Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (7 page)

SICHUANESE FAVA BEAN SALAD
LIANG BAN HU DOU
涼拌胡豆

The Sichuanese name for fava beans is
hu dou
, or “barbarian” beans, because they are thought to have entered China along the old silk routes from Central Asia. Dried and spiced, the beans are a favored snack all over China; fermented, they are one of the essential ingredients of the fabulous Sichuanese chilli bean paste. They are also eaten fresh, in season.

One of my favorite uses for the fresh beans is a Sichuanese salad in which they are tossed with slivers of lettuce stem and the leaves and juicy stalks of
ze’er gen
, a local vegetable with a refreshing, sour fruitiness to its taste that is sometimes called “Chinese watercress” or “fish grass.”
Ze’er gen
is hard to find outside China, so this recipe offers a version of the dish made with other lettuces and cucumber. The same sauce may be used to dress fava beans alone. If you can find tiny, very young beans, simply blanch them: there is no need to pop them out of their skins.

Salt

7 oz (200g) shelled fava beans

4 oz (100g) cucumber

Generous handful of baby spinach or lettuce of your choice, washed and dried

For the dressing

2 tsp light soy sauce

½ tsp sugar

¼ tsp Chinkiang vinegar

1–2 tbsp chilli oil with ½ tsp of its sediment

1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)

A few good pinches of ground, roasted Sichuan pepper (optional)

Bring a panful of water to a boil. Lightly salt, add the beans and boil for about four minutes, until tender. Drain and rinse under the cold tap, then pop the beans out of their skins. Cut the cucumber section in half lengthways, scoop out and discard the pulp, then cut the flesh lengthways into thin slivers.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

When you are ready to serve, combine the salad ingredients in a bowl, pour over the dressing and mix well.

SILKEN TOFU WITH SOY SAUCE
XIAO CONG BAN DOU FU
小蔥拌豆腐

Many years ago I spent a surreal week in the northern city of Lanzhou, hanging out with some artist friends and a bunch of local gangsters. One of my friends had a complicated business connection with the gangsters, which meant that we were obliged to spend endless hours humoring them in the private rooms of local restaurants while they chain-smoked, showed off, knocked back cupfuls of eye-watering liquor and bossed around their sycophantic minions.

It was a ghastly experience, but at least one good thing did come out of it: this marvellous recipe. I first tasted it in a restaurant next to the hotel where I was staying that week—which listed it as a Taiwanese delicacy—and it was love at first bite. The silken tofu, as tender as crème caramel, is livened up with spring onions, soy sauce and a sizzling of oil, and this dish takes minutes to make.

7 oz (200g) silken tofu

2 spring onions, green parts only

1½ tbsp cooking oil

2 tbsp light or tamari soy sauce diluted with 1 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

Turn the block of silken tofu out on to a serving dish. Cut the block into ⅛ in (½cm) slices, then push down gently so the slices lean towards one end of the dish (see
photo here
). Thinly slice the spring onion greens and scatter them over the tofu.

Heat the oil in a wok or small pan until it is hot enough to produce a dramatic sizzle when you drip it on to the spring onions (test a few drops to make sure). Then pour the rest of the hot oil all over the spring onions, which will begin to smell delicious as they sizzle. Pour over the diluted soy sauce and the sesame oil and serve.

VARIATION

Silken tofu with preserved duck eggs

Slice the tofu and place it on a serving dish, as in the main recipe. Pour over 2 tbsp light or tamari soy sauce diluted with 1 tbsp water and 1 tsp sesame oil. Coarse-chop one or two peeled preserved duck eggs and scatter them over the tofu. Garnish with 2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens or chopped cilantro.

SILKEN TOFU WITH AVOCADO
E’LI DOU FU 鱷梨豆腐

One warm autumn night in Taipei, a few years ago, I left the lights of the city behind and drove out to a restaurant in the southern hills. I left my shoes at the door and padded across tatami mats to a candlelit dining room, where the owner, dressed like a Buddhist monk, joined me for tea as the frogs and cicadas sang outside. He told me about his travels abroad, his interest in Chinese medicinal theory and the old literati culture, and how all these influenced his cooking. “The food here expresses my own philosophy,” he told me. “My dishes are my life.”

The meal that followed was a kind of miracle that I’ve never forgotten. It drew on ancient Chinese traditions, the flavors of Taiwanese street food, Taiwan’s legacy as a Japanese colony and even the owner’s travels in Europe, blending a miscellany of ingredients with uncommon artistry. One of the dishes I ate that night was a freshly made silken tofu topped with raw sea urchin, a hint of wasabi, soy sauce and a wedge of avocado. What took me by surprise was the delicate sympathy between the tender tofu and the ripe, buttery avocado: a simply wonderful combination. The following dish is inspired by Mr. Li’s creation. If you happen to have any, top with a little raw sea urchin. Don’t even think of using an unripe avocado!

7 oz (200g) silken tofu

2 tbsp light or tamari soy sauce diluted with 1 tbsp water

A hint of wasabi paste (optional)

½ tsp sesame oil

½ perfectly ripe avocado, sliced

Turn the block of silken tofu out on to a serving dish. Cut the block into ⅛–⅜ in (½–1cm) slices, then push down gently so the slices lean towards one end of the dish.

