Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (23 page)

GREEN OR ROMANO BEANS WITH BLACK BEAN AND CHILLI
JIA CHANG DAO DOU
家常刀豆

Romano beans, or green beans, are known as “knife beans” in China. Sliced and blanched, they are very well suited to the stir-fry treatment, with any of a variety of seasonings. This recipe uses the favorite aromatics of the Hunanese kitchen. Alternatively, stir-fry the blanched beans with a tablespoonful of finely chopped garlic, perhaps with preserved mustard greens or dried chilli, adding salt to taste; or with dried chillies, Sichuan pepper and salt for a Sichuanese flavor.

9 oz (250g) green or romano beans

1 garlic clove

An equivalent amount of ginger

½ fresh red chilli

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed and drained

1–2 tsp ground chillies, to taste

1 tsp light soy sauce

Salt

Trim the beans and cut evenly, on the diagonal, into thin slices (use a green bean cutter if you have one). Peel and slice the garlic and ginger. Cut the chilli, on the diagonal, into thin slices.

Bring a panful of water to a boil and boil the beans for two to three minutes, until just tender. Drain and shake dry.

Add the oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the garlic, ginger and fresh chilli and stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add the black beans and ground chillies and, again, stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add the green beans and continue to stir-fry until hot and sizzlingly delicious, adding the soy sauce, and salt to taste. Serve.

SNOW PEAS WITH CHINESE WIND-DRIED SAUSAGE
XIANG CHANG CHAO HE LAN DOU
香腸炒荷蘭豆

Chinese wind-dried sausages are made in a similar way to salamis, by stuffing pork seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, rice wine and other flavorings into lengths of pig’s intestine, tying the intestines at sausage-sized intervals, then hanging them up to wind-dry. Although they are sometimes served steamed and sliced as an appetizer, they are more commonly chopped into small pieces and used to enhance the umami taste of other ingredients, such as steamed chicken, or an “eight-treasure” rice stuffing.

In this recipe, they add a rich flavor to snow peas in a swift stir-fry that, served with rice, is enough for a modest meal for two. If you don’t have Chinese sausage, you might try using chorizo or an Italian salami instead.

2 Chinese wind-dried sausages

7 oz (200g) snow peas

Salt

1 tbsp cooking oil

A few slices of peeled ginger

Good pinch of sugar

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Cut the sausages at an angle into very thin oval slices.

Blanch the snow peas for a few seconds in lightly salted boiling water, then refresh under the cold tap and drain thoroughly.

Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Pour in the oil, swirl it around, then add the sliced sausage and ginger and stir-fry until cooked through and fragrant.

Add the snow peas, 1 tbsp water, the sugar, Shaoxing wine and salt to taste, and stir-fry briefly to reheat the snow peas and fuse the flavors. Serve.

HANGZHOU FAVA BEANS WITH HAM
HUO TUI CAN DOU
火腿蠶豆

This beautiful, bright dish is traditionally eaten in Hangzhou around the Beginning of Summer (
li xia
), the seventh solar term of the old agricultural calendar. The date usually falls in early May, when the beans are most tender. It is traditionally made with intense, dark cured ham from nearby Jinhua, but Spanish ham makes a fine substitute (this is a perfect use for the odds and ends left behind after most of the meat has been sliced from a leg of ham).

I know fava beans take time to shell and peel, but for me they are one of the gastronomic highlights of early summer. I like to shell them in the sun on the doorstep, listening to the radio or, if I can, to enlist the help of a guest or a child (I used to love doing this when I was small).

You can use the same method to cook fresh peas, but cut the ham into smaller squares to match the peas. If you wish, add a few square slices of blanched bamboo shoot to make it even more colorful. In China, they steam the ham through before they slice it: this dispels any harsh aspects of its flavor and also fixes its shape, which makes for neater cutting and a more professional appearance. When using Spanish ham that is normally eaten raw, I omit this step.

11 oz (300g) shelled fava beans (just over 2 lb 3 oz/1kg in the pod)

2 oz (50g) Chinese or Spanish cured ham

2 tbsp cooking oil

⅓ cup (75ml) chicken stock or water

¼ tsp sugar

Salt

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

Boil the beans for three to four minutes in boiling water, then refresh under the cold tap. Unless the beans are very young and tender, pop them out of their skins. (If you wish to take the classic Chinese approach, steam the ham to cook it through at this stage.)

Cut the ham into thin slices, then into ⅜ in (1cm) squares.

