Classic Sze Chuan dishes

 Classic Sze Chuan dishes

Seafood, a summer's must! Mouth watering fresh prawns, lightly or deep fried with fragrant five spice powder, garlic, chillies and spring onions. These delightful dish will make anyone's favourite!

Ingredients:

    •    1 kg of prawns
   

 •    2-3 teaspoon of corn flour
   

 •    5-6 (more or less) tablespoon of vegetable oil

    •    1 teaspoon of five spice powder

    •    6-8 (or less) finely chopped garlic

    •    4 (more or less) fresh bird's eye chillies, finely chopped 

    •    Few sprigs of spring onions or chives, finely chopped 

    •    2 tablespoon of grounded or pounded Sze Chuan peppercorns (or prickly ash)

    •    Grounded sea salt or Pink Himalayan salt

    •    A few wedges of fresh limes

 Method:
1. Lightly coat the prawns with corn flour. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan, then lightly fry the prawns. Set aside.
2. Drizzle with a little more oil in the pan, add the garlic and chillies until fragrant. Add the prawns, then the spring onions. Toss them quickly and stir to mix well. Then add the grounded Sze Chuan peppercorns, five spice powder and toss quickly. Then, add the salt evenly around the prawns and stir.
3. Serve immediately with a few wedges of fresh limes.

Kung Pao Chicken is another classic spicy Szechuan dish. You may deep dry the chicken (or beef) pieces or for a lighter version, you can choose to stir fry them.
 Halve the ingredients in this recipe if half the quantity of chicken meat or beef is used.

 Ingredients:
    •    Almost 700g chicken thigh fillets or beef strips
    •    12-14 small dried red chillies (or less), as desired
    •    6 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
    •    1 1/2 cup (or three handfuls) or natural cashews, or skinless unsalted peanuts. I prefer to use cashews
    •    4-5 cups oil (if fried in wok, oil should cover most of the meat for deep-frying) or 3-4 cups for stir-frying
    •    1 red capsicum
    •    1 brown onion (sliced roughly)
    •    1 tablespoon of grounded or pounded Sze Chuan peppercorns
For the Marinade:
    •    2 tablespoon light soy sauce
    •    2 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
    •    2 tablespoon cold water
    •    2 tablespoon corn flour
    •    A few drops sesame oil
For the Sauce:
    •    6 tablespoon dark soy sauce (or as desired)
    •    2-3 tablespoon black or red rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar
    •    Half  water
    •    5 teaspoons raw sugar
    •    Salt to taste
    •    1 tablespoon corn flour
 
Method:
1. Slice the chicken or beef thinly. Mix in the soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, water, corn flour and sesame oil.  Marinate the chicken or beef for at least an hour in the fridge.


2. In a small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients, adding the corn flour lastly.


3. Break some of the dried chillies in half and remove some of the seeds if desired. Leave some dried chillies as whole. You may experiment the heat of this dish when cooked several times.


4. Heat the oil for deep-frying, you can test the heat of the oil with a wooden chopstick or a breadcrumb. If it bubbles, it is hot enough.
5. Carefully slide sideways the meat, in a deep pan or wok. Deep-fry until the meat is cooked, and drain them on paper towels.
6. Tip some oil out of the pan or wok, but leaving about 4 tablespoons of oil. 
Add the dried chillies and stir-fry until the skins starts to blister. Add onions and capsicum, stir fry a little until the onions are a little soft. Add the garlic and the grounded Sze Chuan peppercorns and stir fry these ingredients until aromatic.
7. Add the chicken back into the pan or wok. Stir fry briefly and add the sauce ingredients, with a couple more dashes of sesame oil (optional). Stir thoroughly until the sauce thickens. Stir in the cashews or peanuts. Mix well and serve warm with rice.

Ma Po tofu is another classic from the Sze Chuan province. A favourite dish in a restaurant menu!

 Ingredients:
    •  2 tablespoon sesame oil
    •  500 g minced beef or pork
    •  5 red shallots, finely chopped
    •  6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed  
    •  Around 5 - 6 cm of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated. (Tip: You may use a teaspoon to remove the skin) 
    •  2 tablespoon of palm sugar (Gula Melaka)  
    •  4 bird's eye chillies  
    •  5-6 dried chillies (fried with 4 tablespoon of vegetable oil, and left aside)
    •  1/4 cup of Shaoxing rice wine
    •  3/4 to 1 cup of chicken stock. Add about two teaspoon of corn flour in the stock
    •  200 g of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
    •  3 tablespoon of light soy sauce
    •  1 1/2 tablespoon of Sze Chuan peppercorns
    •  2 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice
    •  1 handful of Thai basil leaves (optional)

Method:
1. Heat a wok over high heat, add the sesame oil and a few dashes of vegetable oil, stir fry the mince meat until brown. Set aside.
2. Add the chilli oil from the fried fried chillies in the wok, with a couple dashes of vegetable oil and add the shallots, garlic, ginger and bird's eye chillies. Stir fry for 3 minutes, add the meat and palm sugar. Cook for a minute until caramelised.
3. Pour in the rice wine and reduce it by half, then add the stock until the desired amount and the sauce thickens.
4. Add the soy sauce,, the peppercorns, lemon juice and the tofu. Stir gently. Add a little sea salt if desired.
5. Serve in a claypot or bowl and garnish with the basil leaves.