As the youngest of 9 siblings growing up on a small post-war farm in Asia, my dad’s version of “I walked to school in the snow, uphill, both ways” stories often involved eating parts of plants or animals that I would haughtily congratulate myself for composting rather than discarding. In my privileged world, pomelo is a mild-flavoured, oversized grapefruit with an annoyingly thick skin. In Dad’s world, the pith was sometimes a cart noodle topping and other times the star of a savoury braise served with zesty dried shrimp roe.
Somehow the weeks-old pomelo in my fridge was still pretty plump. I wanted to go beyond just eating the flesh and remembered Dad’s tales of the braised pith. The challenge was removing its natural bitter taste without the days of soaking and prep – because a Millennial brat rarely has patience for classical methods. So, an improvised shortcut it was: off with the rind, a long blanch, a cold shock (with fresh backyard snow in place of ice, because why not put that which annoys the bejesus out of you to work towards good eats?), some serious repeated wringing, a little browning, and away we braised.
The result? Tender little sponges of pure flavour – like how eggplant gobbles up any kind of seasoning paired with it – laced with just a smidgen of a bitter bite like in rapini.
Alright Dad, your bizarro childhood foods ain’t so weird after all.
Oyster Sauce Braised Pomelo Skin with Tobiko
Ingredients:
- 1 medium pomelo
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) cooking oil
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) sugar
- 2 tsp (10 ml) cornstarch
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) water
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) frozen tobiko (flying fish roe), thawed
- Ice for ice bath
Directions:
- With a vegetable peeler, remove the outer rind from the pomelo. This is the coloured portion and is quite bitter. Once the rind is removed, only the white pith is left on the fruit.
2. With a pairing knife, score the fruit longitudinally to divide the pith into 6 to 8 sections.
3. In a large pan of boiling water, blanche the pith sections for 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Remove the pith from the pan and put them in an ice bath. (I used snow in my backyard because I wanted to put to work that which I hated.)
5. Once the pieces are cool enough to handle, toss the ice bath water. Wring out the pith pieces. Soak in fresh cool water. Wring again. Repeat soaking and rinsing one more time.
6. Preheat the large pan to medium-high and add the cooking oil. Add pith pieces and brown lightly for 3 to 5 minutes.
7. In small bowl, combine oyster sauce, sugar, cornstarch, water. Pour into pan and toss pith pieces to coat evenly. Turn heat down to medium. Let simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes until sauce has thickened and coats the pith.
8. Transfer pieces to a plate. Top with tobiko and serve.
euniversal appeal 