4 Sichuan Spicy Revelations 2 Chicken, 1 Fish 1 Pork 🌞

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH CHESTNUTS
ban li shao ji

1 -1 1/2 pounds chestnuts
4 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry Sherry
4 teaspoons dark soy sauce

As the Sichuanese summer fades and the damp winter nights draw
in, roasted chestnuts begin to appear on the streets. Itinerant salt to taste
vendors roast them in their shells in enormous wokfuls of charcoal.
They wrap the roasted chestnuts in cloths and tuck them snugly
into baskets to keep them warm.The hot nuts are the perfect thing
to palliate your hunger in a streetside teahouse where you stop
for an hour before lunch. Chestnuts have been cultivated in China
since antiquity: the character for chestnut (//) appears on the Shang
Dynasty oracle bones, the earliest examples of the Chinese script,
and they are also mentioned in the ancient Book of Songs.

The great Qing Dynasty gourmet Yuan Mei left behind notes for his
own recipe for chicken stewed with chestnuts; the following dish
is a contemporary Sichuanese version that is widely enjoyed in the
chestnut season. Sichuanese people eat it with rice and a few stir-
fried dishes, but it can also be eaten Western-style, with potatoes
and a simple vegetable side dish.The dish can be made in advance
and reheated.

Serves 4 as a main course, with one or two other dishes

I -I 1/2 pounds chestnuts
1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
2 2/3 cups chicken stock
a 2-Inch piece of fresh ginger,
2 scalllons, white and green parts
peanut oil
4 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
4 teaspoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons dark soy sauce
salt to taste

1 Slice off the base of the chestnuts and blanch them in plenty of boiling
water for about 2 nninutes. Drain them well, and when they are cool
enough to handle, remove the shells and skins as far as possible (some will
slip off like gloves, others will defy all gentle coaxings).

2 Using a cleaver, chop up the chicken, bones and all, into small chunks.
Crush the ginger and scallions slightly with the side of a cleaver blade or
a heavy object. (Ed. Rolling Pin!)

3 Season the wok, then add 3 tablespoons of oil and heat over a high flame.
When the oil is hot, add the chestnuts and stir-fry them for about 5 minutes,
until they are golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add
the chicken pieces to the wok and fry over a high heat until they are
browned. Drain off some of the excess oil at this stage if you wish. Splash
in the Shaoxing rice wine and stir well. Add the ginger and scallions and fry
for about 30 seconds, until they are fragrant.Then slowly add all the stock,

4 Bring the stock back to a boil and add the sugar and dark soy sauce, with
salt to taste. Then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring
from time to time.

5 Add the chestnuts, mix well, and continue to simmer until they are moist
and pasty and the liquid is much reduced. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary,
and serve.


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STIR-FRIED CHICKEN HOTCHPOTCH
chao ji za

My Sichuanese chef friends might be surprised to see me
include the following recipe in this book—it's not a fancy
dish and I've never seen it on a restaurant menu. But the
circumstances in which I learned to make it are for me a
perfect illustration of the resourcefulness of Sichuanese
cooks, and it tastes delicious too.

My friend Feng Rui had invited me to spend a day cooking (and eating)
with two of his friends, both former chefs of two of Chengdu's best hotels. In
the morning we went to the local street market to buy our raw ingredients.
The chickens, of course, were still clucking around in their pen. Feng Rui
chose a fowl with a scarcely developed thumb, a sign that it was young and
tender.The vendor slaughtered, plucked, and dressed it, and we took it home.
The astonishing thing was that almost nothing of that bird was wasted. We
ate the meat cold with a chili oil dressing, the bones made the
stock base of our winter melon soup, and all the innards went into the
following dish, including intestines, heart, and blood. It was an enticing mix
of strong flavors and different textures, all set off by the crunchy celery and
a delicate assortment of spices.

The following is a recreation of the dish that uses only the readily available
chicken livers. Serves 4 with two or three other dishes (we enjoyed it with
twice-cooked pork, chilioil chicken, and a very simple steamed fish, as well
as a soup to finish)

1 head of celery
salt
1/3 pound chicken livers
3 Sichuanese pickled chiles or
6 Thai pickled chiles
about I tablespoon pickled
young ginger, sliced or
shredded
peanut oil

FOR THE MARINADE

1/2 teaspoon salt
I teaspoon Shaoxing rice
wine or medium-dry sherry
2 teaspoons potato flour or
3 teaspoons cornstarch
I teaspoon water

FOR THE SAUCE

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
a pinch of ground white or black pepper
3/4 teaspoon potato flour or
I 1/8 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons chicken stock or water

1 Wash and remove the fibrous outer layer of the celery, cut it into 3-inch
sections, and then slice these lengthwise into 1/2-inch sticks. Sprinkle the
sticks with a few pinches of salt, mix well, and set aside.Cut the chicken
livers into 1/2-inch slices and place them in a small bowl. Add the marinade
ingredients and stir in one direction to combine. Mix the sauce ingredients
together in another small bowl.

