Fermented black beans, while not as ubiquitous in Chinese cooking as soy sauce, are a worthy pantry staple for any Chinese cooking aficionado. These little soybeans, packed and fermented in salt, give a pungent dimension to your stir-fry sauces. You may have encountered them before in Cantonese black bean spare ribs (usually served at dim sum) or Sichuan dishes like mapo tofu or twice-cooked pork. Just a tiny amount can add a big whopping amount of umami to your everyday stir-fry.
Yesterday I stir-fried some chicken with the fermented black beans and a little chili oil, a landlubber's take on the Cantonese shrimp in black bean sauce I've eaten many times over. You can find these little beans at any Chinese grocery store, packed in plastic. Before using, rinse them in water or rice wine to get rid of excess grit. I store my black beans in the fridge in a little plastic container, but I know tons of cooks who keep them in cabinets; with tons of salt and no moisture, bacterial growth is minimal.
Read MoreContrary to myth, the Chinese don't have magically low cholesterol. But they do know that it's okay to eat pork belly every week in moderation, as long as you also get a healthy dose of greens, and maybe bike regularly to the grocery store in your clunky steel cruiser.
Not long ago I posted a recipe for Hunan red-braised pork, which many of you seemed to love. Twice-cooked pork is another dish I recently started making at home. Called huiguo rou (回锅肉) in Chinese, which literally means "meat returned to the wok", this is an extremely popular Sichuan dish that uses the same cut of meat, but this time with a predominantly spicy and salty characteristics.
The "twice-cooked" part refers to the pork belly first being simmered in salted water for an hour until fully cooked, sliced, then stir-fried in its own juices. A home-style dish at heart, the pork is then coated with a hearty sauce of fermented black bean, chili bean sauce and yellow rice wine, and mixed with vegetables like cabbage and bell peppers.
Read MoreI remember a time when pork belly was shunned in the U.S. as a fatty, undesirable cut of meat. But thanks to a few big-name chefs, this unctuous piece of hog is gracing some of the country's most popular dining spots. David Chang's Berkshire pork belly in a bun may have been the most lusted-after dish in New York in the past 5 years.
Which is why I'm surprised red-braised pork is still not very popular outside of China. It's one of the least fiery dishes in the entirety of Hunan cuisine, and very easy to make at home. What omnivore can resist a dish of braised pork cooked with sugar, cinnamon, chilis, and star anise? The smells alone are intoxicating, and make me jittery with anticipation as I count down the minutes until braising is done.
The version of hongshao rou I like best is from Fuchsia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province. (Did you know this was Mao Zedong's favorite dish? The satisfaction of eating it, of course, transcends ideology.) An especially helpful tip Dunlop gives is to first plunge the meat into boiling water; partially cooked pork belly is much easier to cut. To make the sauce, you simply caramelize the sugar, add water and the whole dried spices, then let simmer for less than an hour. (Also see Red Cook's version, which includes garlic and no chilis.) A simple bowl of white rice is the best absorbent for the fragrant and hearty sauce.
Read MoreI am a huge fan of cooking with whole spices. Ground cinnamon can never substitute cinnamon sticks in a braise. Ground Sichuan pepper doesn't have the same punch as whole or crushed peppercorn. And I'm prone to ignoring a recipe's call for ground cumin, when whole cumin has been the friend that never disappoints.
The fragrance of freshly toasted whole cumin can make me delirious with hunger. I know that whatever's touched with cumin will be smoky, substantial, and evocative of a far-off land blessed with pungent spices. If the food on this site seems cumin-heavy, that's because I use heaping spoonfuls and, when working off other recipes, double or triple the amounts. Is there a support group for this kind of spice addiction?
This eggplant and black bean salad is a great backdrop for another cumin invasion. The spice adds a nutty dimension to the eggplant, and highlights the saltiness of the black beans. (Salted black beans, also called fermented black beans, is usually found in the preserved goods section of a Chinese market. Rinse before use.) Try this appetizer not only with Chinese main courses but also Middle Eastern dishes.
Read More