Szechuan Ma Po Doufu

Mapo doufu¹ is a famous dish from China's Sichuan province served over rice. It is a combination of soft bean curd (doufu) in a spicy chili-garlic sauce, douchi (fermented black beans) and minced meat (pork

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or beef). Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions, mushrooms, chives, and or wood ear fungus. In American Chinese cuisine, this dish is often made without meat to appeal to vegetarians, and the amount of pepper toned down. The version here is necessarily complex in the number of ingredients to deepen the flavor as flavor is everything. In the Chinese Sichuan restarant they do not pull punches when it come to the heat of this dish. If you’re a novice work you way up the heat. Eventually, you will come to love this for how hot it is.

2 Tablespoons peanut oil

1 Tespoon hot sesame oil

1 Tablespoon dried red pepper

1 Tablespoon Sichuan pepper

2 Tablespoons minced ginger

3 Tablespoons chopped shallots

3 Tablespoons chopped mushrooms

1 Tablespoons mushroom soy sauce

1 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon black soy sauce

1 Tablespoon Szechuan spicy bean paste

2 Tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

4 Cloves minced garlic

½ Cup ground beef or pork

2 Tablespoons fermented black bean chili sauce

1 Cup homemade rich chicken broth

1 Package firm tofu, drained on paper towels

1 ½  Tablespoon cornstarch + cold water to make a slurry

3 Large scallions, sliced diagonally

Optionally

1 Teaspoon brown sugar (to taste)

1 Tablespoon Marin

2 Teaspoon fish sauce

Mung bean sprouts

Wrap tofu in paper towels for 20 minutes or more to drain. Pre mix thickener of cornstarch and cold water and reserve until needed.

Heat a wok over high heat. When wok is smoking, add oil.

In a little oil, stir fry red pepper, garlic, ginger, black bean chili sauce, ma po bean suace³, mushrooms, shallots until fragrant then add ground meat. Stir fry meat, breaking it up with your chun⁴, until just done. Add soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, chicken broth, then reduce liquid by cooking on high. Add cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce. When thick, correct the seasoning. Use Marin and/or brown sugar to add some sweetness. Slice tofu brick in half, then cross cut into ¾ inch cubes. Gently slide in tofu off a plate carefully to avoid breaking the pieces. Gentle push the tofu around to get it coated well. Add Sichuan pepper, bean sprouts and scallions.

Serve over steamed aromatic white jasmine² rice. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Notes:

1. Ma Po Doufu (tofu) means "pock-marked grandmother" named after Wen Qiaoqiao who served this in her restaurant.
2. Also known as Thai fragrant rice.
3. Lee Kum Kee Spicy Bean Sauce (ma po) is available in many grocery stores
4. The chun is the wok spoon with a rounded curve face

Corn and Leek Chowder

Hearty soup, stews and chowder make those rainy or cold winter evenings seems downright comforting.This recipe was inspired by a simpler version first publish in the rare Plaza Hotel 1895 cookbook.

2 Tablespoons sweet butter

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Ounces salt pork, cubed

2 Large chopped leek (just white section)

1 ½ Cups whole milk

½ Cup light cream

3 Tablespoons 00 Italian flour

3 Cups homemade rich chicken broth (see below)

2 Cups fresh sweet corn kernels

1 Small Yukon potato, diced

1 Teaspoon Himalayan salt

1/4 Teaspoon white pepper

Small bunch finely chopped parsley

Fresh chopped chives

Sauté cubed salt pork in olive oil until just golden brown. Remove and retain on paper towels with slotted spoon. Add butter to remaining oil and sauté chopped and double washed leeks and potatoes on medium heat until tender but not brown. In a bowl, stir in milk into the flour then add chicken stock. Stir mixture into the vegetables. Heat until hot and puree until almost smooth with a post blender. Add corn and bring to a boil on medium. Simmer 10 minutes until corn is tender then add cream. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Garnish with parsley, chives and salted pork.

Rich Chicken Broth

3 Pounds defatted skinless free range chicken legs and thighs

1 Large onion, chopped in large chunks

1 Large leek, trimmed & rinsed, chopped in large chunks

3 Carrots, unpeeled, ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths

3 Celery ribs, cut into 2-inch lengths

1 Bay leaf

Rinse chicken in water twice. Place all ingredients in a tall stock pot. Cover with cold water. Simmer on low for five hours. Reduce as required to intensify flavor. Sieve solids. Refrigerate over night to remove all solidified fat.

Chinese Oxtail Stew

Most cuisines hold oxtails in high regard. The large amount of gelatin makes an oxtail stew that is rich, thick and pleasant.  In my youth, oxtails were a bargain food but due to high demand, today come at a premium. I first fell in love with this dish in Redwood City, California when I used to work on that side of the Bay area.

 

Because the Chinese pride themselves for proper food preparation, the large oxtails are cut in half or even quarters making them manageable.

 

Across the world, cinnamon, allspice, lemongrass, tangerine or orange rind, star anise, and fennel often show up in oxtail recipes. Other ingredients include beef stock, beer, port, or red wine. Any of these spices or ingredients will provide interesting and tasty variations.

            5 Pounds oxtails, big pieces sawn³ in half

4 Tablespoons peanut oil
1 Cup Shaoxing² rice wine or dry sherry
1/4 Cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoon mushroom soy

2 Tablespoon black soy⁴
2 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon black vinegar
8 Whole cloves

3 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 ½ Tablespoon minced ginger
4 Cloves minced garlic

Crushed red pepper
Sea salt and white pepper

Water or wine

Flour as a thickener and dredging the oxtails

Garnish

Scallions, sliced diagonally

Chopped cilantro

Fresh sliced cremini¹ mushrooms, sautéed in butter

Preheat  broiler to high.

Rub oxtails with oil. Brown oxtails in sheet pan with a lip. Turn pieces with thongs.

When evenly browned, dip pieces in boiling hot water and drain to rid some of the oil.

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Place drained meat in Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid. Add wine, soy, vinegar, chopped onion, ginger, garlic, red pepper, white pepper, cloves,  and sugar. Add additional liquid such as beer, beef or veal stock or water to bring up a braising liquid.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Cover and braise in the oven 3 1/2 hours or more until oxtails are very tender. Keep an eye on liquid level, replenish as necessary with water. Refrigerate overnight to skim the fat if you desire. Reheat in a pot with a cracked lid so sauce may thicken. Heat until hot.  Correct the seasonings.

Serve over steamed white jasmine rice. Garnish servings.

Notes

1. Use Chanterelle mushrooms if you can get them
2. Shaoxing wine is one of the most famous varieties of huangjiu, or traditional Chinese wines, fermented from rice. It originates from the region of Shaoxing, in the Zhejiang province of eastern China. It is widely used as both a beverage and a cooking wine in Chinese cuisine. (Wikipedia)
3. Your butcher can easily do this provided the oxtails are frozen at the time so order ahead.
4. Black Soy Sauce – Siew Dam - This is a rich and thick sauce, made by fermenting soy sauce with sugar or molasses. Black in color and thick like a light syrup in its consistency, it has a delightful flavor and is used as much to add sweetness as saltiness.
5. Chinese black vinegar is a dark complex vinegar made of glutinous rice and malt somewhat similar to a balsamic used in Chinese stir-frys, braises and sauces. Black vinegar is from the Chinkiang Province of China.
6. To thicken the stew and to caramalize the meat faster, dredge the oxtails in flour. Flour  is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.
7.