Fish Casserole With Mung Bean Sheet

I have been learning to cook Taiwanese dishes and other Chinese dishes for a while. There are many ingredients that I would like to try to cook, this is one of them. Mung bean sheet is made with mung bean starch. When I was in Taiwan I did eat it a couple of times, but I have never seen it in a raw state. I went to many supermarket but somehow this ingredient kept on eluding me. Until few months ago, on our last trip to Taipei, I finally asked my mother in law to help to find it for me and she did. Surprise...surprise also, I saw it at the supermarket this time but in different packaging than the one my mother in law bought for me from the wet market. But they are essentially the same thing. Mung bean sheet, based on the references from my recipe books, it can be used for casserole dishes, salad, hot pot, dessert, or even fried like a fried Kwei Tiao.

This casserole is really a blend of many texture. In it you have the hard texture from the bamboo shoot pieces. Soft texture from the fish meat. Chewy texture from the tofu. And the mung bean sheet gives you a surprise slippery yet chewy texture.

The recipe of this casserole actually is not originated from Taiwan. This dish is a Shanghainese dish. If you leave outside the Chinese world, you may have a difficulty to find this ingredient. I wonder if you can make it with mung bean starch like you make a rice sheet for Kwei Tiao.

Pic: After a gentle simmer for about an hour the casserole will look like this.

Pic: Shredding the green onions to replace the green garlic that I do not have.

Fish Casserole With Mung Bean Sheet

Ingredients:

1 or 2 Fish
120 gr. pork ( belly part )
6 pieces black mushroom
2 bamboo shoots
1 piece bean curd
600gr Chinese Cabbage
2 pieces mung bean sheet
2 stalks green onion
2 slices ginger
1 red chili
1 green garlic or just garlic

Seasonings:

2 T. rice wine
5 T. soy sauce
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

How To :

1.
Soak fish with soy sauce and wine for 10 minutes. Cut pork, soaked black mushrooms and bamboo shoots into pieces.

2.
Fry fish with 5 Tbs oil until the outside get brown, remove to the casserole. Fry green onion and ginger again, when fragrant, add pork, mushroom and bamboo shoot pieces, stir-fry for a while. Add remaining soy sauce, red chili, seasonings and 8 cups of water in, bring to a boil. Pour all ingredients to casserole, cook over low heat for about 1 hour.
3.
Add boiled Chinese Cabbage and bean curd into casserole, cook until cabbage is soft enough. Add mung bean sheet ( cut into wide strips ), bring to a boil, sprinkle shredded green garlic on top, serve.

Pic: 2 different brands/packages of dried mung bean sheets. The one on the left needs to be cut into strips, but the one on the right is do not.

Pic: After soaking the dried mung bean sheet in the water for about 10 minutes it will turn soft and easier to be cut.

NOTE:
I did a little research and I found this website, you can inquire about buying this product here. But if you can not find it, you can easily replace the mung bean sheet with Bean Thread Noodles, or noodles that is made with the same ingredient as mung bean sheet, which is mung bean starch. For Bean Thread Noodles, you can purchase this ingredient in almost every Asian grocery store, including in Indonesia too.