Heat a seasoned wok over a medium flame. Add the oil, then the beans and ham and stir-fry for a minute or two until piping hot. Add the stock, sugar and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a minute or so. Stir the potato flour mixture, if using, and use it to thicken the sauce. Serve.

VARIATION

Steamed fava beans with ham

Another spring recipe from Hangzhou that is a cinch to make and pretty, too, with the slices of dark crimson ham laid out over the brilliant beans. It’s one that I associate with the Dragon Well Manor restaurant, where I’ve spent so many happy spring days.

Take 7 oz (200g) shelled fava beans (about 1½ lb/750g in the pod). If they are very young and tender, simply remove what the Chinese call their “eyebrows,” the part that connects each bean to the pod; otherwise, peel them completely. Place in a bowl with 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 3 tbsp stock and salt to taste. Then lay prettily on top a few thickish, bite-sized pieces of good Chinese or Spanish ham. Place the bowl in a steamer and steam over high heat for about 10 minutes, until the beans are tender, then serve in the bowl, giving the beans a stir before diving in. The ham lends its rich, savory flavors to the juices.

Traditionally, in Zhejiang homes, the bowl of beans is actually laid on top of the rice in the steamer, to allow them to steam together: an economical, old-fashioned method still used in the countryside. If you find peeling fava beans too tiresome, you can use the same method to cook peas or crisp, fresh green soy beans. In Hangzhou, they also cook fresh spring bamboo shoots, sliced thinly, this way.

MASHED FAVA BEANS WITH “SNOW VEGETABLE”
DOU BAN SU
豆瓣酥

This wonderful recipe was explained to me by a lady I met in a Shanghai street market. She told me to use
xue cai
or “snow vegetable,” which is a favorite preserve in the Southern Yangtze region, but you could use instead
zha cai
(Sichuanese preserved mustard tuber) or
ya cai
(Sichuanese preserved mustard greens). The preserves turn the mashed beans into something deliciously savory. Some Shanghainese people add less liquid, press the cooked beans into a rice bowl and turn them out on to the serving dish, for a more elegant effect.

Salt

11 oz (300g) shelled fava beans (just over 2 lb 3 oz/1kg in the pod)

3 tbsp cooking oil or lard

3 tbsp finely chopped snow vegetable

1 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Bring a panful of water to a boil. Salt lightly, add the beans and boil for about five minutes, until tender. Plunge into cold water or rinse under a cold tap to cool them quickly. Then pop the beans out of their skins (if they are very small and tender, you can leave the skins on if you don’t mind a chunkier mash). Mash the beans coarsely, using either a potato masher in a pan or a cleaver on a chopping board. Boil a little water in a kettle and have it on hand.

Heat a seasoned wok over a medium flame. Add the oil or lard, then the snow vegetable, and stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add the mashed beans and continue to stir-fry until piping hot, adding enough water from the kettle for a good thick purée, with salt to taste. Finally, add the spring onions, stir a few more times and serve.

VARIATION

Mashed fava beans with cured ham

Simply substitute 1 oz (30g) Spanish or Chinese cured ham, finely chopped, for the snow vegetable. A dish like this thrilled me at the Southern Barbarian restaurant in Shanghai, which is run by artist Feng Jianwen, the husband of an old friend of mine. There, they use the famous cured ham of Yunnan Province (
yun tui
), which vies with Jinhua ham from Zhejiang Province for the position of top Chinese ham, and is prized by chefs all over the country as a flavor-enhancing ingredient. Something marvellous and alchemic occurs in the wok with this dish, the ham serving to intensify the umami flavors of the beans.

FAVA BEANS WITH PRESERVED MUSTARD GREENS
YA CAI CHAO CAN DOU
芽菜炒蠶豆

This is another variation on the theme of beans with preserved vegetables and blissfully easy to make. You can use the same method to cook peas, thinly sliced green or romano beans or green soy beans. I’ve suggested using Sichuanese
ya cai
, but you could equally well choose Tianjin winter vegetable, or Sichuanese preserved mustard tuber (
zha cai
). If you want, stir-fry a little ground pork in the wok before adding the garlic, to intensify the savory tastes.

11 oz (300g) shelled fava beans (just over 2 lb 3 oz/1kg in the pod)

Salt

3 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

3 tbsp finely chopped
ya cai
or other Chinese preserved vegetable

Boil the fava beans for three to four minutes in lightly salted water, then refresh under the cold tap. If the beans are young and tender, there is no need to skin them; if their skins are becoming tough, remove them now.