Cooking tips and wonderful flavour combinations

[mistersloane]

Searching for Sichuan ingredients at the moment. Haven't tried any supermarkets yet, as I would be wandering round like a completely clueless imbecile no doubt, but found this place online, that looks pretty damn cheap too:

http://shop.waiyeehong.com/food-ingredients/sauces-oils

That place looks good. See Woo is your friend - the Greenwich one is a pleasure palace, all fish tanks and stuff. Fuschia Dunlop has some good recipes up online :

http://www.fuchsiadunlop.com/cooking/

Basically you just need Szechuan peppercorns and dried red chillies and you add them to everything.

 

[mistersloane]

I can scan Dunlop's 'essential szechuan ingredients' pages if you want actually, she tells all.

 

[baboon2004]

Ah Jim, I bought the book she wrote about Sichuan cooking, was looking through it last night and thinking 'I don't have any of this', bar the peppercorns. Lots of difficulties in getting Sichuan bean paste that's any good, apparently

 

[mistersloane]

Ah Jim, I bought the book she wrote about Sichuan cooking, was looking through it last night and thinking 'I don't have any of this', bar the peppercorns. Lots of difficulties in getting Sichuan bean paste that's any good, apparently

Ah great! It's really hard to know whether the ingredients are any good, isn't it? It's kind've going on trust.
Another thing that's become a staple round here is Ya Cai, the preserved vegetable in the earthenware pots. Adds that 'taste' that you get with egg fried rice and loads of other stuff. It's a great additive. And the pot looks great.

 

[baboon2004]

Yeah, Fuschia Dunlop talks a lot about it on some pages on that website you mentioned. Then again, I'm not aiming for absolute authenticity, so should be fine to get generic ingredients.

 

[luka]

Szechuan peppercorns and dried red chillies

there are peanuts chinese people are obsessed with mixed with those too things. they are pretty amazing. they give you some next high. i got given some and was eating the whole thing but i dont think youe really supposed to. just pick out the peanuts. i think you have to go to china to get them though sadly. one day i'll share a nice recipe i got taught for cold seasame noodles.

 

[mistersloane]

one day i'll share a nice recipe i got taught for cold seasame noodles.

Yes please Luka, would love that. Am noodle mad at the moment.

Found out what was missing in the chow mein, it was garlic, so here yer go :

Mistersloane's Perfect Take Away Plain Chow Mein

Beansprouts
Dried egg noodles (I like Sharwoods Medium over ones in Chinese supermarkets but am up to be told what are better)
1 x onion
Spring onions
Garlic
Rice wine
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
White pepper
Sesame oil
Chinese everyday stock* (this is optional - veggies! - but makes the noodles taste wicked)
Green chilli (optional)
Groundnut oil


Cook noodles in stock and boiling water until al dente. Drain, immerse in cold water, drain. Set aside to cool.

Fry chopped onion and whole garlic clove (and chilli if using) in groundnut oil for maybe a minute over medium to high heat. You want the onion to be crunchy, and this is a quick cook.

Add beansprouts and rice wine, just a splash. Cook for a few minutes until sprouts have wilted slightly and flavours blended with onion.

Add noodles, dark and light soy sauce. Dark is for colour, light is for salt and flavour. Add maybe half a teaspoon of dark, to two teaspoons of light. Go easy on the dark stuff, it can make things look weird.

Cook, add chopped spring onion, plenty white pepper and a touch of sesame oil. I personally don't like the sesame oil overdone. Don't cook for too long after you've added the spring onion.

Eat.

It should cost about 50p in total to make once you've invested in the oils and sauces. Beansprouts are 30p in Chinese supermarkets and noodles are two for one at Tescos at the moment, bargain fans.

*pork bones and chicken carcass cooked for stock with spring onion and ginger.

 

[baboon2004]

was thinking about making some of that stock, but how do you store it? Simmering it down to glace takes forever! Are there any commercial Chinese stocks available?

 

[Mr. Tea]

was thinking about making some of that stock, but how do you store it? Simmering it down to glace takes forever! Are there any commercial Chinese stocks available?

Um, you can just freeze it, can't you? I do that sometimes when I've made loads, it doesn't seem to affect the flavour. It's a bit of a pain to thaw when you want to use it but hey, that's the specific thermal capacity of water for you.

That recipe looks wicked, mistersloane, definitely going to give it a whirl as I haven't made a stirfry for ages and they've never been particularly 'authentic' anyway. My local Chinese shop has big boxes of oyster mushrooms, so I might end up chucking some of them in too.

 

[mistersloane]

was thinking about making some of that stock, but how do you store it? Simmering it down to glace takes forever! Are there any commercial Chinese stocks available?

I been sticking it into icecube bags and then the freezer, dunno of commercial ones, will check that out.

 

[Dr Awesome]

was thinking about making some of that stock, but how do you store it? Simmering it down to glace takes forever!

Freeze it!

Little plastic bag + twist tie or a zip lock (is zip/loc/lock a trademark?) bag. Can take quite a while to freeze but I've got all sorts of home made stocks in the freezer: chicken, beef, seafood...

 

[baboon2004]

Hmm, maybe I'm using too big a stock pot, but there always seems to be way too much to freeze without boiling off a lot of the water. Shared house, freezer space at a premium, y'see.

 

[luka]

ok i'll do it over the next couple of says. i guess it must be authentic cos my friend is from beijing and she taught me it. its more a summer thing but it tasts good anytime.

 

[baboon2004]

Anyone tried vanilla in (mashed?) potatoes? Just seen nice easy recipe for roasted potatoes with vanilla pods and seeds and rapeseed oil.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I'd say be veeery careful with vanilla, it can easily overpower other flavours and be a bit cloying. Test on a small inconspicuous area first.

 

[muser]

chopped corriander + sweet potatoe mash is a big combo, discovered last night. the recipe I saw had spring onion aswell but I didnt have any.

I remember eating some of the szechuan pepper, was very suprised the numbing effect it has, chinese food has so many alien (to me) flavours, I love it. Always a bit overwhlemed when I go to the local chinese supermarket trying to figure out what to buy though, need to get a good book I think.

 

[Slothrop]

Does anyone know what goes well with chinese wheat gluten type stuff? You know, mock duck, mock abalone, seitan, whatever.

I've had really amazing things made with it, but pretty much every time I use it, it ends up tasting like I've dunked some bread crusts into whatever I was cooking.

 

[luka]

its just a meat subsititue. so cant you just use a meat recipe and put the gluten in? do you make it yourself? the stuff you buy in the shops is of variable quality.

 

[luka]

cold sesame noodles.
to make the sesame sauce: mix about half a jar of unhulled sesame paste with tap water, gradually adding the water, until the consistency is about twice as runny as it was to begin with. stir in 4 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp chinkiang black rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sesame oil. add more vinegar if you like.
boil up a packet of yangchun noodles. when the noodles are cooked, drain, then place them in a basin of water with lots of ice, and drain again.
serve the noodles with the sesame sauce, chopped coriander, diced cucumber and small cubes of tofu (smoked tofu is good), and chinese chilli oil

 

[nochexxx]

and chinese chilli oil

oh yeah, that shit is the boss. highly addictive. i'm slightly paranoid about how unhealthy it might be .