Sichuan Sauerkraut

Sichuan Sauerkraut
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I think about food. I think about food a lot. Even when commuting on a train, I think of food, and of ways of getting or cooking food. Sometimes I just think about lists on what to buy in the supermarket. But sometimes flavour combinations pop into my head and I start to map them out. This is one of them!

I thought of how much I like the Sichuan style dry-fried beans. Basically, it uses garlic and ginger and dried shrimp and sugar an sesame oil to flavour string beans, which then take on a whole different flavour. Then I thought of sauerkraut and klary koopmans' recipe on baked sauerkraut. Then this new idea hit me: to fry sauerkraut with the Sichuan string-beans flavour!

For this recipe you will need: 1 packet of sauerkraut [450 grams]; I prefer organic; 2 cms of ginger, chopped; 2 mashed cloves of garlic, some chili oil flakes, a tablespoon of dried shrimp (put to soak in boiling water); soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and cilantro.

Drain the sauerkraut, you could also give it a rinse in water to get rid of some of the sour flavour, if you think it is too strong. Then heat a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and fry the sauerkraut slowly for a while. Take out. Pour in new oil and on a low fire fry chopped ginger, mashed garlic and your soaked dried shrimp, chopped. When fragrant, add some splashed of soy and add 2 tablespoons of sugar. You can add more to your liking later on. Return the fried sauerkraut to the pan and stir to combine. Fry longer until the sauerkraut takes on the flavours; I like it to be quite dry. Add chili flakes. At the end, add half a teaspoon of sesame oil and taste for flavour. Don't probably don't have to add any vinegar or salt, because it will have plenty of those flavour already! Put on a plate and add some chopped cilantro.
I love this dish. I like the savoury vinegary flavour of the sauerkraut, but making it have a dry, a little charred texture, and adding the Sichuan flavours, bring out a whole new twist.
Have it as a side dish to a Chinese meal, or eat it as a starter. This is my contribution to fusion: sublime Sichuan Sauerkraut !

Yinyin sauce

yinyin sauce by kattebelletje.

I can't help myself, ever so often I just NEED to eat jiaozi, Chinese dumplings. Or the fried kind, called guotie or potstickers. I put in the usual chopped pork, chinese cabbage, ginger, soaked dried shiitake mushroom, shredded spring onion and soy sauce and sesame oil for the filling, but added an extra leaf or two of the cime di rape I had a couple of days before. That made it really tasty!! I fried them in a pan but they stuck a little to well to the bottom.

Anyway, I made a salad like I had in Beijing: with a sauce of vinegar and sugar, plus an extra tablespoon dark Chinese vinegar. I soaked the cucumber in this vinaigrette for half an hour and added shredded lettuce and fried peanuts. Now for the jiaozi-sauce, I was taught this by a Chinese friend who cooks extremely well, and my family has called this sauce 'Yinyin sauce' ever since.

First make a hot sauce by putting dried chili pepper flakes, white sesame seeds, a little salt and a handful of huajiao (Sichuan pepper) in a fireproof bowl. Heat oil until really hot and pour carefully on the mixture; it will look like it will explode and a lot of hot steam escapes. Careful! When cooled off, you will have a dark red spicy oil. For the Yinyin sauce, mash 2 cloves of garlic, add 4 tablespoons or so of sugar, add as much dark Chinese aromatic vinegar until all the sugar is absorbed - stir, then add soy sauce and 3 or more tablespoons of the hot chili oil. Taste for spicyness and adapt to your liking. It tasted extremely well with the just fried potstickers and the salad will cool you off. Powerful.