pickled vegetables

~fills a 2 litre jar~

brine
330ml white wine vinegar
400ml dry white wine
500ml water
80ml mustard seed oil (optional)
4 large red chillies, split but left whole
16 black pepper corns
8 cloves
8 allspice berries
a touch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 bunch thyme
12 bay leaves
4 stalks rosemary
a good pinch of salt and 2 good pinches of sugar

Put all ingredients together in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over  high heat. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

pickles
1 cauliflower (about 1kg), cut into florets, or
3 bunches of carrots, peeled

To pickle the cauliflower, put the florets into a large bowl (at least 2 litres capacity) that is large enough to take the veg and all the brine. Pour the hot brine over the florets. Take a piece of plastic wrap or baking paper and place over the top of the cauliflower to ensure that it is submerged. Allow to cool completely, then transfer to a sterilised 2 litre jar or airtight container and store in the fridge. For best results, allow the cauli to sit for at least 24 hours before eating.

To pickle the carrots, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook carrots for 2-3 minutes. When tested, the carrots should be very crunchy and only half cooked. Strain and run under cold water until completely cool. Allow the bring to cool, then pour over the carrots. They are now ready to store either in a sterilised 2 litre jar or airtight container. They are best stored for 48 hour before eating.

~alternatives~
You can use all sorts of veges. The basic principles are:

• hard root veges such as carrots, swede and kohlrabi should be partially cooked before adding to cool brine
• beets should be cooked whole in brine (same quantities as above but with an extra 200ml water) and then peeled
• cucumbers and courgettes need only be immersed in the cool brine, then left for at least 48 hours
• pickled veg will keep in the fridge for at least 1 month

Prawns with aioli

fresh prawns, deveined, shells on, heads removed
generous handful fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red chilis, deseeded, crushed
olive oil
sea salt
lemon juice

 ~aioli~
1t Dijon mustard
1 egg yolk
1t lemon juice
1t vinegar
2 cloves crushed garlic

125ml olive oil
125ml rapeseed oil

First, make the aioli by putting all the ingredients (except the oils) into a bowl and mixing with a handheld beater. Gradually drizzle in the oils, letting the mayonaise thicken as you go. If it gets too thick, add another squeeze of lemon juice or some cold water.

Heat some oil in a frying pan or wok and add the garlic and chili. Stir for 10 seconds or so and then add the prawns, tossing as they cook. Once done, add the parsley, a squeeze of lemon and some Maldon.

Serve with lemon wedges, aioli and avocado.

sunday night salad

rocket
2 slices stale sour dough or ciabatta bread, cut into 2cm chunks
1/2 butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
2 red chilis, deseeded and cut in half
1 red onion, cut into 0.5cm wedges
4T sunflower seeds
2T pumpkin seeds
2T walnut pieces
200-400g cooked chicken, shredded
200g broad beans, cooked, skins removed, tossed in a little oil and lemon juice

~dressing~
4T lemon juice
1T balsamic vinegar
10T olive oil
Maldon
black pepper
1t sugar
1T Dijon mustard

Put pumpkin, chili and onion into baking tray and toss in olive oil and salt. Put in hot oven (180C) and bake for 10-20 minutes, shaking every 5 minutes. Add the bread for the last 5 minutes or so. Once the pumpkin is cooked and the bread is toasted, remove from oven and set aside to cool. Chop cooked chilis into small pieces and return to mixture.

Toast the seeds in a dry pan with some salt until slightly browned.

Put all ingredients into a serving dish and toss well with your hands. Mix dressing in a separate vessel, shake well and drizzle over salad. Toss gently to coat ingredients in the dressing. Serve.

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.

leek, potato & chicken soup

2 leeks, washed trimmed and finely sliced
1 small red onion and 1 small white onion, finely diced
2 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
25g butter
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
olive oil
Maldon
freshly ground black pepper
1l chicken stock
200-400g diced chicken
4T cream
25g grated Parmesan
4 medium or 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
fresh chopped parsley

Sweat the onions, leeks, garlic and celery in oil and butter until translucent. add the potato and stir for several minutes. Add stock and seasoning, cover and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Blitz with a handheld blender. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the chicken. cook for 1 minute, add cream and Parmesan. adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan and a scattering of parsley. Eat with some crusty, toasted sourdough smeared with cold butter.