[CH] Recipe and wishing you a Happy New Year

Tee (traderbear@thehitchingpost.com)
Mon, 31 Dec 2001 23:00:50 -0500 

Happy New Year chileheads!
May all your fevered chile heated dreams come true in 2002

Earlier today I enjoyed a Hot and Sour Soup that was highly spiced.  My
nose gave it a 2-Kleenex rating.  I have eaten a lot of hot n sour soup
in Chinese restaurants over the years, but this was the first one that
had any fire in it.  I certainly enjoyed it. (as it turned out, was much
better than the entree).

Am spending a quiet new year's eve browsing new cookbooks.  A photo in
one of them captured my eye.  Chicken Chilli Mountain, from SECRETS FROM
A CHINESE KITCHEN by Vivienne & Jenny Lo,  daughters of the famous chef
Kenneth Lo.  Recipe below. Obviously, I haven't tried it yet, but it
looks easy enough.  I parked a scan of the recipe photo on my web
parking lot for anyone interested:

http://www.traderbear.thehitchingpost.com/

Enjoy!
Tee

--------------- RECIPE --------------------------------------

CHICKEN CHILLI MOUNTAIN
Published in SECRETS FROM A CHINESE KITCHEN,
by Vivenne & Jenny Lo

This is not for the faint hearted. The little chunks of chicken leg
nestle inside a great mountain of fiery red chillies. Don't serve this
alone unless you want to shock your guests - you can't eat very much at
one time! To show this dish off to best effect, serve it with a very
plain steamed dish such as Steamed Fish in Lotus Leaves (see page 45)
and a green vegetable and rice.

Serves 4 with rice and another one or two dishes

500 g /1 Ib chicken legs and/or breasts
salt
1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, roasted and crushed
1 beaten egg white
2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
vegetable oil for deep-frying
500 g/1 Ib whole red chilli peppers, with stalks
4 slices fresh root ginger, finely minced
1 large spring onion (scallion) or 1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsp rock or granulated sugar
1 tbsp Zhengjiang, red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing (rice) wine or medium sherry
2 tbsp reduced stock
2 tsp sesame oil

Remove the skin from the chicken. Chop each leg into bite-size pieces.
Give all the meat a good bash with the side of a chopper to loosen up
the grain. Chop the breast into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle with a pinch
of salt and the Sichuan peppercorns. Mix in the beaten egg white and the
cornflour, stirring until smooth. Marinate for about 30 minutes.

Heat the wok, then add the oil. When it just begins to smoke, gently
lower in the chicken pieces and deep-fry for 2-1/2 minutes until light
brown. Move the pieces around to prevent sticking. Scoop out the chicken
and set aside. Pour away the oil. (If the flour has stuck in the wok
give it a scrub.)

Heat the wok again with 1 tablespoon of oil. Toss in the chilli peppers
and turn gently in the oil for 30 seconds. Then add the ginger, onions
and chicken, stirring to prevent sticking. Immediately pour in the
sugar, a pinch of salt, vinegar, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and stock.
When the liquid boils, cover and simmer until almost dry, stirring from
time to time to prevent sticking. Drizzle with sesame oil.

Finally stir together and pour into a hot serving dish, arranging the
chilli in a mountain so that your guests have to root around for the
chicken within.

Our Secret
You can control how hot this dish is be selecting the chilli peppers
carefully.  Fat, red ones are milder than the long, thin devils.
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