Ma Po Do Fu is probably the most popular (or at least the gentrified version is a permanent item in the Chinese take out menu) of Sichuanese cuisine. As many of you know, the “ma” refers to the hot and numbing spice, not some old lady with pock marked face, which the dish is sometimes referred to.  It’s truly a Chinese comfort food.

Chef’s tip: The steps below may look laborious but frankly, I am just trying to line out in great detail the steps in wok cooking.  It literally takes about 5 minutes or less to cook the dish.  This dish employs the classic steps in working with a wok.  The wok is designed so that the hottest part of the pan is the bottom part, that’s where you brown the meat, etc.  The sides of the pan serves as the in between placeholder, where you park parts of the dish while you cook the other parts, before tossing them all back together.  That way, ingredients that need different cooking times get their own special treatment and you come out with the perfect crunch and tenderness.

8 oz ground beef
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 lb silken tofu
4 tablespoon scallions, white part, chopped

Sauce
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon chili bean paste
1 tablespoon fermented black beans (optional)

1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar

½ tablespoon cornflour, plus 2 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons scallion, green part

Preparing the meat
1. Mix ground beef with 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and shaoxing wine.  Set aside

Preparing the vegetable
2. Dry fry the Sichuan peppercorn. Lightly grind peppercorns
3. Chop scallion (white part), ginger and garlic finely, set aside separately
4. Cut bean curd into 1 inch cubes.

Cooking the dish
5. Heat the wok over high heat.  Add the peanut oil followed by the marinated meat.  Drizzle remaining shaoxing wine around the side of the wok.  Fry for 1 minute until meat starts to brown.  Push the meat to the side of the wok.
6. Add chili bean paste, fermented black beans, and fry till the oil is separated, about half a minute.
7. Add chopped garlic, ginger and scallions (white part).  Fry till fragrant – about 30 seconds.  Toss with the meat.
8. Add broth, soy sauce, and sugar
9. Add tofu, stir lightly and bring to boil.  Then lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes.
10. Combine cornstarch with water to make a slurry, add to the sauce, toss to cook until sauce thickens.
11. Add chopped green scallions and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, toss to coat.
Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

Tags: Chinese, Sichuanese, tofu.

Sweet succulent diver scallops, pan seared and topped with crispy bacon in a bacon-miso vinaigrette.   I had better post this recipe before the new year’s resolutions kick in.  Or perhaps the new resolution is to eat more bacon?  Or this may qualify for a salad diet?

Chef’s tip: To make the nutty flavored clarified butter, heat 4 tablespoons of unsalted sweet butter under medium heat till solids separate.  Spoon off the foam, gently pour out the clarified butter leaving the golden brown solids and more liquid moisture behind, if you hadn’t boiled off the watery part of the butter already.  You can pass the clarified butter through a cheesecloth to remove all solids.  Make a large jar of it and store it in the fridge.  Or you can buy clarified butter in a jar, typically labeled as ghee.
To perfectly sear scallops. make sure the scallops are totally at room temperature, pat it dry and salt just before it hits the pan.   Do not move the scallops until the brown crust forms, which will naturally release the scallop.  The temperature of the pan should be medium to hot.  Lastly, look out for the 1/4 inch thick white opaque layer that forms on both side of the seared scallop face.  The middle should be a little translucent, it will cook in its own heat to perfect tender.

Vinaigrette:
4 strips apple smoked bacon
1 small shallot, finely diced, reserve 1 teaspoon
3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons mirin
1 Tablespoon sherry
3 Tablespoon orange juice
2 Tablespoons white miso
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon sugar

16 large diver scallops
2 Tablespoons clarified butter
Kosher salt
White pepper

3 cups baby spinach

1. In a small saucepan, render the bacon till the bacon is somewhat crispy,  remove bacon.
2.  Add chopped shallots to the bacon fat, and sweat shallots under medium low heat until golden brown.  Add rice wine vinegar, mirin, sherry and orange juice and deglaze the pan.  Mix in miso, ginger and sugar.  Let simmer till reduced till half and liquids is thickened.  Add in reserved shallots, set aside.
3. In a cast iron pan, heat clarified butter on medium heat until smoky.  Thoroughly dry the scallops with paper towel, rub with salt and pepper.  Add to the pan and turn up the heat.  Let scallop cook without turning until a brown crust forms or a whitish opaque forms about 1/4 inch up.  Flip the scallops and cook till the opaque white goes up 1/4 inch again on the other side of the scallop.  Remove scallops and set aside.
4. Remove pan from heat, add spinach and toss to warm but not wilt the spinach.  Add half the vinaigrette when tossing.
5.  Place a serving of spinach on a plate, top with 4 scallops and sprinkle with reserved bacon.  Drizzle in a tablespoon of vinaigrette.

