Mr Peng’s stuffed baby squid
Both chicken and prawn mince work well as a stuffing for the squid here, though chicken offers a greater contrast in texture after cooking. Try the squid with other sauces too, like sweet and sour sauce or sweet chilli sauce etc.
The punchy Sichuan chilli sauce is essential to Hunan’s cooking, and the Sichuan peppercorns lend their characteristic numbing spice to many of our dishes. You need a lot of oil to make this sauce as it captures the flavours of the chilli and also helps to preserve it. When the sauce settles, you should have a layer of oil on top. If you add too much, you can always use the excess as chilli oil.
Makes 4 portions
baby squid 4 whole, cleaned and ready to use (ask your fishmonger to do this)
cornflour to dust
sesame seeds to coat
oil for frying
For the stuffing
coriander leaves 10g, finely chopped
fresh ginger ½cm piece, minced
spring onion ½, minced
fresh red chilli 1, finely chopped
salt a pinch
chicken mince 30g
For the Sichuan chilli sauce (makes about 300ml)
chilli flakes 4 tbsp
cooking oil 200ml
Sichuan peppercorns 2 tbsp, crushed
chicken stock 6 tbsp, plus more if necessary
tian mian jiang 2 tsp
tomato puree 2 tsp
white wine vinegar 1 tsp
To make the Sichuan chilli sauce, add the chilli flakes to a hot wok with about a tablespoon of cooking oil. Heat the chilli flakes until the pan begins to smoke, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Be careful as it will spit a little and there will be a lot of smoke.
As the chilli flakes absorb the cooking oil, add more oil one tablespoon at a time until you have a paste. It should take around 5 minutes.
When the chilli flakes begin to darken, add the Sichuan peppercorns off the heat with 3 tablespoons of stock. Stir through and return to the hob on a medium heat.
Add the tian mian jiang, tomato puree and the remaining stock with salt and sugar. Stir through all the ingredients, adding more stock and oil if necessary. You need a thick but runny sauce.
Finally add the white wine vinegar and stir through just before taking it off the heat.
Blanch the baby squid in a pan of hot water briefly for about 1 minute, then transfer to a bowl of ice-cold water. The squid should shrink a little from the cooking.
To make the stuffing, mix all of the ingredients, except the chicken, together in a bowl. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, then mix in the chicken mince.
Drain the squid, then dust with cornflour and stuff each squid tube with the stuffing, taking care not to overfill them. The squid should only be slit open on one side.
Cover the opening, where the stuffing is exposed, with sesame seeds.
Heat a glug of oil in a wok until nearly smoking and shallow fry the squid, sesame side down, on a high heat until golden.
The oil should cover half of the squid. Be careful as this will splash a lot. Once the sesame seeds are golden, turn the squid over and cook the other side. It should take no more than 6 minutes altogether.
When the squid is ready, remove to a plate, dress with the Sichuan chilli sauce and serve.
From Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets from Mr Peng’s Kitchen (Preface, £25). Click here to buy a copy for £20
Mr Peng’s spicy chicken wings
This salty and aromatic dish is a great companion to beer. Marinating the chicken for a short time beforehand helps the flavours seep through, while keeping the meat delicate enough so it doesn’t fight with the spicy dressing.
Makes 4 portions
For the marinade
Shaoxing rice wine 4 tbsp
garlic juice 2 tbsp
Sichuan peppercorns 2 tsp
salt 1 tsp
chicken wings 4, skin on
For the dressing
chilli oil 2 tsp
fresh red chilli ½, finely sliced
spring onion 1, finely sliced
To garnish
sesame seeds
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a bowl, add the chicken and leave to marinate for 5 minutes. Heat a griddle or griddle pan, and slowly cook the wings on a medium heat without adding any oil. You want the skin to crisp up evenly but the meat to be cooked through. This should take around 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl. Adjust the seasoning.
When the wings are ready, spoon the dressing over them and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.
From Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets from Mr Peng’s Kitchen (Preface, £25). Click here to buy a copy for £20
Yan-kit So’s Peking duck
This famous duck dish was introduced to Europe and America during the latter half of the 19th century: one source gives a definite date of 1875. In the well-established restaurants in Peking, the ducks used are raised for the express purpose of being roasted in a specially constructed oven. Paradoxically, this duck can be made as in this recipe in a simple way, with remarkably good results. The duck will be very crisp with a rich dark red skin; the meat perfectly cooked and juicy. Traditionally, only the skin was presented to eat with the pancakes. The meat, cut up in the kitchen and stir-fried with bean sprouts, was served as a second course. These days, however, in both Peking and the west, the meat is carved to be served with the skin.
Serves 4 as a main course, or 6-7 with 3-4 other dishes
honey 2 tbsp
hot water 300ml
duck 1, plump, oven-ready, 2-2.3kg
boiling water 1.7 litres
spring onions 12, white parts only
cucumber 1 large, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce
Mandarin pancakes 25-30
Melt the honey in the hot water in a cup or jug. Keep warm.
Put the duck in a colander. Scald it with the boiling water from a kettle, turning over several times to ensure even scalding. As the water is poured from the kettle on to the duck, the skin shrinks at once, becoming shiny. Wipe off excess water but leave damp. Put into a large bowl.
Pour the honey mixture all over the skin, including the wings, neck and tail. Return the liquid to the cup and repeat the process once more. To ensure even distribution, dip a brush into the liquid and smear over less accessible spots as well.
Hang the duck on either a special Chinese 3-pronged duck hook or on 2 butcher’s “S” meat hooks, one each securing the shoulder joint and wing. Hang in a windy place for 10–24 hours until the skin is parchment dry. Do not prick the skin.
Place the duck breast-side up on a wire rack in the middle of the oven with a tray of hot water underneath to catch the cooking juices. Roast in a preheated oven at 180C/gas mark 4 for 20 minutes, at the end of which the skin will have turned golden brown. With a wooden spoon or spatula held in one hand and another spoon put inside the cavity, turn the duck over and roast the other side for 25-30 minutes. Turn over once more, breast side up again, and roast for another 20 minutes. If the skin is becoming too dark a red, lower the heat to 170C/gas mark 3; if too pale, raise to 190C/gas mark 5 for part of the rest of the roasting time. Do not prick the skin during the roasting; the oil which would ooze would spoil both the colour and the crispness of the skin. Remove from the oven and put on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before carving.
While the duck is being roasted, cut the spring onion into 5cm sections. Slice each section lengthwise into strips. Arrange on 1 or 2 dishes. Arrange the cucumber on 1 or 2 dishes.
Put 1-2 tablespoons of hoisin or sweet bean sauce into individual saucers for each person.
Steam the Mandarin pancakes for 10 minutes and remove to warm serving plates.
Just before carving, pour all the juice in the cavity into a container. Carve the skin into pieces about 5cm square or into irregular shapes of approximate size. Carve the meat in a similar manner. Place the skin and meat on warm serving plates.
To eat, put a pancake on a plate (rather than in a bowl), smear on some sauce and top with 1 or 2 pieces of skin, either on their own or with meat as well. Add 1 or 2 pieces of cucumber and spring onion before rolling it up and eating.
From Yan-Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook by Yan-Kit So (Dorling Kindersley, £16.99). Click here to buy a copy for £13.59
Fuchsia Dunlop’s braised trout in chilli bean sauce
The first Chinese recipe I ever cooked was a version of this dish from Yan-kit So’s Classic Chinese Cookbook. Years later – and having eaten it countless times in the Sichuanese capital Chengdu – it remains one of my favourite fish dishes. The fish lies in a spectacular sauce, a deep rusty red in colour, sumptuously spicy and aromatic with ginger and garlic. In Sichuan, they tend to make it with carp. Back home in London, I’ve made it with sea bass, whole trout and fillets and, more recently, with organic mirror carp. They all taste delicious. (As with many Sichuanese dishes, the soul of the recipe lies in the combination of flavours and you can be flexible about the main ingredient, which is one reason why Sichuanese cuisine travels so well.) I’m particularly happy that the recipe works so well with mirror carp, one of the most sustainable fish and ripe for revival in places such as Britain, where it has long fallen out of favour.
