Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (19 page)

To cook and peel your own chestnuts

Slice off the bases of the raw chestnuts and blanch them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain. When cool enough to handle, remove their shells and inner skins as far as possible.

CHICKEN LIVERS WITH CHINESE CHIVES
JIU CAI CHAO JI GAN
韭菜炒雞肝

Once, when I was staying in Hangzhou, I went with my restaurateur friend A Dai to a nearby village where a pig was to be slaughtered. We watched three brothers, professional pig-killers, dispatch the animal with a long “willow leaf” knife, stayed for a chat with the farmer over tea and bowlfuls of poached eggs served with sugar, then drove back to town with the meat in the back of the van. That evening, back at A Dai’s restaurant, the head chef whipped up two simple stir-fries with the pig’s liver and heart and they were both spectacularly delicious.

Here, I’ve adapted one of his recipes using chicken livers. It takes a few minutes to prepare and cook and would make a good supper for two, with rice and perhaps another vegetable dish. The fast stir-frying method is perfect for chicken livers, which become leathery when overcooked. In Hangzhou, the locals tend not to eat spicy food, but a little ground chilli makes a fine addition to this dish.

5 oz (150g) very fresh chicken livers (and hearts if you have them)

4 oz (100g) Chinese chives

3 tbsp cooking oil

1–2 tsp ground chillies, to taste (optional)

1 tsp light soy sauce

Salt

For the marinade

½ tsp salt

½ tbsp Shaoxing wine

Cut the chicken livers (and hearts, if using) evenly into slices ⅛–⅜ in (½–1cm) thick, and put them in a bowl. Add the marinade ingredients and mix well. Trim the chives and cut into 2 in (5cm) lengths.

Add the oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame, swirl it around, then add the chicken livers (and hearts, if using) and stir-fry to separate the slices. When they have separated and are semi-cooked, remove them from the wok.

Return the wok to the heat and add the chives and chillies, if using. When they are hot and fragrant, return the livers (and hearts, if using) to the wok, with the soy sauce and salt, if you need it, and continue to stir-fry until the livers are barely cooked and still pinkish inside and everything smells delicious. Serve immediately.

STIR-FRIED EGGS WITH TOMATOES
FAN QIE CHAO DAN
番茄炒蛋

When the Chinese of the coastal provinces first encountered the tomato, it reminded them of more familiar fruits and vegetables, which is why it became known as a “barbarian eggplant” or a “Western red persimmon.” Here, then, is a recipe for “barbarian eggplant” stir-fried with eggs, which I ate every other day when I lived in Sichuan. It’s beautiful, with its vivid mix of red and yellow, and seems much more delicious than the sum of its parts. A fast, simple dish and one of my favorite ways to eat eggs. I’ve given a recipe for two eggs and two tomatoes, which you can increase by an egg and tomato or two if you please. The potato flour mixture, if added, gives an extra luxuriousness to the juices, but isn’t strictly necessary.

2 ripe tomatoes, similar in volume to the eggs

2 eggs

Salt

4 tbsp cooking oil

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp potato flour mixed with 2 tsp water (optional)

Cut each tomato in half, then into sections the size of tangerine segments.

Beat the eggs evenly together with a little salt.

Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the beaten eggs and swirl them around. Use a wok scoop or a ladle to nudge the edges of the egg towards the center, so the uncooked egg can run out. As soon as the egg has set (it may be a little golden), remove it from the wok.

Return the wok to the high flame with a final 1 tbsp oil if you need it. Add the tomatoes and stir-fry until they are hot and smell cooked and delicious, adding the sugar and salt to taste. Then return the eggs to the wok and mix everything together. Add the potato flour mixture, if using, and serve.

STEAMED EGGS
ZHENG SHUI DAN
蒸水蛋

These simple steamed eggs have a soothing, custardy texture and a very delicate flavor. They are often recommended for small children and the elderly because they don’t require chewing. This version of the recipe is based on one from the Zhao Family Teahouse in the Fujianese village of Chengcun, which lies in the heart of oolong tea country. Add some ground pork to the eggs if you like; I prefer to stir-fry it first to make sure it’s cooked through. And for a more elaborate dish, combine the beaten eggs with sections of both preserved duck eggs and hard-boiled salted duck eggs, so you have three kinds of egg in a single dish, including the dramatically colored preserved duck eggs. This is an intriguing and rather beautiful dish that I first made myself for an Easter dinner!

2 dried shiitake mushrooms

3 eggs (¾ cup/200ml when beaten)

⅔ cup (150ml) warm chicken stock or water (100–120°F/40–50°C)

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 tsp light soy sauce

For the pork (optional)

1 tbsp cooking oil

4 oz (100g) ground pork

1 tsp Shaoxing wine

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water from the kettle for 30 minutes, until supple, then drain and chop finely.

If using the pork, heat a wok over a high flame. Add the oil, then stir-fry the pork until just cooked, adding the Shaoxing wine and salt to taste. Set aside.

Beat the eggs together very thoroughly. Add the warm stock or water, salt, Shaoxing wine, mushrooms and cooked pork (if using) and mix well.

Pour the egg mixture into a shallow, heatproof bowl. Use a spoon or chopstick to gently remove the froth from the surface. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a suitable lid, or secure a piece of wax paper over the top.

Place the bowl in a steamer over boiling water and steam for eight to 10 minutes, until the custard has set.

Remove the cover and scatter the spring onions over the surface of the eggs. Heat the cooking oil until smoking, then ladle it, sizzling, over the spring onions. Finish by pouring the soy sauce over the eggs.

FRESH OYSTER OMELETTE
DAN JIAN SHENG HAO
蛋煎生蠔

Oysters are a favorite ingredient in southern Fujian and Guangdong provinces. This is one of the most delightful ways to eat them, with the plump, succulent mollusks cradled in golden egg and sprinkled with the vivid green of spring onions.

The only tricky bit, if you’re not used to it, is shucking the oysters, for which it’s best to use a special oyster knife. To shuck, hold each oyster in a wet kitchen towel, with the hinge end poking out of the cloth. Ease the knife gently into the hinge to find the sweet spot of least resistance, then force it in. Twist the knife to force the two shells apart, then run it around the inside of the top part of the shell to allow you to remove the lid. It’s best to ask someone to show you how to do this if you haven’t tried it before.

If you make this dish with good oysters and free-range eggs, it’ll be better than any oyster omelette you’ll taste in a restaurant. Make it for a special brunch for someone you love, or serve it with rice as part of a Chinese meal.

Salt

6–8 oysters, freshly shucked

3 eggs

1½ tsp potato flour mixed with 1 tsp cold water

Ground white pepper

2 tbsp cooking oil

4 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Add ¾ tsp salt to the oysters, mix gently, then place in a fine-mesh colander and rinse under the tap, taking care to wash away any fragments of shell. Bring a small panful of water to a boil, add the oysters and blanch for just a few seconds. Drain. (These two steps give the oysters an amazing purity of flavor.)

Beat the eggs, then beat in the flour mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame and swirl it around. Pour in the eggs and swirl the mixture around the base of the wok. Scatter the oysters evenly over the egg mixture and reduce the heat to medium. Tip the wok and use a wok scoop or ladle to allow some of the liquid egg that pools in the center to escape towards the hot metal surface.

When the omelette is golden underneath, scatter with the spring onion greens, then flip to cook the other side. When this side, too, is golden, transfer to a plate and serve.