Vegetarian Crispy Beggar’s Purses

Name: Vegetarian Crispy Beggar’s Purses
Yield: Serves 6-8
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 100 g (4 oz) beanthread (transparent) noodles; 1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry; 2 tablespoons sugar; 3 tablespoons Chinese white rice vinegar or cider vinegar; 1 teaspoon cornflour with 2 teaspoons water; 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped; 25 g (1 oz) cloud ear fungus or Chinese black mushrooms; 100 g (4 oz) mangetout, finely shredded; 3 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon chilli flakes or powder; 1 teaspoon sugar; 600 ml (1 pint) groundnut or vegetable oil, for deep-frying; 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped; 8 spring onions, green parts only, blanched; 100 g (4 oz) carrots, coarsely grated; ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper; 3 tablespoons tomato puree or tomato ketchup; 100 g (4 oz) celery, coarsely chopped; ½ teaspoon chilli oil; 1 packet spring roll skins, preferably Shanghai-type; 150 ml (5 fl oz) water; 4 tablespoons spring onions, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 50 g (2 oz) fresh red chillies, seeded and finely shredded; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons salt

Preparation info

Serves
6-8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Ken Hom's Hot Wok

By Ken Hom

Published 1996

About

I was invited to cook at John Cleese’s final cast party for his film Fierce Creatures. He requested a vegetarian treat, so I adapted my Crispy Beggar’s Purses into something fiery and fierce, but without any creatures!

Ingredients

1 packet spring roll skins, preferably Shanghai-type
25 g (1 oz) cloud ear fungu

Asia
China
Starter
Vegan
Spicy

Method

If frozen, thaw the spring roll skins throughly. Soak the fungus or mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. If using the fungus, finely shred, cutting off and discarding any hard ends. If using the Chinese mushrooms, squeeze out the excess liquid. Remove and discard the stems and finely chop the caps. Soak the noodles in a large bowl of warm water for 15 minutes. When soft, drain and discard th