Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (22 page)

CLAMS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
CHI ZHI CHAO XIAN
豉汁炒蜆

This Cantonese dish is messy to eat and gorgeously flavored; the home-made black bean sauce is in a different league from the dull bottled versions. Its robust flavors are an equally magnificent match for mussels. Do make sure you don’t overcook the clams, or they will become what the Chinese call “old” (tired and leathery).

2 lb 3 oz (1kg) clams, in their shells

3 tbsp cooking oil

2½ tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed and drained

2 tsp finely chopped ginger

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

1½ fresh red chillies, cut into thin diagonal slices

3 tbsp finely chopped green bell pepper

2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

Salt (optional)

1 tsp potato flour mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Rinse the clams thoroughly in cold water. Discard any with broken shells and those that are open and do not close when tapped.

Pour 2 cups 2 tbsp (500ml) water into a lidded saucepan large enough to hold all the clams and bring to a boil. Then add the clams, cover and heat over a high flame for three to four minutes, until all the shells have opened, opening the lid briefly from time to time to stir them. Remove the clams with a slotted spoon and set aside, discarding any that have failed to open. Keep the cooking liquid in the pan.

Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil, followed by the black beans, ginger, garlic, chillies and green pepper, and stir-fry briefly until they all smell wonderful. Pour in ⅔ cup (150ml) of the clams’ cooking liquor. Bring to a boil, skim if necessary, then season with the Shaoxing wine and soy sauces and a little salt, if desired.

Give the potato flour mixture a stir and add it to the wok in two or three stages, using just enough to thicken the liquid to the consistency of light cream. Then, off the heat, stir in the clams and spring onion greens and mix everything together. Tip into a dish and serve.

VARIATION

Mussels in black bean sauce

You can cook and serve mussels in exactly the same way: the only difference is that they will take a little longer to open than the clams.

BEANS & PEAS

Aside from the soy bean, essential as a source of protein and, fermented, as a seasoning, a wide variety of fresh and dried beans are eaten in China, most of them also familiar in the West.

Green, or romano, beans, known as “four-season beans” (
si ji dou
), are magnificent dry-fried the Sichuanese way; fresh peas are brought alive with a tease of chilli and Sichuan pepper; while young soy beans or fava beans—both of them a brilliant emerald green—are delicious steamed or stir-fried. Like the Italians, the people of southern China often cook their beans with a little cured pork for its irresistible umami flavors. And in many provinces, they use pickled or salt-cured vegetables for the same reason, to enhance the delicate savoriness of beans; a perfect marriage, as I hope you’ll agree. Some of the healthy, tasty dishes that follow are enough on their own for lunch for one or two people, with just some rice for company and perhaps a dish of stir-fried greens.

Dark red azuki beans, green mung beans and dried yellow peas are the most common legumes. All of them, but especially the former two, are used in sweet pastries and desserts. Split yellow peas, cooked down to a paste, are sold in Sichuanese street markets, to be used as the base of soups like my friend Dai Shuang’s. Dried mung beans and soy beans are both sprouted and used as a vegetable; the latter mainly in soups and vegetarian stocks, to which they lend a great savory flavor.

SICHUANESE “DRY-FRIED” GREEN BEANS (VEGETARIAN VERSION)
GAN BIAN SI JI DOU (SU)
乾煸四季豆（素）

A little restaurant near the Music Conservatory in Chengdu used to serve a vegetarian version of Sichuanese dry-fried green beans that was a delicious alternative to the classic dish, which is made with ground pork. They deep-fried their beans, but this is a quick, healthy version in which the beans are blanched rather than cooked in oil. It’s incredibly easy to make and wonderfully aromatic; my friend Seema’s children are addicted to it and she tells me she cooks it for them on a weekly basis. The preserved vegetable adds a delicious savory kick, but you can omit it if you don’t have any in your larder; the beans will be delicious anyway. Leftovers, eaten at room temperature, also taste very good.

Use the same method to cook peas, shelled fava beans, or sliced green or romano beans, adjusting the boiling times accordingly.

¾ lb (350g) green beans

4–6 dried chillies

2 spring onions, white parts only

3 garlic cloves

An equivalent amount of ginger

2 tbsp Sichuanese
ya cai
, snow vegetable or Tianjin preserved vegetable (optional)

Salt

About 3 tbsp cooking oil

½ tsp whole Sichuan pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

Trim the beans and snap them in half.

