lessons from the hutong: Sichuan pepper and chili oil

Sichuan pepper is not related to black pepper or to chili peppers. It is a pretty little red pod packing a curious heat that produces a humming, tingling and buzzing sensation on the tongue.

The art of choosing good Sichuan pepper from bad comes down to two things: colour (the redder the better) and state (open is good, closed is bad). 

~chili oil~

1 part dry chili (Sichuan pepper or chili flakes) to 3 parts vegetable oil (peanut, sunflower, rapeseed / canola)

To make this chili oil - which will last for ages, provided it is not contaminated with water - simply combine a small portion of the oil with the chili in a bowl. Heat the remaining oil in a wok until it starts smoking, then pour into the bowl containing the chili (use the receptacle that you'll keep the oil in). 

For added flavour, either add some sesame seeds and salt to the chili, or add some spring onion, ground walnut or ginger to the hot oil and remove and discard before adding the oil to the chili (the flavours will be infused in the oil).

lessons from the hutong: dan dan mian (noodles)

We cooked this simple noodle dish at the end of the day after we'd just consumed about 18 dumplings each - it was so delicious we managed to squeeze it in.

Despite the seemingly long list of ingredients, it's a quick and easy recipe.

There is one unusual ingredient in the dish which is a key element of dan dan noodles. It's a Sichuan preserved vegetable called 'mustard greens' which I saw in the market in Beijing. It looks like the mutant cousin of a bulb of garlic - unfortunately I didn't photograph it but there is a pic on wiki under 'zha cai'. the packet we used calls it ya cai, which I think is more commonly used, though I'm wondering if ya refers to the greens and zha refers to the bulb. I believe the 'suimi' part simply means 'finely chopped'. Some people seem to think you need to rinse the ya cai to reduce the saltiness - we didn't so I wouldn't bother.

The noodle dough is very similar to pasta dough, though the liquid element is approximately half egg / half water, whereas pasta tends to be wholly reliant on egg. The technique for folding and cutting the dough differed, and I would suggest employing the approach used for pasta (folding the sides in to meet in the centre and repeating, then sliding the back of the knife down the centre where the folds meet, lifting and shaking out the pasta so that the lengths fall out on either side).

~noodle dough~
200g flour
1 egg
50-60g water

Mix well and knead until smooth. Rest for 30 minutes in a bowl covered with a wet cloth. (Use this time to prepare the seasoned pork.) Roll it out until it is a large, thin piece. Dust it well with flour, fold into the centre and cut into 1cm widths.

~seasoned pork~
100g lean minced pork, marinated with 2t wine
50g Sichuan preserved vegetable (sumi ya cai)
1t minced ginger
1t minced garlic
3 spring onions (if you are using the giant Chinese spring onions, just use 1) (white part only), diced into 5mm pieces
1t light soy sauce
1/2t dark soy sauce

Heat 1T peanut or rapeseed (canola) oil in a wok. Add ginger, garlic and spring onion, stir until fragrant and add the minced pork, stirring until cooked. Add the light and dark soy sauce, stir for 30 seconds and then add the ya cai. Mix well and remove from the heat.

~sauce~
2t garlic, crushed to a paste
3 spring onions, finely chopped (or 1 Chinese spring onion)
salt (to taste - 1/4t)
1.5t sugar
1T light soy sauce
2T dark soy sauce
1T chili oil (more, to taste)
1/2t sesame oil
300ml chicken stock

Put all the sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Cook the noodles for two minutes in boiling water, add some greens (po choi, spinach, or choi sum) for one minute and drain. Add to the bowl holding the sauce and top with the pork mixture. Give it a good stir. Adjust seasoning if desired (particularly chili oil), and serve.

lessons from the hutong: seasonings

While I was in Beijing I attended a cooking class in one of the hutongs (old-school alleys in the city), which are where the traditional courtyard houses can be found.

We entered the school via a large gate, took a couple of turns through paved pathways covered in entanglements of vines with large hanging gourds and lined with huge stacks of coal bricks for the impending winter, and found ourselves in a pretty courtyard.

The class opened with a lesson on soy sauce, vinegar and wine - we learned how to differentiate between good and poor quality soy sauce and the appropriate uses of dark and light soy and vinegar. Very useful stuff. I think it's so important to understand these sorts of principles as it allows you to cook freely rather than being chained to a recipe book (especially if you're like me and struggle to stick to recipes).

~soy sauce~
Light soy sauce is the all-purpose soy sauce and tends to be used for chicken, fish, shrimp and pork dishes. Dark soy sauce is used for colour and where its stronger flavour won't overshadow the other ingredients, for example, in beef, mutton and noodle dishes.

I've dubbed the guide to quality, the 'soy sauce quality meter'. It centres on the amino acid nitrogen level - 0.7g or higher per 100ml means good quality, below this means poorer quality. There are four general grades, the highest is superior grade, followed by first, second and third grade (superior and first have greater than 0.7g and second and third have lower than 0.7g). The recommended brands are Amoy, Lee Kum Kee, Jammy Chai, Haday and Pearl River Bridge.

~vinegar~
The vinegars are mostly dark and provide the 'sour' element in 'sweet and sour' and 'hot and sour' dishes.

Apparently in the north of China they tend to produce dark vinegars, and in the south they tend to be clear (the dark/light rule also applies here - light tends to be used with lighter meats such as crab, seafood and chicken).

The dark vinegars smell great - malty and with  a nice tang that makes my mouth water. The ones we looked at were made from sorghum, a grain I haven't encountered before but after wiki'ing it I now know that it is one of the top five grain crops in the world. Guess I will start seeing it and hearing about it everywhere now.

The 'vinegar quality meter' centres on its acid level - above 5g per 100ml is good and below is not good. The older the vinegar the higher the acid.

The two types of vinegar recommended are Zhenjiang (the brand is Hengshun) and Shanxi (the brand is Donghu).

~wine~
Apparently wine is useful to 'burn the fat away' in fatty meat dishes. It's made from sticky rice, is an amber colour and smells a bit like sherry - I think, though I am not very experienced in sherry.

The recommended wine is a drinking wine called Shaoxing Hua Diao - Pagoda brand is the only one with an English brand name so that's the one I'll be looking for in London.