2 Shake the celery dry just before you start cooking.

3 Season the wok, then add 4 tablespoons of oil and heat over a high flame
until smoking. Add the chicken livers and stir-fry. When the pieces have
separated, add the chiles and ginger and continue to stir-fry until they are
fragrant and the chicken livers are nearly cooked.

4 Add the celery and stir and toss for a couple of minutes until it is hot but
still crunchy (this is called "breaking the rawness," duan sheng). Then add
the sauce and continue to stir for another few seconds until it has thickened.
Spoon everything into a large bowl and serve.


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FISH BRAISED IN CHILI BEAN SAUCE
dou ban xian yu

This recipe is one of my personal favorites and is typical of
Sichuanese home cooking.The fish is clothed in a rich, ruddy sauce
scattered with scallion greens and little flecks of garlic and ginger.
The flavor is dominated by the intensity of the chili bean paste, but
the addition of a little vinegar at the end lifts it and makes it sing.
Chili bean paste is one of the indispensable seasonings in
Sichuanese cuisine and is the specialty of Pixian county, near
Chengdu. Legend has it that the secret of this delicious flavoring
many other wonderful recipes, discovered through a happy accident.
According to the famous Pixian Chili Bean Paste Factory, the story
goes that in the seventeenth century an immigrant named Mr. Chen
was making his way to Sichuan with a small supply of fava beans to eat
on the road.When a spate of wet weather mildewed his beans, he couldn't
bear to throw them away, so he let them dry out a bit and then ate them
with a few fresh chiles. The beans were unexpectedly tasty, so when he
settled down he continued to ferment his beans and eat them in a similar
way. In 1804, one of Mr. Chen's descendants set up a workshop in Pixian
to produce paste according to what had by then become the family recipe,
but on a larger scale. This, they say, was the origin of today's Pixian Chili
Bean Paste Factory.

These days, the beans are left to ferment in a vat of salty water for
several months. They are then mixed with salted red chiles and left
in vats in a courtyard for anything from six months to three years to
continue their fermentation. On sunny days, the staff lifts the lids of
the vats to let the paste bake in the sun, and on clear nights they
expose it to the dew. The paste is stirred regularly for an even
exposure to the elements, and as time goes by it darkens and
becomes soft and fragrant.

In the Pixian Chili Bean Paste Factory some of the paste is mass-produced,
but one part of the factory courtyard is still devoted to making the paste
according to the traditional method. Here, twelve hundred large earthenware
pots, each with its own conical bamboo hat, are neatly lined up. The paste in
these pots, the factory's finest, is turned by hand and tended carefully for at
least two years, until it is a deep, purplish brown. Through this special
process, they say, the paste absorbs the essences of the universe and breathes
in the spirit of the Sichuan earth.

Serves 2 as a main course, 4 with three other dishes

1 carp, trout, or sea bass weighing about 1 1/2 pounds, cleaned, with head
and tail still attached
peanut oil

FOR THE MARINADE

3/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
I teaspoon white sugar


FOR THE SAUCE

4 tablespoons Sichuanese chill bean paste
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 1/3 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon white sugar
1-2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in I tablespoon cold water
1/2 teaspoon Chinkiang or black Chinese vinegar
3 scallions, green parts only, finely sliced

1 Use a cleaver or sharp knife to make 4 or 5 shallow diagonal cuts into each
side of the fish, and to pierce its head (this releases more flavorsome
juices). Rub the fish inside and out with the salt and Shaoxing rice wine and
leave to marinate while you assemble the other ingredients.

2 Season the wok, then heat 1/3 cup of oil over a high flame until smoking.
Dry the fish with paper towels and fry it briefly on each side, just long
enough to crisp up the skin. (The fish can be briefly deep-fried instead if
you have the oil handy.) Remove and set aside. Rinse and dry the wok.

3 Return the wok to a medium flame with 4 tablespoons of fresh oil.When it
is hot, add the chili bean paste and stir-fry for 20-30 seconds until the oil is
red and smells delicious. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for another
20 seconds or so until you can smell their fragrance. Then pour in all the
stock, turn up the heat, and bring the liquid to a boil. Season to taste with
the sugar and soy sauce.