You will probably find that the fish disintegrates slightly during cooking. Don’t worry: you can arrange it neatly on the serving plate and pour over the sauce. And when your guests taste it, if my experiences are anything to go by, they’ll be so overcome with rapture that they won’t care what it looks like.
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as part of a Chinese meal
rainbow trout 1, about 350g, scaled and cleaned, but with head and tail intact
salt
Shaoxing rice wine 1 tbsp
cooking oil 100ml, plus 2-3 tbsp more
Sichuan chilli bean paste 2½ tbsp
ginger 2 tsp, finely chopped
garlic 4 tsp, finely chopped
stock 200ml
light soy sauce 1 tsp, to taste
potato flour 2 tsp dissolved in 1½ tbsp cold water
spring onion greens 3-4 tbsp, finely sliced
sesame oil 1 tsp
Make three even, diagonal cuts into the thickest part of each side of the fish, to allow the sauce to penetrate. Rub it inside and out with a little salt, then rub the Shaoxing wine into its belly cavity. Set aside for 10-15 minutes, then drain off any liquid and pat it dry. Rub a little more salt into the skin on both sides (to prevent sticking).
Add the 100ml oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame. When it is hot, slide in the fish and fry on both sides until it is a little golden (it won’t be cooked through). You need to turn the fish carefully and tilt it so the oil comes into contact with all the skin. Pour off the oil into a heatproof container and slide the fish on to a plate.
Clean the wok if necessary, then reheat it over a high flame. Add the 2-3 tbsp oil and reduce the heat to medium. Add the chilli bean paste and stir fry until the oil is red and smells delicious. Add the ginger and garlic and stir fry until you can smell them. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Slide in the fish and cook for 5 minutes or so, seasoning with soy sauce to taste. Keep spooning the sauce over the fish and tipping the wok so the whole fish is cooked. (If you are using a larger fish, turn it halfway.) Using a wok scoop and fish slice, carefully lift the fish from the sauce and lay it on a serving dish.
Increase the heat, stir the potato flour mixture and add just enough to thicken the sauce to a rich, clingy consistency (do this in stages to avoid over-thickening). Stir in the spring onion, then switch off the heat. Stir in the sesame oil and ladle the sauce over the waiting fish.
From Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop (Bloomsbury, £25). Click here to buy a copy for £20
Yan-kit So’s stir-fried clams in black bean sauce
Black bean sauce and clams go together for the Chinese as horseradish and roast beef do for the British.
Serves 4-6 as a first course
clams 24, about 1.4kg
groundnut or corn oil 3 tbsp
garlic 4-5 cloves , peeled and finely chopped
fresh ginger root 1cm, peeled and finely chopped
spring onions 4-5, cut into 2.5cm sections, white and green parts separated
fermented black beans 1½ tbsp, rinsed, mashed with ½tsp sugar
Shaoxing rice wine or medium dry sherry 2 tbsp
thick soy sauce 1 tbsp
clear stock or water 3 tbsp
potato flour 1 tsp, dissolved in 1 tbsp water
sesame oil to taste (optional)
Leave the clams in water with a little salt until ready to use. Scrub the shells very thoroughly.
Heat a wok over a high heat until smoke rises. Add the oil and swirl it around. Add the garlic, ginger and white spring onion. Stir and let them sizzle for a few moments to release their aroma. Add the mashed black beans and stir to mix. Tip in the clams. Sliding the wok scoop or metal spatula to the bottom of the wok, turn and toss for 30–45 seconds. Splash in the wine or sherry around the side of the wok, continuing to turn and stir. When the sizzling dies down, add the soy sauce and stock or water. Bring to the boil, cover, lower the heat to medium and cook for about 8 minutes.
Remove the opened clams with a pair of chopsticks or tongs to a warm serving platter and keep warm. Stir and turn the remainder a few times and cook, covered, for another 4-5 minutes so that they open. Transfer the rest to the serving platter, leaving the sauce in the wok. Discard any clams that do not open.
Lower the heat, add the well-stirred potato flour to the sauce, stirring as it thickens. Tip in the green spring onion.
Scoop the sauce on to the clams and serve immediately. Sesame oil may be sprinkled on, if desired.
From Yan-Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook by Yan-Kit So (Dorling Kindersley, £16.99). Click here to buy a copy for £13.59
