Dried Starfish (Hai Xing Gan)
星を食べる！？広東の咳止めスープに潜む「海の星」
Description
The very 'Starfish' (Hai Xing) on sandy beaches, gutted and sun-dried rock-hard into a highly maniac seafood dry good. Never eaten in JP, but in Southern China (Guangdong/HK), it's said to have medicinal effects to 'soothe sore throats, clear phlegm, and comfort the stomach', sold daily as a soup (Lao Huo Tang) ingredient.
Classification: Ultra Hardcore, Ingredient, Dry Goods, Hai Xing, Starfish, Medicinal, For Soup, Throat Care, Guangdong Specialty
Shops selling Dried Starfish (Hai Xing Gan)
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The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Starfish(Bat star etc.)
- Salt
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Hai Xing Dun Shou Rou Tang (Starfish & Lean Pork Medicinal Soup)]: Simmer well-washed starfish in a claypot for hours with lean pork, dried figs, Mai Dong, and Chen Pi. The ultimate rescue soup Cantonese moms make for colds or unstoppable coughs.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Starfish itself is hard as stone and not eaten. Melts a unique ocean broth and depth into soup like mixing crab and sea urchin
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Irreplaceable. Medicinal purpose; if unavailable, fake with other seafood dry goods and throat lozenges)
Pairing
Lean Pork / Dried Fig (Wu Hua Guo Gan) / Chen Pi
Trivia
The starfish broth dregs are basically discarded, though with fresh starfish, the 'sea-urchin-like green ovaries/testes' inside the legs are sometimes eaten (dry ones are exclusively for broth).
Eating tips & etiquette
Opening the soup pot to see a giant 'star' floating with pork is a shocking visual. Surprisingly, a sweet broth similar to crustaceans (shrimp/crab) extracts from the starfish's hard shell.
Allergen
None