Pour over the diluted soy sauce (with the wasabi stirred in, if you wish) and sesame oil. Top with the avocado and serve immediately.

SMOKED TOFU WITH CELERY AND PEANUTS
LIANG BAN DOU FU GAN
涼拌豆腐乾

When I was a student at Sichuan University, there was a street market just outside the campus that overflowed with seasonal produce. Farmers would crouch behind stalls with their produce, perhaps just a single ingredient, piled up on bamboo trays. One old woman sat behind an array of spices that included blood-red chillies and dusky pink Sichuan pepper, while the butchers hung their pink-and-white slabs of meat on blackened iron frames. And then there was a man with a glass cabinet of spicy hors d’oeuvres and relishes on the back of his bicycle cart: piquant concoctions of pickled tubers and dried radish, tofu skin and other vegetarian tidbits. The following mixture was always one of my favorites. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare and makes a wonderful appetizer. You can use either fried or roasted peanuts: both are delicious, differing mainly in the mouthfeel of the moist or crunchy nuts.

3½ oz (100g) smoked or spiced firm tofu

3 celery sticks (about 4 oz/125g)

1 oz (30g)
Fried or Roasted Peanuts

1½ tbsp chilli oil with ½ tbsp of its sediment, to taste

Good pinch of sugar

Salt, to taste

Cut the tofu into ⅜ in (1cm) cubes. De-string the celery sticks, cut them lengthways into ⅜ in (1cm) strips, then into small pieces to match the tofu. Bring some water to a boil in a saucepan, add the celery and blanch for 30–60 seconds; it should remain a little crunchy. Remove to a colander and cool immediately under the cold tap, then shake dry.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Serve.

VARIATION

Simple firm tofu salad

This satisfying appetizer can be can be rustled up in minutes if you have the tofu, sesame seeds and a spring onion or two in the fridge. Toast 1 tsp sesame seeds in a dry wok or frying pan until fragrant and starting to turn golden, then put in a small bowl to stop the cooking. Cut 4 oz (125g) spiced firm tofu into thin slices or slivers and combine with 2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens, ½ tsp sugar, 2 tbsp chilli oil, with or without its sediment, ½ tsp sesame oil and salt to taste. Scatter with the sesame seeds and serve.

There are many types of spiced, firm tofu: I use lightly spiced squares for this recipe, pale brown on the outside, about ⅜ in (1cm) thick and the texture of Edam cheese, found in my local Chinatown, but you might find some that is a dark caramel color. The same seasonings can be used to dress
tofu “bamboo”
(soaked to reconstitute), or very thin sheets of firm tofu, cut into tagliatelle-like ribbons. Some people add crushed garlic to the sauce, others chopped cilantro or ground roasted Sichuan pepper. And if you want to keep the flavors even simpler, just toss the tofu in a little soy sauce and sesame oil, with the spring onion greens and sesame seeds as a garnish.

TOFU “BAMBOO” WITH SPRING ONION-FLAVORED OIL
CONG YOU FU ZHU
蔥油腐竹

Dried tofu sticks, known in Chinese as tofu “bamboo,” are made from the protein-rich skins that are lifted from the surface of simmering soy milk, crumpled and rolled into sticks before drying. After a good soak, the dried “bamboos” absorb flavors beautifully and have a satisfying, slightly elastic texture. In this dish, which looks plain but tastes delicious, they are encouraged to drink in the savory tastes of stock and fried spring onions. Any leftovers can be cut into smaller pieces, tossed with boiled green soy beans and chopped “snow vegetable” (
xue cai
), then seasoned with salt and sesame oil, for another wonderful salad.

4 sticks of dried tofu

“bamboo” (about 2 oz/60g)

4 spring onions, white parts only

1½ × 2 in (3 × 5cm) strips of Sichuanese pickled chilli, fresh red bell pepper, or chilli

1½ tbsp cooking oil

2 slices of peeled ginger

2 garlic cloves, sliced

½ cup (100ml) chicken or vegetable stock

½ tsp salt (optional)

½ tsp sesame oil

Soak the “bamboos” in hot water from the kettle for an hour or so, until they have softened. Then drain well, squeeze out any excess water and cut into 2 in (5cm) lengths, discarding any remaining hard bits.

Cut the spring onion whites into 2 in (5cm) sections and smack gently but firmly with the side of a cleaver or a rolling pin to loosen (don’t smash them to pieces). If using Sichuanese pickled chilli, discard the seeds as far as possible.

Heat the oil in a wok over a medium flame. Add the spring onions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry gently for a couple of minutes until the onions are golden and the oil smells delicious. Pour in the stock with the tofu and salt and bring to a boil (if you are using storebought stock that is already salty, you may not need this extra salt). Boil, stirring intermittently, until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the red pepper or chilli strips. Turn off the heat, stir in the sesame oil and allow to cool.

Lay the sections of “bamboo” neatly on a plate to serve, with the chilli or pepper for a splash of color.