Cilantro harvest, pt. 1

Along with basil, there is nothing so pungently satisfying as cilantro. Holding a handful of either up to your schnoz and taking a big whiff is the definition of a heady experience. Having made the decision to plant cilantro (once again) in my garden and being determined to actually use it instead of leaving it to bolt (my usual m.o.), as it seems to do overnight, the Asian/Indian theme is running rampant in the 1309 kitchen. I found the recipe below on epicurious. Seeing it needed some obvious tweaking, as usual with online recipes in the form of a bit more flavoring agents (is every recipe site afraid of alienating our weakened domestic palates? Memo to recipe writers: you should be challenging, not acquiescing to, your readers tastebuds!), I added my own touches. The result? Deliciousness attained with minimal effort. And still lots of cilantro left in the garden...stay tuned!!

You could serve this with some rice, I suppose. But it was really perfect tucked into some tender, snappy lettuce leaves fresh out of the garden. Plus that tumbler of chilly rosé you see in the pic? Most def!
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Shredded Chicken with Ginger and Cilantro
Adapted from: Gourmet Magazine/Baita Daiwei Ting, Kunming

From Gourmet: "Many of the minority peoples of Yunnan traditionally boil a chicken to show respect to their dead. Once the ceremony is finished, they shred the meat and mix it with ginger, garlic, and cilantro to make "ghost chicken." The lime in this recipe, unusual for Chinese cooking, suggests the influence of Southeast Asia, which the province borders."

Yield: Makes 2 to 4 to 6 (main course) servings

ingredients:
2 chicken breast halves with skin and bone (1 1/2 to 2 pounds total)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1-1/2 teaspoons Asian chili paste with garlic (preferably Lan Chi)
1-1/2 teaspoons red-chile oil, or to taste*
1-1/2 teaspoons Sichuan-pepper oil, or to taste**
2 teaspoons finely grated (with a rasp) peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon finely grated (with a rasp) garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh mild long red chile such as Holland
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 to 2 cups fresh cilantro leaves

*To make the red chili oil: add 1 tablespoon dried crushed chilies to 1/4 cup peanut oil. Let sit for 1 hour or more before use.

**To make Sichuan-pepper oil: add teaspoons ground Sichuan peppercorns to 1/4 peanut oil. Let sit for 1 hour or more before use.

method:
Set a steamer rack inside a wide 6- to 8-quart pot and fill bottom with water (not above rack), then bring to a boil. Arrange chicken in 1 layer in a shallow heatproof bowl small enough to fit just inside pot. Steam chicken in bowl on rack, covered with lid, until just cooked through, about 25-35 minutes. Remove bowl from pot using tongs. When chicken is cool enough to handle, coarsely shred, discarding skin and bones. Reserve liquid in bowl. Meanwhile, stir together lime juice, bean paste, red-chile oil, Sichuan-pepper oil, ginger, garlic, chile, salt, and 4 tablespoons reserved chicken liquid in a large bowl. Stir in chicken, cilantro, and salt to taste.

Cooks' note: Dish, without cilantro, can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature and stir in cilantro before serving.

Mapo Tofu: the 2nd time is the charm!

You see recipes for the classic fiery Sichuan dish Mapo Tofu, or Mapo Doufu (the name comes from a story of an unfortunately pocked-face (ma) woman (po) who supposedly had a roadside stand she sold it from) all over the internet. Recipe sites, blogs, online newspaper food columns...everywhere. It's like every day millions of people must be making it. It's been on my to cook list for a long time, so this past Tuesday night it was my time to join the hordes of Mapo mavens. Unfortunately, out of the seeming thousands of recipes out there, I picked what must have been the worst one. It was off of the Washington Post website (in case you want to see how not to make Mapo Tofu, click here). The woman who's recipe it was actually wrote a cookbook about stir frying across China. This would not be a ringing endorsement of her book. w, who has had it innumerable times and who's dad apparently makes a definitive version, came home from work halfway through, took one sniff, and asked what was I making. Not a good sign. She took one taste and said "Um, something's not right here." She was right, only it was several things that weren't right. This most flavorful of dishes, a paragon of Sichuan fire and spice, was turned into a bland mess. Scratch one effort.

Of course with me getting kicked to the curb by the Washington Post was unacceptable, so I was like "Fuck that, I'm doing it again!" So I did more research, found out how I thought it should be, went shopping for the right ingredients, grabbed that wok I insulted the night before, and went at it again last night. I combined takes on several versions (like I knew what the hell I was doing), and this time I got the "ooh, that looks better" from w when she walked in on the process. And you know, it turned out pretty good, although I chopped the ginger which I shouldn't have as it was a little raw (best to leave it in sticks so you can pull it out), but other than that this had bite, spice, and that grabbing-for-the-water-glass heat you look for. Is this the definitive version? No, probably not, and I still want to play with it some more. I am hoping when we go to w's parents place in Houston for the Chan Family Christmas that her dad might let me watch him make his. But for now, this erased Tuesday's culinary defeat. w even asked if there were leftovers, and that's about as good a compliment as you can get at our house when the Caucasian is in the kitchen doing Chinese! If anyone has any advice on improvements, I'd love to hear them.
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Mapo Tofu
adapted from several..thank you all!

some of the mapo mise




ingredients:
1 block soft tofu, cut into 3/4" to 1" inch cubes
4 oz ground pork
3 Tbsp chili bean garlic paste
1 tsp (or more) Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground or crushed
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine
3 or 4 1" slices of ginger
4 green onions, sliced thinly, keeping white parts and green parts separate (reserve some of the green parts to garnish on top)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp brown sugar
4 Dried whole Thai chilis (more or less, depending on your heat tolerance)
1/4 C chicken stock
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp water
Salt to taste

method:
In your wok or skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the ginger slices, white part of the green onion, and ground Sichuan peppercorns and cook until fragrant for 30 to 60 seconds (pic at left). Add the ground pork, the chili bean paste, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, white pepper, and sugar, and cook for another minute or two. Then add the tofu, green part of the green onions, Thai chilis, chicken stock and simmer for about 15 minutes, stir occasionally and carefully so you don't break up the tofu. Meanwhile mix the cornstarch with some water in a small bowl and set aside. After simmering, add the cornstarch slurry and bring up to a simmer again and cook until thickened. Add salt to taste.

Garnish with chopped green onions and serve with white rice.

note: Here in Portland Sichuan peppercorns, a critical ingredient and not to be substituted for, were somewhat hard to find. I eventually found them at Whole Paycheck, who had just gotten them in. For those of you who, unlike me, are organized cooks and can plan ahead, there are several online sources.