wear disposable gloves at this time), then wash it in ice water and soak it for another 2 minutes (the melon rind cannot be soaked for a long time, which can easily cause vitamin loss). Pick up the soaked melon rind and fungus shreds and drain them.

3. Or use oil-absorbing paper to absorb the moisture. Season the drained vegetables according to your taste. I added sesame oil and red oil, MSG and salt.

Tips

Tip 1: Salads are like women without makeup. Only naturally beautiful women have the capital to go out without makeup. So the ingredients for salads must first have good appearances, not crooked or inferior fruits. For example, the watermelon rind should be thick.

Tip 2: When making cold dishes, you must pay attention to hygiene. Don't be fooled by the old saying "If it's not clean, you won't get sick if you eat it." Most people born in the 1970s grew up under the care of their parents and do not have strong immunity to bacteria. So when making cold dishes, you must prepare cold boiled water, disposable plastic gloves, and a chopping board for cutting raw fruits and vegetables.

Tip 3: The salad must be cold, and ice cubes are indispensable. The third tip is to prepare small ice cubes made from cold boiled water. After being soaked in ice water, the fruits and vegetables will have a transparent texture, which is very attractive and pleasing to the eye. However, they cannot be soaked for a long time, as this will easily cause the loss of vitamins.

Tip 4: The fruits and vegetables must be drained after being soaked in ice, otherwise they will seep out a lot of water again during the salad process, affecting the taste. If you can't wait for them to drain, you can use oil-absorbing paper, which will greatly increase the speed of completing the salad.

Mastering these four techniques, it is not difficult to make delicious and hygienic cold dishes. If the chef's theory is applied to practice, I think it should be similar.