Serves: 4

Tags: Californian, Fusion, Japanese, salad.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I used to sell toothpaste in China. We were introducing the Colgate Red into China and I was tasked with the “smaller” markets — those cities with less than 5 million population.  On our launch into Chongqing, I remember walking the slopes of the city (it’s as hilly as San Francisco), supposedly to check out the toothpaste market, but I was mesmerized by the spice markets.  Mounds and mounds of chili and peppers — bright red, dark red, fiery red everywhere.  The air was even spicy! Then we came across this street peddler who was dishing out Liang Fen.  Using a hand grater, he “grated” noodles out of a basin of rice jello, and ladled on a red spicy sauce on top.   That was totally ingenious the way he made the noodles.

Liang Fen is a great starter dish and my favorite Sichuan dish.  Slippery, cool and slightly springy, it’s the canvas for the fiery and numbing sauce.  Sichuan or more commonly misspelt Szechuan cuisine is distinctly unique for its use of hot, numbing spices and lots of fresh vegetables as the province is the vegetable bowl for China.  The Sichuan peppercorn is really a prickly ash, not at all related to regular black pepper.  It has a floral and woody aroma, but its most outstanding feature is how it gives a numbing feeling to your mouth.  One may wonder why in the world would you want that feeling in your food, I find it hard to explain or describe but it does give a nice kick, and an addictive one indeed.  Once banned from the United States, you can now easily find the spice even in your local Wholefoods, or at least local to the Bay Area, thanks to a fusion foods fad a couple of years ago pushing the spice to a ranking in the top 10 must try for the year by Bon Appetit or one of those magazines.

Chef’s tip: Mung bean starch has good nutritional value.  You can easily find it at Korean grocery stores.  To cook it, make sure you stir continuously till it become translucent, otherwise, it will still be raw.  I prefer to use the Sichuan peppercorn oil, too.  It gives the same effect without the coarseness of the peppercorn.  You can omit the tahini for a cleaner tasting sauce.

Noodles

4 cups + 2 tablespoons water

¾ cup mung bean starch*

Sauce

3 tablespoons tahini + 3 tablespoons water (more if tahini is thick)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground toasted Sichuan peppercorn, or Sichuan peppercorn oil

1 teaspoon ginger juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Asian chili oil

½ tablespoon sesame oil

1 stalk green onions, green parts only, julienned into 1 inch strips

Finishing oil:

1 teaspoon Asian chili oil

½ teaspoon sesame oil

Preparing the noodle

1. Mix starch with 1 ½ cups of water till starch is fully dissolved.  Mix in remaining water.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens.  It’s easiest to stir from the center out. Stir until the mixture is clear and translucent.  About 4 minutes total.
3. Immediately pour mixture into a wet, glass or ceramic dish, about 9X12 inch, making a thin 3/8 inch layer.
4. Leave to cool for 45 minutes in the fridge or 2 hours at room temperature.
5. When set, cut noodles 6 X ½ X ¼ inch strips

Preparing the sauce

1. Mix together the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Assembly:

1. Pour sauce over the noodles and toss to coat.  Finish with a little chili oil and sesame oil.  Garnish with green onions.

Serves: 6

Note: To make your own chili oil, use the recipe below:

Chili oil with chili flakes

½ cup of dried chili flakes

2 cups of peanut oil

1. Put chili flakes in a glass preserving jar (or pyrex)
2. Heat the oil until smoking hot
3. Allow to cool 5 mins
4. Pour into the jar

* Can be found in Asian stores

Tags: Chinese, noodles, Sichuanese, Spices, vegan, Vegetarian.