Month: January 2011

This classic Sichuan dish is usually made with Beef – Shui Zhu Niu Rou, the version made with fish Shui Zhu Yu is one of our favorite dishes at Ba Ren, which more appropriately calls these dishes "Boiled in Hot Sauce". Tonight I thought I'd try making it with lamb.

I was surprised how well it turned out…. not quite sure about the photos though. The Missus said they look like brains boiled in hot sauce! The recipe is loosely based on Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe in her fantastic cookbook, Land of Plenty which I've referenced many times over the years. If you have that recipe handy you'll notice more than a few differences. First, I really used water, not stock for this. I also bumped up all the spices, and used four different sources of chilies, including Korean Ground Red Chili and my home made chili oil. I also used tablespoons of freshly toasted and ground Sichuan Peppercorns instead of teaspoons. If you try this recipe out, you may want to increase it even more since I used Sichuan Peppercorns directly from Sichuan that had never been irradiated. Instead of numbing your tongue and lips, it'll numb your entire face. I also used finely minced garlic and a touch of grated ginger, which really helped the dish along.

What's really interesting about this dish is that it's built in layers using a single wok. First you use the chilies and most of the ground Sichuan Peppercorn to develop a chili-and-peppercorn infused oil.

You then remove the chilies and use the oil to very briefly stir fry your vegetables. Because I used two different veggies, I made this in two batches.

And layered one on top of the other in the bowl to be used for serving.

Next you build your "sauce", much like the way I do my Ma Po Tofu. Once you have your sauce boiling you add your meat, which has been marinating in Shaoxing wine, and mixed with a cornstarch mixture. You stir briefly with chopsticks to ensure the meat is separated. Once the meat is cooked you remove the meat from the now thickened sauce, and add that to the bowl. You then pour the sauce over everything. Chop the dried chilies, sprinkle them on top of everything along with more Sichuan Peppercorn….. and it's done.

In case you're thinking this was a long drawn out process, it was actually pretty quick. I even made another stir fried vegetable dish for dinner…… Oh, and it was more "Ma" (numbing) than "La" spicy, at least to me.

 
Shui Zhu Yang Rou – Water Boiled Lamb:

2/3 lb vegetables – mung bean sprouts, lettuce, napa cabbage, etc
2/3 lb Sliced Lamb
2 Tb Shaoxing Wine (Drinking Quality please)
10-15 Dried Red Chilies
3 Tb freshly toasted and ground Sichuan Peppercorn
3 cloves garlic finely minced
1 tsp grated ginger
3 Tb Peanut Oil
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1 tsp Ground Red Chilies
3 Tb home made chili oil
4-5 Tb Sichuan Chili Bean Paste aka Doubian Jian (make sure it's made from Broad Beans)
4 Tb Corn Starch combined with 4-5 Tb water to form a paste
2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
2 tsp Premium Soy sauce
1 Tb white granulated sugar
2 cups water
salt to taste
Cilantro

– Prep and slice (if necessary) your vegetables
– Slice dried chilies in half and discard the seeds
– Combine the sliced lamb with Shaoxing Wine, mix well, and let marinate
– Add peanut oil to a medium hot wok. Add the dried chilies and 2 tablespoons of Sichuan Peppercorn to the wok.Stir Fry until the chilies start to brown, do not scald. Quickly remove the chilies.
– Add vegetables to the wok and stir fry quickly. Since I used two different items I did this twice. I added a touch of salt and the ground red chilies to the greens. Just briefly cook the vegetables, they should still be crunchy when removed from the wok to create the first layer(s) in your bowl.
– Add the canola oil (I used canola oil instead of peanut oil for this because peanut oil is so darn expensive nowadays) and turn up the heat.
– When the oil begins to shimmer add the Bean Paste, stir frying until it is fragrant.Add garlic, ginger, and mix quickly.
– Add water, soy sauces, and sugar.
– While the liquid is coming up to a boil. Combine the cornstarch mixture with the lamb and mix well.
– When the sauce is boiling, dip a chopstick into the sauce and taste. Adjust the flavor if necessary.
– Start adding the slices of meat to the sauce. As the sauce comes up to a boil use chopsticks to separate the slices of meat.
– Once the meat is cooked, use chopsticks or a slotted spoon to top the vegetables with the meat.
– Pour the bubbling sauce over everything
– Chop the red chilies, and sprinkle on top, drizzle on chili oil to taste along with the remaining tablespoon of Sichuan Pepper.

This year, the Missus wanted Oden (おでん) a hot pot/stew that usually features a variety of fish cakes. The recipe for the broth is quite simple, and is basically exactly as described in Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art , one of my favorite cookbooks. Other than the fact I use only dashi (Tsuji uses a combination of chicken stock and dashi), I think the real difference, if any was all in the preparation and serving.

As with many Japanese dishes; everything starts (and ends with) the Dashi. Instead of beginning the heating of the kombu right away; I'll actually first score 5-6" squares of wiped kombu, then soak in cold water overnight basically making Kombu Dashi. The next day I'll bring the liquid up to temp, heating to just the point where bubbles appear in the water, then I'll remove the kombu. The center part of the kombu should be soft…… you should be able to press your fingernail into the kombu. After the kelp has been removed, I'll increase the heat of the liquid until it just about reaches a boil, remove it from heat, then add the Katsuobushi (bonito flakes). I'll then very gently stir once; then wait until all the katsuobushi sinks to the bottom of the pot before straining through a cheesecloth.

Once I put together the broth, I'll place the longer cooking stewing items, like daikon, kombu, shiitake mushroom, and konnyaku into the broth to simmer. As for the other items, when I'm ready to serve the Oden, I'll ladle out the amount of broth and stewed items into a smaller pot; add in the Missus's favorite fish cakes and boiled eggs and bring to a simmer and heat through. Simmering fried fishcakes can give your broth a oily sheen, makes the cakes soggy and bland, and basically look quite unattractive. I'll pour boiling water over Abura-age (Fried tofu) to remove the excess oil, cut into triangles, and place into the bowl, along with some kamaboko. you'll notice that there's a scarcity of chikuwa (broiled fish cake)….. it seems that the Missus prefers more expensive stuff.

I also added a few items that the Missus enjoys like Satoimo (taro). The Missus also loves Inoki Mushrooms, but when added to a stew all the stalks break apart and go every which way. So this time, I soaked some Kanpyo (dried calabash shavings), and used them to tie the bundles of Inoki Mushroom together. Here's a pretty good list of items that you can add to your Oden. I'm just including the recipe for the broth.

Oden Broth:
8 Cups Ichiban Dashi
1/2 Cup neutral flavored soy sauce – Aloha or Yamasa
1/4 Cup Whole Bean Kikkoman (just using Kikkoman tends to overwhelm the other subtle flavors for me)
3/4 Cup Mirin
1 Tsp Sea Salt

– Bring the dashi to a simmer, add soy sauce and mirin. Simmer to burn off some of the alcohol
– Taste and adjust flavors. Add salt to taste.
– Add daikon, konnyaku, etc first. Remember that every ingredient will add its own flavor to the broth, that's the magic of the dish.

I'll usually serve this with hot mustard.

Consume on one of the coldest days of the year……..