Notes about Recipes in this book

• Traditional dandan noodles (Dandan mian)

  • twoyolks on January 17, 2013

    The preserved vegetables make this very sour. It's also quite spicy.

  • Siegal on January 24, 2020

    I didn’t find the preserved vegetables made it sour but be careful with the Sichuan peppercorns as they make you numb.

  • excurvatus on March 21, 2020

    This is a great dandan noodles. It's the one I think of as my go-to. Mr Xie's is also very special.

• Mr. Xie's dandan noodles (Niurou dandan mian)

  • clcorbi on January 14, 2017

    I think this is the first recipe I've tried from LoP that I actually found a bit too spicy! Which surprised me as I really love spicy food. I did include the full 1t of Sichuan peppercorns, but I think what really got to me was all the chile oil. Spiciness aside, these noodles are delicious. I had the leftovers the next day and found that the flavor had toned down slightly, and I really enjoyed them then. I will definitely try this recipe again, decreasing the chile oil slightly. This makes for an EXTREMELY speedy weeknight dinner as there is basically no chopping.

  • metacritic on March 10, 2022

    This recipe proved great. This version of the recipe is, I think, slightly different from the one in Every Grain of Rice. Where before I thought the recipe as I made it in EGOR was fine but not as good as her staple dan dan noodles recipe, this one is at least as good. I will make this version again, for sure, whenever I have beef rather than pork. It is light, spicy, and absolutely delicious.

  • thecharlah on June 15, 2015

    One of my favorite recipes of all time. I could happily eat these every week.

  • Snopes on November 29, 2015

    Dunlop changed this recipe fairly radically in her later cookbook "Every Grain of Rice." I prefer this version, which is much lighter, to the revised version.

  • twoyolks on April 09, 2018

    I didn't really care for this. I think I dislike the flavor of the ya cai which tends to dominate the other flavors but it did tend to mellow over time. I didn't find this to be as spicy as I was afraid of based on the ingredients.

• Spicy noodles with silken tofu (Douhua mian)

  • clcorbi on January 19, 2018

    Pretty tasty, but not my favorite Dunlop noodle recipe. I didn't enjoy the large amounts of soft tofu against the already-soft noodles. Also, I thought the flavor of the sauce was a bit one-dimensional; although, to be fair, I did have to substitute tahini for the sesame paste which might make a difference. Not one I'd repeat when I could make the dan dan noodles from this book instead.

• "Long" wonton dumplings (Long chao shou)

  • mfto on January 23, 2012

    p 104 chowhound I had such success making the potstickers in advance and freezing them, that I did the same with these. Unfortunately, it didn't work out so well. The filling is so loose and wet, that even dusted with cornstarch, it oozed a bit and made everything sticky. Along with other ingredients (egg, sesame oil, salt and pepper), there's a lot of liquid added to the pound of ground pork - 1/2 cup of ginger-soaked water, 2 tsp rice wine, and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Another mistake was that I overstuffed the wontons. Next time I'd use less stuffing as I used a too-generous teaspoon. When I took them out of the freezer, they were stuck to each other and the wax paper I had layered them on, so next time I won't do that. Either way, although they didn't look pretty after trying to separate them, they were tasty - Variations Won tons in clear stock _ wontons in hot-and-sour soup

• Steamed pork and pumpkin dumplings (Nangua zhengjiao)

  • amraub on August 19, 2012

    I made the filling using the pot sticker dough recipe and method. These were very good. Great way to use up extra pumpkin puree as well.

  • lina on January 01, 2014

    Recipes says that zucchini can be substituted for pumpkin

• Steamed pork and cabbage dumplings (Xiao long zheng jiao)

  • twoyolks on March 13, 2013

    The filling is very good. The dough is very sticky and stuck to the bottom of the steamer basket. This lead to a number of the dumplings falling apart. I'd consider placing parchment under each one in the future.

• Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken stock (Jizhi guotie)

  • twoyolks on January 08, 2016

    The ginger and scallion soaking water gives the dumplings a nice but subdued ginger and scallion flavor without compromising the texture of the dumpling. Making the dough isn't too difficult but rolling it out does take some time. The biggest problem I had was that the dumplings tended to stick to the pan while cooking them even when using a lot of oil (more oil did help, however). I eventually had to use a fish spatula to pry them out.

• Sour-and-hot "flower" tofu (Suanla douhua)

  • JoanN on June 13, 2021

    Loved this! Super fast and easy comfort food. Two servings? Ha! This would be great with noodles, too. Either instead of or in addition to the tofu.

  • excurvatus on March 18, 2020

    I've avoided making this because I was worried it wouldn't be as amazing as it sounds. It is beyond. The flavourings are so familiar and Sichuanese, and the slippy texture of the tofu is perfect. I might want to eat more than Fuchsia suggests, if eating for lunch.

• Poached chicken for cold dishes

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    I poached a chicken breast for the Odd-Flavor Chicken using this method, and while the resulting broth was flavorful (I kept it and used it in the Bear's Paw Tofu), I didn't find that the aromatics added much flavor to the chicken. This could be because the breast poached for a much shorter time than a whole chicken would have. At any rate, the resulting breast meat was fairly tender.

• Fish-fragrant cold chicken (Yuxiang jisi)

  • clcorbi on April 15, 2017

    Delicious. Incredibly spicy. I might decrease the chili oil slightly next time.

  • JLDuck on December 11, 2021

    Extremely fragrant and delicious. I do however agree with Clcorbi in that it the chilli component is extreme. I put a small amount on the serving portion and placed the rest in a bowl for people to add to their taste.

  • Rradishes on October 20, 2017

    Very good, although a little salty. But I might have put too much chili paste. Overall good flavor.

• Chicken in Sichuan pepper and scallion sauce (Jiaoma jipian)

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Very nice lunch!

  • chawkins on August 21, 2019

    Great summer dish that you can make ahead.

• "Strange-flavor" bang bang chicken (Bang bang ji)

  • BlytheSpirit on July 10, 2012

    Chinese sesame paste is not the same thing as tahini. I found it and was able to make this dish with remains of a rotisserie chicken. Instead of serving over a mound of sliced scallions (as suggested) I made a bed of shredded Napa cabbage, sliced Persian cucumbers, shredded carrot, sliced scallions and bean sprouts. The salad was sprinkled with a light rice vinegar. The sauce was a tad thick so I thinned it a bit with a bit more of the liquid sauce ingredients. Next time I'll use a bit less of the sesame paste (which reminds me a bit of peanut butter). This was very good. The sesame flavor is strong - so not for those who dislike sesame oil.

  • metacritic on July 11, 2021

    Utterly delicious and something I'll crave, surely with frequency. I had no peanuts but likely will make this dish without them more often than not.

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    This was absolutely delicious! We had one large chicken breast (a little less than half a pound) hanging out in the freezer, so I poached it per Dunlop's instructions and dressed it with a half-recipe of this sauce. The only substitution made was to use tahini in place of the sesame paste. I think next time I would add even more scallion slivers--they are a nice crunchy break from the chicken. I loved the numbing sensation from the Sichuan peppercorns, which I think really came through since they are left raw here. As mentioned in the other comment, the dressing is quite thick, but we didn't find that to be a problem once it was tossed with the chicken. This is a fantastic recipe and I would make it again in a heartbeat.

  • Stephenn31 on January 23, 2023

    Delicious. I would also add more green onion slivers next time

• "White" pork in garlicky sauce (Suanni bairou)

  • Jardimc on August 27, 2021

    I have a hard copy of The Food of Sichuan and the hard copy recipe lists nine ingredients: ginger, scallion, pork rump, cucumber, salt, sweet aromatic soy sauce, garlic, chili oil and sesame oil. @eatyourbooks please remove the erroneous ingredients.

  • stockholm28 on August 27, 2021

    Regarding jardimc’s comment, I also have a hard copy book. Please note that this has a recipe within a recipe. The sweet aromatic soy sauce is a recipe which is shown on page 459. This recipe shows the ingredients to make that so the list is not erroneous if you take a closer look.

  • jameswm on September 24, 2010

    Recipe calls for pork leg meat rather than tenderloin

  • krista_jo on February 11, 2019

    The spiced soy sauce gives this a very interesting flavour.

• Preserved eggs with green bell peppers (Qingjiao pidan)

  • krista_jo on June 27, 2022

    This is not even really a recipe but Dunlop has cleverly realized that more people will try them -- and find out that they are delicious -- if they are in very, very thin slivers.

• Sweet-and-sour red peppers (Tan cu tian jiao)

  • amraub on June 07, 2012

    These little peppers are a great mix of sweet and sour. I've never bothered with peeling them. I have a hard time stopping myself from snacking on them once they're done.

• Steamed eggplants with scorched green Turkish peppers (Shaojiao ban qiezi)

  • jhead on July 15, 2012

    my go to recipe for quick easy asian eggplant, everyone loves it. Modify hotness levels by reducing chilles

  • JLDuck on December 05, 2020

    A simple recipe. I thought a few more scorched peppers would be a good thing as the sauce was a little spare. Still a very tasty additional to my growing stock of aubergine recipes.

• Daikon slivers in a spicy dressing (Liang ban luo bu si)

  • minerva on June 03, 2013

    Tried second variation.

