Sichuan (Szechuan) Dry Fried Four Season Beans 干煸四季豆

Another famous Szechuan(Sichuan) classic dish. Like the Gong Bao chicken and Fish Fragrant aubergine before it, this frequently appears on my twitter timeline and is a dish beloved by all it would seemed. With all these delicious looking images cropping up on my screen, it's only a matter of time before I finally succumbed to my inner cravings. And so, I decided to cook this tasty classic for a quick supper recently.

Dry-frying is a popular technique of cooking in Szechuan cuisine. The beans are first stir-fried in a dry work slowly until cooked which gives them their signature 'wrinkle' look and a smoky aroma before cooking in a savoury sauce. These days, it is more commonly deep fried in oil to achieve the same effect while saving time.

I have eaten many versions of this dish. Some with minced pork and some without; there's the inclusion of dry chillies in some; and then there are those with Tianjing yacai (a famous Sichuan preserved vegetable) etc. Here is a version that I grew up with. My mum uses dried shrimps and Fuling zhacai (preserved mustard), my absolute favourite of all the varieties of Szechuan preserved vegetables.  I love this dish so much I can eat copious amount without ever being tired of it. And just so you know, despite being intended to serve two to four people in the following recipe, I ate it all by myself. That just show you how good this is.

Ingredients (Serve 2-4 )

450g green beans
2 tbsp dried shrimps (hae bee)
25g Szechuan preserved vegetable (this is sold either whole or shredded. Both are good for this) 
sunflower or vegetable oil , for deep frying
2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli bean paste (Toban Jiang)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
2 spring onion, cut into thin rings
sea salt, to taste

Soak the shrimps in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and finely chopped. Reserve the soaking liquid.

Rinse the preserved vegetables with plenty of running water. Drain and finely chopped.

Fill the wok with enough oil and heat to 180ºC. Test by dropping a small piece of stale bread, it should sizzle and browns in 30 seconds. Fry the green beans in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the wok, for 4-5 minutes, until they wrinkle. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest of the green beans.

Pour away all but 2 tablespoons of oil and return the wok back to the heat. Turn up the heat to high and when smoking, add the garlic, ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add the shrimps and chopped preserved vegetable and cook for 1 minute before adding the soy sauce, chilli bean paste, sugar and 3 tablespoon of the reserved soaking liquid. 

Return the beans to the wok and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until most of the liquid have been absorbed and the beans are thoroughly coated with the sauce. 

Add the sesame oil,spring onion and season with salt to taste. Give everything in the work a final toss to combine before removing from the heat. Serve with some steamed rice. 

Yum Bun Kitchen Takeover

Following on from my recent corporate catering event where I fed the Singaporean High Commissioner (still in awe and shock), the next highlight was the collaboration with street food royalty - Yum Bum.

Taking over their kitchen on Old Street for one night only and serving two additional Singaporean flavours alongside with their classic pork belly buns. The I-can't-believe-it's-veg bun featured the traditional Popiah filling, stripped of all its carnivorous ingredients but still keeping all the yumminess. And then there was my contribution of the beefy Nyonya ox cheeks Rendang bun, made according my dearest Nan's recipe.

Over 6 kg of ox cheeks were ordered for this event. After 16 hours of toiling over hot stove, during which these hunky pieces of meat bubbled away gently in rich rempah (spice paste) and coconut milk in true Peranakan style. The result was tender and soft luscious meaty strands. These were then sandwiched between Yum bun's pillowy dough on the night, topped with crunchy cucumber, crisp radishes, nutty peanuts and finally adorned with fresh coriander to complete the sexy beast.

This is what 6kg of Ox Cheek Rendang look like!

All these goes into the Ox Cheek Rendang bun .... 

This being the first of my 'street food' service, nothing quite prepared me for the intense session. Manning the Rendang and the Veggie fillings station for the entire 5 hours service was a lot harder than I had anticipated. But after filling a total of 150 set (that's almost 500 buns!!!), it was more a sense of satisfaction as oppose to exhaustion. The vibe on the night was great and many happy diners were fed.

Thanks to all those who attended this special pop up event and truly appreciated all the lovely feedbacks and tweets/instagram that were received on the night. It has been a truly magical evening.

Me hard at work manning the filling station .... 

