Wow, I made this so long ago, like 6 months ago, and I completely forgot to add the recipe to the blog… Time flies when you’re working from home during a pandemic I guess…
Anyway this is one of my favorite dishes to order at restaurants in China, so last year when I was obsessed with recreating experiences from my travels, I decided to give it a go. It was everything I remembered. The spice and the fragrance from the aromatics completely permeated the potatoes, which maintained a slight crunch. The Sichuan peppercorn really packed a punch, as did the jalapeno, which I intentionally did not de-seed because I’m a fiend for spice. I also added some pickled chiles (pictured above) to mine, but I didn’t include them in the recipe because they’re a really incongruous condiment to add to this dish, and I really only added them out of habit because I put them on everything I eat, really.
Butter Count: China doesn’t cook with butter?
INGREDIENTS:
1 large russet potato
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 dried red chiles
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns (or 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorn)
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 tsp Kosher salt
4 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
Peel the potato and rinse it in the sink. Slice the potato into matchsticks, transferring them to a bowl of cold water so that they are fully submerged. Rest them in the water about 30 minutes. Pour them into a colander and wash them again in the sink, stirring them up with your fingers to get all of the excess starch off. Transfer them to clean paper towels and gently roll them around a little, spreading them out, to dry off most of the moisture.
Add the oil to a wok and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil just barely begins to smoke, add dried red chiles. Toss them around until they begin to darken in color, about 15 seconds.
Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic, scallion, Sichuan peppercorn, and jalapeno. Stir about 10 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the potatoes, along with the salt, to the pan and cook about 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly so that they don’t actually cook all the way through.
Use a rubber spatula to transfer everything into a serving dish.
Add the vinegar and sesame oil to the serving dish and mix everything together very well. Serve right away!