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    We substituted a bunch of red radishes for the daikon, and used the second dressing variation. These were delicious! I love how the chile oil gives the dressing a slow burn. This time we served the radishes with the Boiled Beef in Fiery Broth from this book; I didn't really love having two ultra-spicy dishes paired together. Next time I make this simple salad I'd serve it with a milder main course.

• Spicy beef slices with tangerine peel (Chen pi niu rou)

  • minerva on June 03, 2013

    Have tried with oven baked tofu instead of fried beef, omitting marinade. Beef is richer, baked tofu is healthier. Both good.

• Cold chicken with fragrant rice wine (Xiangzao jitiao)

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Good!

• Spiced cucumber salad (Qiang huanggua)

  • IvyManning on July 31, 2014

    I loved this salad, something different for the bumper crop of cucumbers. I reduced the chilies, as I do with all of Miss Dunlop's recipes.

  • amraub on January 24, 2012

    Simple, but surprisingly good.

  • chawkins on July 17, 2013

    The cucumbers were extremely crunchy and the spiciness is very subtle. Need to salt the cucumbers for half an hour or more. Like amraub said simple and good.

  • twoyolks on July 21, 2015

    This was more interesting than good. My main issue was that the cucumber became very salty.

  • clcorbi on January 10, 2017

    Even after rinsing the cucumbers they remained incredibly salty, and I'm not sure why as we didn't have this problem with the cucumber salad from Land of Fish and Rice. Maybe more salt is used here, or maybe it has to do with the cut of the cucumber slices? At any rate, I didn't think this salad was nearly as good as the one from LoFaR. I don't think the quick pan-searing step did anything other than make the cucumbers unnecessarily hot.

• Twice-cooked pork (Hui guo rou)

  • Snadra on June 23, 2011

    This was very salty the first time I made it, which may have been caused by the particular condiment brands I used. I have since made it twice, reducing the sweet bean paste and rinsing the beans really well - much better! It makes a good last minute dish if you cook, cool and slice the pork in advance. Once that is done it comes together quickly. Fragrant with a slightly soft texture.

• Fish-fragrant pork slivers (Yuxiang rousi)

  • amraub on December 07, 2011

    Excellent and quick. Made without the bamboo.

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Quite - very good

  • Jane on June 07, 2021

    The Food of Sichuan is a reissue of Dunlop's Land of Plenty (published in 2005) with extra recipes added. EYB copied the index from LoP to the new edition so owners of the new edition get the benefit of these notes.

  • twoyolks on October 03, 2017

    This was really good. It has a well-balanced sour flavor. I used sambal olek instead of pickled chile paste which seemed to work fine. I cut back on it for fear of too much heat but didn't need to. I omitted the cloud ear mushrooms as I don't care for them. The bamboo shoots added bulk but not much else to the recipe.

  • Delys77 on May 27, 2015

    Pg. 196 This also comes together fairly quickly and was very flavourful. My first attempt at the fish fragrant method and I quite liked it. I doubled for 4 people to be served along with rice and a vegetable side.

  • aileent1 on January 27, 2019

    This is one of my favorites from the book. I use Sichuan pickled chilis (https://www.posharpstore.com/en/paocaifang-sichuan-pickled-chili-peppers-33-lbs) and add slivered water chestnuts, bamboo and celery. It's wonderful!

  • clcorbi on October 30, 2017

    Yum. Ultra-flavorful and fast to throw together. Per the recipe headnotes, I substituted chili bean paste for the pickled chili paste. I also threw in some chopped pickled chilis since I had a jar. The result was ultra-spicy, just what I was going for. I liked the bamboo in this dish, but I think I'd enjoy it equally well with celery, too.

  • Stephenn31 on January 23, 2023

    Delicious and one of my favourite Chinese dishes of all time. Dunlop’s version is excellent. I made it this time with celtuce which was easier to find than bamboo and it added a nice crunch

  • DayOwl on June 06, 2021

    This book was published in 2019, so it's impossible that most of the reviewers here actually cooked this recipe. Most likely, these reviews are for her prior book, which is actually a different recipe. I made this with pork in the past, but I stopped eating meat some years ago, so I made it with shredded tofu skin. I doubled the sauce and it turned out great! I think the celtuce adds an important textural crunch. Also, be sure to get the larger, thicker wood ear fungus and not the smaller, thinner cloud ear variety. This will allow you to made all of your shreds the same size.

• Pork steamed in lotus leaves (He ye zheng rou)

  • krista_jo on August 20, 2018

    Very odd texture but we enjoyed it.

• Red-braised pork (Hongshao rou)

  • abrownb1 on May 09, 2022

    Easy and delicious way to use up pork belly! I didn't make the broth from the book - instead I used chicken broth mixed with some of the pork blanching water and gelatin for the mouth feel. Worked perfectly.

  • aileent1 on June 18, 2019

    Super easy and great if you enjoy pork belly. I cut the pieces smaller than she called for, about an inch wide.