Filling the buns ....

A special thanks to Lisa of Yum bum for the wonderful and fun collaboration and all those who have helped to make the night a great success!

Wen of Edible Experiences, our MamaSan on the night, who oversaw the drinks while making sure the order came through and generally keeping the whole night in Ship-shaped and Bristol fashion (yes, she is a superwoman)
Shuhan, Bun Toppings extraordinaire, her multi-tasking fast-action hands would put any octopus to shame.
Javier, our Bun controller hero and all rounder helper
and last but not least, Ming-Tang Evans and Erik for the kind permission to use their photos on this post.

 The sexy buns : I-Can't-Believe-It's-Veg, Ox Cheeks Rendang, Yum Bun's Classic Pork Belly

And finally......... The Dream Team

If you are amongst the diners who came and tasted the buns, feel free to drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time.....Bun out!

Fish Fragrant Brinjal/Aubergine 魚香茄子

So this is supposed to be spring eh ? Gloomy sky and cold miserable morning. Brrrrrr..... Yup! Sounds about right. Typical British weather. Just when I thought I have finally see the back of those long wintry nights, along came the disappointing summer just to 'cheer' me up and make me yearn for warm summer days (if there's ever going to be one). After a brief false sense of disillusion that hot weather is finally upon us, grey sky once again rules the world. Time then, for a spot of comfort meal in the form of fish fragrant aubergine, or in this case, brinjal - the slimmer cousin.

One of the most well known Szechuan dishes. Quite possible as famous as the ubiquitous Kung Pao Chicken and without a doubt a firm favourite of mine. I'm a huge fan of brinjal/aubergine and dishes like Sambal Brinjal and Grilled Miso Aubergine (Nasu Miso Dengaku) frequently grace my dining table.

Despite the name, there's no fish in the dish. Instead, the name derived from the flavourings traditionally associated with fish dishes. 

The aubergines are first fried untill tender before simmering in the sweet piquant sauce till it is silky smooth and absorbed all the wonderful and luscious flavours. Frying aubergine might send shivers and sound alarm bells to your diet plan but it is not really that scary. There are a few pointers which can help to reduce their oil intake thereby producing a far healthier dish.

Slender brinjals from Chinese supermarket are my choice of preference for this than its bulky western cousin. They have less water content which prevent them from absorbing too much oil when frying. If using the round aubergine (eggplant), make sure these are first salted for at least 20-30 minutes after slicing. Then squeeze out any excess water, rinse and pat dry thoroughly before proceeding.

Another trick is making sure the oil is very hot when frying and keep the temperature as constant as possible. Fry in batches rather than throwing them all in at once. This will reduce the oil temperature drastically, causes the brinjal/aubergine to absorb more oil than it needs to.

Follow these rules and you will never look back. No more greasy Fish fragrant brinjal or aubergine.

Ingredients (Serves 2 - 4)

5-6 slender oriental brinjal or 2 large aubergine (roughly 500g)
sunflower or vegetable oil for frying
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp chilli bean paste (Toban Jiang)
11/2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
pinch of sea salt, to taste
1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
2 tsp Chinese Chinkiang black vinegar
2 spring onion, cut into thin rings
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, for garnish

Cut the brinjal in half lengthwise and then quarters before cutting into 3-4cm lengths. If using aubergine, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into 2cm thickness long strip before cutting into 3-4cm lengths.

Fill the wok with enough oil and heat to 180ºC. Test by dropping a small piece of stale bread, it should sizzle and browns in 30 seconds. Fry the brinjal in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the wok, for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown and tender. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest of the brinjal. 

Pour away all but 2 tablespoons of oil and return the wok back to the heat. Turn up the heat to high and when smoking, add the garlic, ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add the chilli bean paste, rice wine, soy sauce and cook for another 30 seconds before returning the fried brinjal back into the wok. Turn down the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, tossing lightly to coat thoroughly with the sauce. Take care not to break up the brinjal. Season with sugar and salt to taste. Pour in the cornflour mixture and stir gently to thicken the sauce. 

Remove from heat and add the vinegar and spring onion and toss to heat through in the residue heat. Stir in the sesame oil and scatter over the chopped red chillies. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

This is also equally delicious served cold as an appetiser.