Snip the chillies in half or into sections with a pair of scissors; shake out and discard as many seeds as possible. Finely slice the spring onion whites. Peel and slice the garlic and ginger. If you are using the Tianjin vegetable, rinse it to get rid of excess salt, then squeeze it dry (the
ya cai
can be used as it comes).

Bring a panful of water to a boil over a high flame. Add salt and a dash of oil to the water. Blanch the beans until tender but not overcooked, then drain thoroughly.

Heat your wok over a high flame. Add 2 tbsp oil, then the chillies and Sichuan pepper; sizzle them briefly until the chillies darken and both spices smell wonderful. Add the spring onion, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few moments more until you can smell their fragrances. Add the preserved vegetable, if using, and stir a few times.

Add the blanched beans and stir-fry for a minute or two more, until they are coated in the fragrant oil and chopped seasonings, adding salt to taste. Stir in the sesame oil and serve.

VARIATION

Stir-fried green beans with “olive vegetable”

Yet another take on the blissful theme of beans and preserved vegetables and one of the easiest to make, because the only ingredient that needs chopping is garlic. “Olive vegetable,” a dark oily relish made from preserved mustard greens and Chinese “olives” (which are unrelated to the Mediterranean kind), is a speciality of the Cantonese region of Chaozhou. Follow the recipe above, but instead of chillies, Sichuan pepper and the other aromatics, simply stir-fry 2 tsp finely chopped garlic and 4 tbsp “olive vegetable” in 2–3 tbsp oil until fragrant before adding the beans; season with salt to taste.

STIR-FRIED PEAS WITH CHILLI AND SICHUAN PEPPER
QIANG QING WAN DOU
熗青豌豆

On warm, lazy Sichuan evenings, I’ve often sat with friends at a table under a canopy of wutong trees, drinking beer and picking at a selection of cold dishes, a custom known as
leng dan bei
(loosely translated as “a few cold dishes and a glass of beer”). The titbits on the table might include salted duck eggs, spiced peanuts, cooked meats with a dip of ground chillies, and a selection of stir-fried vegetables: sweet corn with green bell peppers, lotus root, or perhaps this wonderfully easy dish of peas with chilli and Sichuan pepper.

6 dried chillies

9 oz (250g) shelled peas (defrosted frozen peas are fine)

2 tbsp cooking oil

½ tsp whole Sichuan pepper

Salt

Snip the chillies in half with a pair of scissors and discard their seeds as far as possible. If using fresh peas, bring some water to a boil in a saucepan and blanch them for a minute or so. Refresh under the cold tap and drain thoroughly.

Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil, chillies and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry very briefly until you can smell their fragrances and the chillies are darkening but not burned. Then add the peas and stir-fry until hot and fragrant, adding salt to taste. Serve hot or cold.

PEAS WITH DRIED SHRIMP
HUI JIN GOU QING WAN
燴金鉤青丸

The Sichuanese name for this dish translates literally as “golden hooks cooked with green balls” (“golden hooks” is the very apt local word for the little hook-shaped shrimp). The shrimp, ginger and spring onion add a rich savoriness to the peas. Last time I made this dish, I heated up the leftovers with some leftover boiled potatoes, green bok choy and a little extra water for lunch the next day: delicious. You can use the same method to cook shelled fava beans and green soy beans.

2 tbsp dried shrimp

2 spring onions, white parts only

1½ oz (25g) piece of ginger, unpeeled

2 tbsp cooking oil

9 oz (250g) shelled peas (defrosted frozen peas are fine)

Salt

Ground white pepper

1 tsp potato flour mixed with 1 tbsp cold water

1 tsp sesame oil

Cover the shrimp in hot water from the kettle and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes before you begin.

Trim the spring onion whites and slightly crush both them and the ginger with the side of a cleaver or a rolling pin. Cut the spring onion whites into a couple of sections.

Heat the oil in a wok over a high flame. Add the spring onions and ginger and stir-fry briefly until they smell wonderful. Add ¾ cup (200ml) water and bring to a boil. Remove the ginger and onion with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the peas and drained shrimp and return to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for two to three minutes, until the peas are hot and have absorbed some of the flavors of the broth.

Give the potato flour mixture a stir and add just enough to the wok to thicken the broth to a lazy, gravy-like consistency. Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve.