Sichuan pickled vegetable and minced pork

 中文：超下饭的四川泡菜炒肉末

Sichuan pickled vegetable is comfort food for a lot of Chinese people.  It is also the key and soul in Sichuan cuisine.  I learned how to make Sichuan pickled vegetable years ago.  But I haven’t been quite successful until I brought back a Sichuan style pickle jar from my last trip back to China.

Making Sichuan pickled vegetable is like making Korean people making kimchi.  Every family has its own secret and special flavor and taste.  I learn from the best one I know: my mother-in-law who has been making them for dozens of years.  Well, I will write another article on how to make Sichuan pickled vegetable at home.  Today, I just want to focus on this popular minced pork dish which is quite popular on my family’s dinner table. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients：

1 bowl of pickled cabbage (about 1/5 to 1/4 head cabbage)
10 to 12 red pickled chilies
200 to 250 minced pork
2 gloves of garlic
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
8 to 10 dried chilies (yes, I know, we love spicy food)
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 to 4 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions：

Dice the pickled cabbage, pickled chilies and dried chilies.  Peel and slice the garlic.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies and pickled chilies.  Sautee for a minute, add minced pork, black pepper, cooking wine and soy sauce.  Stir fry them over high heat until the pork is golden brown.  It is time to add diced pickled cabbage, sugar and salt.

Stir fry everything together on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes; remove from heat and serve immediately. 

This dish goes really well with cooked rice.  Remember to prepare extra rice when making this dish because the rice will go really fast! O(∩_∩)O~

Daikon Kimchi

 中文： 萝卜泡菜

It is some sort of tradition for most Chinese families in our town to stock up on napa cabbage and daikon before winter comes.  We get them from a nearby farm where a Korean/American family grows and harvests Asian napa cabbage and daikon ever year.  They are fresh and taste so much better than the ones you can get from regular grocery stores.   

There are so many ways to cook them.  They both have a mild nutty grassy flavor, so they go well pretty much any other ingredients. 

My top three favorite ways to Daikon is making soup with them, stir-frying with pork and of course kimchi!

Here is a stir-fried daikon with pork recipe I posted before. 

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/stirfriedasianageporkbellydrieddaikon

And now let’s make some Daikon kimchi. 

Ingredients：

1 large Daikon (weighs between 3 to 4 pounds)
2 to 3 tablespoons salt
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 head garlic
1 large piece of ginger root
1 small bunch of green onions
2/3 to 1 cup Koeran chili powder
2 to 3 tablespoons crushed red peppers (optional)
2 tablespoon fish sauce
4 to 5 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions：

Peel the daikon and dice it into half inch cubes.  In a large bowl, add daikon cubes, salt and sugar.  Mix well and let it sit for 2 to 3 hours.  Drain the extra liquid.

Peel the garlic and ginger; chop them finely. 

Coursely chop green onions. 

Add ginger, garlic, green onion, chili powder, crushed red peppers, fish sauce and soy sauce to the daikon.  Mix with a wooden spoon until everything comes together. 

Store in clean glass jars.  Cover tightly and allow them to ferment for a couple weeks. 

Asian Style Stewed Chicken with Mushrooms

 中文： 小鸡炖蘑菇

This is one of my favorite ways to cook young hen or chicken.  The broth is loaded with intense chicken and mushroom flavor.  It is really the go-to comfort food during chilly season. 

Ingredients：

1organic Cornish hen (can also be substituted with 6 chicken wings or drumpsticks)
1 package of crab mushrooms (150g, available in Asian grocery store)（约454克）
2 packages of enoki mushrooms (100g/3.5 oz each, also available in Asian grocery store)
1 piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
3 to 4 fresh chili peppers
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1 star anise
5 to 6 tablespoon soy sauce
1 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar
4 to 6 dried Asian dates (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoon cooking oil
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups of boiling water

Directions：

Trim the mushroom roots. Wipe clean with damn kitchen paper tower or rinse quickly under running water.

With a sharp cleaver, dice the Cornish hen into 1 by 2 inches pieces.  Soak in a large bowl of water for 20 to 30 minutes.  Rinse and drain well.

Heat a large wok over high heat.  Add oil and sugar.  Wait for the sugar to melt and become amber color.  Add chicken and stir fry for a couple minutes.  Add ginger, chili pepper, Sichuan peppercorns and star anise; continue to stir fry until the chicken is golden brown. 

