Salt and Pepper Squid

While this recipe is a keeper, the most time-consuming task of the recipe is cleaning the squid if you are using fresh squid. I don't know of any seafood counter at an Asian grocery store that cleans squid before packaging it for sale. This is the third recipe attempt from a collection of Fuchsia Dunlop cookbooks. This recipe comes from her book Every Grain of Rice, which won this year's James Beard award for international cookbooks. The photo of my dish doesn't even look remotely close to the pretty squid shapes in the photo of her book. It was tasty regardless.

Salt and Pepper Squid

This is a dish that you could order at a restaurant and not think twice about how long it takes to prepare it. Between cleaning the whole squids, slicing, then deep frying them, it took about an hour from start to finish. I doubt that starting with cleaned squid tubes would have helped all that much; besides those are usually sold frozen. Fresh squid just has a different taste and texture.

The cookbook has a vegetarian option for this recipe where instead of the squid, you use 14 oz of plain white tofu cut into bite-sized cubes then deep fried until golden.

Note: there is no black pepper nor white pepper in this recipe. The pepper here is Sichuan pepper, commonly referred to as Sichuan peppercorns. Also, two stalks of green onions were plenty for this dish. And, when deep frying the squid, watch out for the oil.. it will splatter and spit and crackle when moisture from the squid hits the hot oil.

Ingredients

1 lb squid, cleaned

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

3 tbsp potato flour (for deep frying)

1 1/2 c neutral cooking oil, such as peanut oil

2 tbsp olive oil, for frying

2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced

2 tbsp spring onion whites, minced

2 tbsp spring onion greens, minced

1 fresh red chili, thinly sliced

1/4 tsp toasted Sichuan pepper mixed with 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions

1. Clean squid. You'll only be using the tentacles and the body. Trim the tentacles from the head, then slice in half lengthwise. Score the body using diagonal cuts with a knife.

2. Toss the squid body and tentacles in a bowl with Shaoxing rice wine. Let this marinate while you prep the other ingredients.

3. Drain the liquid from the squid and dredge in potato flour. Deep fry in a wok (or other appliance for deep frying) at 350 degrees F. Use a metal slotted spoon to remove the squid when it has reached a light golden brown color. Drain the oil from the squid on paper towels.

4. Drain off all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok. Add garlic, spring onion whites, and chili to the wok and stir fry over medium heat. Raise the heat to high and return the squid, Sichuan pepper, and salt to the wok. Stir and toss for a minute.

5. Add the spring onion greens last, mix well and serve.

Spicy Hot Eggplant

A madman checked out three of Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbooks from the library and suggested that we cook at least three recipes from them. This is the second of three recipes that looked doable and another attempt at authentic Chinese cuisine. This recipe comes from Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook which highlights the cuisine and cooking style of the Hunan province. Chili bean paste isn't in the pantry, so I mixed chili oil with black bean paste as a substitution. This came out tasting just okay. I'm not terribly inclined to make it again any time soon.

Spicy Eggplant with Pork

Ingredients

3 Asian eggplants, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and finely chopped
3 oz ground pork
2 tbsp chili oil + 1 tbsp black bean paste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 fresh red chili, finely sliced
2/3 c. stock or water
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 scallions, green parts only, finely sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
olive oil for frying
kosher salt, to taste

Directions

1. Peel the eggplants then cut them in half lengthwise, then crosswise. Cut each quarter into chunks, sprinkle with salt and let drain for 30 minutes.

2. Squeeze the water from the mushrooms, then finely chop and set aside.

3. Rinse and pat dry the eggplant. Heat the oil for deep frying in a wok over high heat until it reach 350 degrees F and fry eggplant until they are tender. 

-or- Blanch the eggplant for a few minutes in salted boiling water until softened. Remove from heat or water and set aside.

4. Fry pork separately and add the chili bean paste. Stir fry until the oil is red.

5. Add the ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and chili paste. Stir in the stock, dark soy sauce, eggplant, and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Season to taste with salt.

6. Cook until the sauce is reduced. Add the scallions and stir fry until barely cooked.

7. Remove from heat, stir in sesame oil, and serve.

Sichanese Dan Dan Noodles

If it weren't for this cookbook, I would not have known to make the dish nor the sauce that goes with it. This recipe comes from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. Total prep time is about an hour, including noodle cooking time. This was one of the few times I went out of the way to procure a single recipe ingredient, in this case it was the tianjin preserved vegetable; which is a garlic and salt-preserved cabbage. If you can't find this little clay urn of intensely salty vegetable, you could probably substitute the more commonly used preserved turnip or preserved mustard greens instead.

Egg Noodles with Pork & Bok Choy, Sichuanese Flavors

More appalling was the fact that the Wel-pac brand was the only packaged noodle at the Asian grocery store that listed egg as an ingredient instead of yellow food coloring. Sichuanese food is nearly synonymous with hot and spicy. The spiciness of the dish comes from chili oil and toasted sichuan peppercorns.

Serves: 4

For the noodles:

1 pkg (3 bundles) egg noodles

8 bok choy heads, halved and leaves only

For the sauce:

2 tbsp tianjin preserved vegetable, or pickled Chinese cabbage

1 tbsp olive oil

3 spring onions, green parts only, finely chopped

3 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp chili oil, to taste

2 tsp Chinese black vinegar

1 tsp ground toasted sichuan peppercorns

1 qt hot chicken stock

For the pork:

1 tbsp olive oil

3.5 oz ground pork

1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1 tsp light soy sauce

Directions

1. Rinse the Tianjin vegetable in a sieve under the tap to get rid of excess salt and shake dry. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat,and stir-fry the Tianjin vegetable until it is dry. Set aside.

2. To prepare the pork topping, add the oil to the wok and heat through. Add the ground pork and stir-fry, splashing in the Shaoxing wine. Add the soy sauce and fry until the meat is cooked but not too dry. Set aside.

3. Divide the stir-fried preserved vegetable, the spring onions and the light and dark soy sauce, chili oil, vinegar, Sichuan pepper and stock among four serving bowls.

4. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the bok choy and blanch until just cooked. Place a couple of leaves in each serving bowl. Meanwhile, add the noodles to the boiling water and boil until cooked to taste. Drain the noodles and divide among the prepared bowls. Top each serving with a spoonful of the cooked pork.

5. Serve immediately. The noodles should be mixed into the sauce at the table, using chopsticks.