4 Gently place the fish into the wok and spoon some sauce over it. Turn the
heat down, cover, and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the fish is cooked and
has absorbed some of the flavors of the sauce. Turn the fish once during
the cooking time, spooning over some more sauce.

5 When the fish is done, gently transfer it to a serving dish. Add the
cornstarch mixture to the sauce and stir briefly until it thickens. Add the
vinegar and scallions, stir a couple of times, and then pour the sauce over
the waiting fish.

NOTE

A common Sichuanese practice is to return any leftover sauce to the wok
after the fish is eaten, add some bean curd, and continue the meal. To do
this, cut a cake of bean curd into thick slices or cubes, simmer it very gently
in lightly salted water for 5 minutes or so, and add to the reheated sauce.
Simmer for a few minutes until the bean curd has absorbed some of the
flavors, and serve.



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SWEET-AND-SOUR PORK
tang cu li ji

In the smoky kitchen of the Bamboo Bar, one of my favorite
Chengdu restaurants, a desperate pandemonium reigns. The
place is always filled with guests demanding long lists of
complicated dishes, but most of the cooking is done in a single wok.
The head chef stands over the coal-fired stove stirring and toss-
ing, flinging spices and sauces into the wok with wild abandon.

His three assistants rush around the tiny kitchen, mincing garlic
and ginger, chopping meat into slices, dices, and slivers, and
washing dishes. The kitchen seems precariously balanced on the
brink of chaos. Bamboo baskets overflowing with scallions, celery,
and Chinese cabbage stand on every shelf and surface in riotous
disorder. Huge tubs of soaking squid and dried mushrooms obstruct
the floor. But, miraculously, out of this mad mess comes some of the
best Sichuanese food in the district.Authentically spiced, nicely
cooked, served with a complete lack of pretension. This is not a
place for fancy vegetable carving or elaborate garnishes, but is
great for a delicious everyday feast.

One of the dishes that the Bamboo Bar does best is sweet-and-sour pork.
Deep-fried strips of tender pork are dressed in a dark, tangy sauce that is
light-years away from the synthetic-looking orange confections served under
the same name in the West.

Serves 2 as a main dish with one vegetable, 4 with three other dishes

3/4 pound boneless pork loin (the meat from 2 or 3 pork chops)
peanut oil for deep-frying


FOR THE BATTER

2 eggs wine or medium-dry sherry
1/4 cup potato flour or 3/8 cup cornstarch


FOR THE MARINADE

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Shaoxing Rice wine or medium-dry sherry


FOR THE SAUCE

1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons Chinkiang or black Chinese vinegar
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons potato flour or 3 3/4 teaspoons cornstarch
3 scallions, green parts only
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon sesame oil


1 Trim any fat from the meat. Cut it into slices 1/2 inch thick, and then cut
these into 1/2-inch strips. Place in a bowl. Add the marinade ingredients,
mix well, and let sit for 30 minutes.

2 Combine the salt, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and potato flour or cornstarch
for the sauce in a small bowl. Finely slice the scallion greens.

3 Heat oil for deep-frying to 300°F. Beat the eggs together. In a bowl, mix the
potato flour with enough beaten egg (about I 1/2 eggs) to make a thick
batter. When the oil is hot, mix the batter with the pork strips. Drop some
of the battered strips into the oil, adding them individually to prevent
sticking, and stir with long chopsticks to separate. Fry the strips at about
300°F for 3 minutes or so, until they are just cooked through. Remove and
drain. Repeat with more pork strips until you have cooked all of them,

4 Reheat the deep-frying oil to 375°F Add the pork strips in one or two
batches and deep-fry them until they are crisp and golden. Remove, drain,
and place on your serving dish. Keep them warm while you prepare the
sauce,

5 Heat the 3 tablespoons of oil in a clean wok over a medium flame. Add the
garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until they are fragrant.
Add all the stock, bring the liquid to a boil, and then add the prepared
sauce ingredients from the small bowl. Stir briskly as the liquid thickens,
then add the scallions and sesame oil, stir once or twice, and pour the
sauce over the waiting pork strips. Serve immediately.

All the above from "Land Of Plenty" by Fuschia Dunlop
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/94561.Land_of_Plenty

Sichuan Chinese cuisine at its finest!! Try, you won't be sorry!
'course you'll get Fuschia Shock!