Add boiling water along with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice cooking wine and dates.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer for 30 to 35 minutes.  Add mushrooms and salt to taste. Cook over high heat until the broth is boiling again.  Continue to cook over medium heat for another five to six minutes. 

I love to serve it in a mini cast iron wok which my husband brought back from China.  It can be heated over a candle or chafing dish fuel so that the whole dish can stay hot for the entire meal.  That is really comforting in cold winter. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Stir-fried spicy pork and daikon

中文： 五花肉炒萝卜干

Pork belly and daikon, two of my favorite ingredients, can create such a wonderful flavor when they are stir fried together.  I air dry the daikon first, and then rehydrate it with water.  The dehydration and rehydration process makes daikon more al dente and chewy.  The daikon flavor is also more intense by doing so. 

Ingredients：

1 piece of pork belly (about 1 1/2pound)
1 1/2 cup dried daikon (also available in Asian grocery store)
2/3 cup dried red chili peppers
2 teaspoons Sichuan pepper corns
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
3 to 4 tablespoon chicken stock/ water
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper
chopped onion
2 to 3 tablespoons oil for cooking
salt to taste

Directions：

Dried daikon is available in Asian grocery store.  You can also make it at home.  It is very easy.  All you need to do is to peel the daikon, cut it into string cheese size pieces and then air dry in a food dehydrator and under the sun.  I prefer to air dry daikon pieces under the hot summer sun.  It takes two to three days to get dried inside and out.

Keep any extra dried daikon in Ziplock bag and store in the refrigerator.  It should be able to last a really long time. 

Two hours before cooking, soak dried dakai in water.  After it is totally rehydrate, rinse a couple times under running water.

Thinly slice the pork belly.

Dried red chili peppers are sometimes covered in dust.  I like to rinse and drain them and then cut into pieces.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then add sliced pork belly.  Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Stir fry over high heat until the pork turns slightly golden brown.  Add garlic, Sichuan peppercorns.  Stir fry until the spices are toasted with pork fat.  Add daikon; stir fry for another couple minutes; add chicken stock/ water, oyster sauce, rice cooking wine and salt.  Continue to stir fry until all the liquid is absorbed by pork and daikon.  Sprinkle with chopped green onion and transfer to a big bowl or plate.  Serve immediately. 

It is the perfect combination. O(∩_∩)O~

Spicy Noodle with pickled Vegetable and Ground Pork

 中文： 雪菜肉碎拌面

Noodle to Chinese people is just like pasta to Italians. We are obsessed with it and devoted to create many, many, many varieties.

I, too, love to make noodle from scratch at home.  They are mostly for breakfast.  I usually make dough and toppings ahead of time so that I can make noodle soup fast in the morning. 

Ingredients：

1 cup bread flour
1/4 cup of water
a pinch of salt

Pickled vegetable and ground pork toppings：

1/2 package of chopped pickled vegetable (available in any Asian grocery store)
1 cup ground pork
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 slice of ginger root, minced
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4  to 1/2 cup chicken stock, hot
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon garlic water (minced garlic in water)
1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper corns
2 to 3 tablespoon chili oil sauce (available in any Chinese grocery store. I use homemade version.)
1/2  teaspoon sugar
chopped cilantro
roasted soy beans
chopped green onion
salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil for cooking ground pork

Directions：

In a medium bowl, combine bread flour, salt and water.  Mix them together and then knead into a smooth dough ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 1 hour.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil to the wok, along with garlic and ginger.  Add ground pork and salt, black pepper and oyster sauce.  Stir fry the ground pork on high heat until the pork is golden brown.  Add chopped pickled vegetable.  Stir fry for a couple more minutes.  Remove from heat.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Run the dough through kitchenaid pasta roller several times until the dough is smooth out.  Set the thickness to 3 and run it through one more time.

Use the pasta cutter attachment to cut it into spaghetti size noodle.

Isn’t it beautiful? O(∩_∩)O~

Cook the noodle in boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds.  Drain and transfer to a bowl.

Add cooked ground pork, chicken stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic water, ground Sichuan pepper corns, chili oil sauce, sugar, salt, cilantro, green onion and roasted soy beans.

Mix well with a pair of chopsticks.  Now it is time to enjoy a bowl of tasty noodle!