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Wood Ear Mushroom Salad
Wood Ear Mushroom Salad
Wood ear mushroom salad is a popular cold appetizer eaten all over China. The mushrooms have are firmer in texture unlike most other mushrooms. You can sometimes find them fresh in the produce section of the grocery store. They are most commonly found dried and labeled as black fungus. They just need to be soaked in hot water, then boiled for 3 minutes to eat. They will more than double in size once soaked.They salad dressing that the mushrooms are tossed in is a mixture of soy sauce, black vinegar, raw minced garlic, Thai chilies, sugar, and salt. A simple Sichuan peppercorn infused oil is added to the dressing, giving it a slight numbing sensation. If you don’t like a little spice, omit the chilies.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried wood ear mushrooms
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 4 tsp black vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 garlic cloves minced
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns
- 4 thai chilies finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes.
- They will expand to more than twice the amount.
- Add the mushrooms to a pot of boiling water. Boil for 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water. Drain. Give the mushrooms a rough cut.
- Heat up cooking oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Fry the Sichuan peppercorns for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat. Scoop out the peppercorns with a slotted spoon.
- Mix the oil with the soy sauce, black vinegar, garlic cloves, chilies, sugar, and salt.
- Toss the mushrooms with the dressing. Mix in the cilantro. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.
Chinese Cucumber Salad
Chinese Cucumber Salad
This Chinese cucumber salad is a little different than your average cuc salad. Instead of straight up slinging the cucumbers, they are slightly smashed first. This allows them to catch more of the dressing. Lots of minced garlic is added to the cucumbers. The dressing is a simple soy/black vinegar/sugar/chili oil/sesame oil base. Pour the dressing over the cucumbers right before serving. Do not pour the dressing on in advance. The salt from the dressing will extract the moisture from the cucumbers, making your salad watery. Needless to say, this salad is not a good leftover.
Ingredients
- 12 oz English or Persian cucumbers
- 6 garlic cloves minced
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp chili oil
Instructions
- Very lightly smash the cucumbers with a mallet.
- Slice into 1/2” pieces.
- Add the minced garlic to the cucumbers in a bowl.
- Mix together the dressing ingredients.
- Add the dressing to the cucumbers right before serving.
How to make Chili Oil in an Instant Pot
Ever eat at a Chinese restaurant and they have that chili oil at the table? Then you end up putting it on everything because it’s so damn good. Well now it’s time to learn how to make it for a fraction of the price of the store bought brands. Making this couldn’t be easier using the Instant Pot. The most important thing in making this chili oil is to not burn the ingredients. You want to keep the oil between 225 and 250 degrees. The Instant Pot has a custom temperature setting which makes making this street free. You can still make this on a stove top if you don’t have an Instant Pot. Just make sure to use a cane thermometer to make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot. If the ingredients burn, you will have to start over.Most cultures have some sort of chili oil in their cuisine, all made very similarly. This recipe is for a Chinese style chili oil, so I used ingredients in Chinese cooking. If you were to make a chili oil for Italian cuisine, you would you’d Italian crushed chili flakes and maybe some garlic and dried herbs in the oil. So experiment with making different oils. The chili flake is always the main ingredient, followed by aromatics steeping in the oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 5 star anise
- 3 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup crushed Szechuan chili flakes
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function. Choose custom temp. Set to 230 degrees, Add your oil, cinnamon stick, star anise, peppercorns, and bay leaves to the Instant Pot. Cook for 30 minutes, giving an occasional stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Put the crushed chili flakes in a mason jar. Take a small piece of cheese cloth and put it over the jar, with a rubber band around it to hold in place.
- Take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Pour the oil into the mason jar. The cheese cloth will catch all of the peppercorns and star anise..
- Screw on the cover and let cool to room temp. Refrigerate up to 6 months.
Chicken with Coconut Milk
Chicken with Coconut Milk
Pollo con Leche de Coco is a popular Colombian dish. Chicken is seared and braised in coconut milk, creating a nice gravy. I used drumsticks in this recipe, but you can use any part of the chicken. You can even use fish or shrimp in this recipe. Fish will take 10 minutes to cook and shrimp 4-5 minutes depending on size. Serve the chicken with heaping mounds of steamed rice.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs chicken drumsticks
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups coconut milk
- salt to taste
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Sear the chicken drumsticks for 3-4 minutes a side. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Sauté for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste, chicken bouillon, cumin, and black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get up all of them good brown bits. Bring to a boil.
- Add in the drumsticks. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Take the cover off the pan. Turn the heat up to medium high and simmer for 5 minutes to help thicken up the sauce. Turn off the heat. Garnish with cilantro.