  • JLDuck on July 18, 2022

    Stunningly simple and delicious.

• Sweet-and-sour pork (Tangcu liji)

  • twoyolks on February 17, 2013

    This would be very good with chicken in place of the pork.

  • Lindalib on August 09, 2013

    We used a 2 3/4 pound pork loin from the local butcher so tripled the recipe. I made several mistakes following the recipe, but it was very forgiving. This meal was very tasty. Everything, especially cooking, took a lot longer because meat had to be cooked in batches. It took about 3 hours from start to finish.

• Pork slivers with preserved mustard tuber (Zhacai rousi)

  • Delys77 on December 18, 2013

    Pg. 213 I was a bit worried about this one as I found the preserved mustard quite pungent. I ended up doubling the recipe to feed 3 hungry fellows with just some rice on the side, but I only went with about 3/4 of cup of mustard tuber despite the doubling. I also upped the soy in the sauce by about 50%. The end result was very tasty indeed. The mustard gives it a very nice umami flavour along with an nice crunchy texture, and the pork was an excellent compliment. On the whole a very easy and a very tasty dish. I might add a bit of chopped bock choy in the future as the green onion was nice but to my taste it was missing a touch of green.

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    We love mustard tuber, but we thought the dish was a bit bland overall - yet nice. A mild, homey dish.

• Pork slivers with yellow chives (Jiuhuang rousi)

  • clcorbi on July 13, 2018

    I substituted scallions for the yellow chives, and otherwise followed the recipe as written. Delicious! This dish was super flavorful without being spicy, which can be a nice change of pace as Sichuan food goes. I love anything involving black vinegar, but the flavor really came through here.

• Pork slices with black wood ear mushrooms (Mu'er roupian)

  • okcook on June 17, 2011

    Great textue.

• "Ants climbing a tree" [bean thread noodles with ground pork] (Mayi shangshu)

  • mcvl on May 22, 2011

    Thursday, 12 May 2011 Ants climbing trees, as we call it, is one of our favorite Szechuan dishes, bean thread noodles (the trees) with a savory ground pork dressing (the ants). This time we used cellophane noodles made from sweet potatoes instead of beans; the texture was exactly the same, and the color was an alluring pale violet. A dead easy dish that might find a place in any cook's repertoire, Fuchsia's version is absolutely true and correct.

  • metacritic on March 08, 2022

    Absolutely, overwhelmingly delicious. The noodles, in absorbing the broth, are deeply savory. The chili bean paste creates loads of umami. I've never quite had a dish like this and can't imagine going without it in the future. I used very thin rice noodles, not the noodles called for, and it was delicious. I'd be curious to try these with sweet potato noodles next time.

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    Great dish. We always have these ingredients on hand, which makes it one of our go-to's for an easy dinner.

  • minerva on June 03, 2013

    This is also good with TVP, moistened with broth and shaoxing wine, instead of the meat.

  • Running_with_Wools on December 05, 2020

    I made this for my family last week and it was gobbled up by all. Truly delicious and super fast and easy. A weeknight meal the kids will run down to enjoy. I used vermicelli rice noodles because I didn't have enough cellophane noodles in my pantry. Still yummy :).

• Boiled beef slices in a fiery sauce (Shuizhu niurou)

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    This was fairly good, but I had high expectations that weren't quite met. I tried to follow the instructions to a T, but there are some things I would do differently next time to get a better result. First, I actually think I under-salted this dish. I added salt to the celery as it cooked and to the beef, but not to the broth itself--I thought it would be well-seasoned from the dark soy and chili bean paste. In hindsight, I think extra salt in the broth would have really amped up the whole dish's flavor. Second, I think it's key here to simmer the beef until only JUST cooked through. That's what Dunlop says, too, but she also says to return the beef to a boil, which in my case resulted in beef that was cooked a bit too long. I want the slices to be almost medium-rare next time. Finally, I didn't get my oil quite hot enough before doing the final drizzle, so I didn't get the fizzing sound effect! Not the end of the world, but next time I'll really let the oil get smoking hot.

• Dry-tossed beef (Ganban niurou)

  • clcorbi on May 23, 2018

    Excellent. This dry-frying technique is new to me, and I don't think I waited quite long enough for the beef to get super crispy, but we were still very pleased with the result. We both love the flavor of chili bean paste so I used the full 3T, but omitted the optional chili oil. We also really enjoyed the celery; the addition of a vegetable makes this a very nice one-dish meal for a weeknight.

  • MikeCirillo on February 21, 2016

    I really enjoyed the recipe and enjoyed the way the beef came out using the dry frying method. I was not really sure if I was cooking it long enough. I made the dish with a pixian broad bean paste which is quite salty: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BRQ0YC0/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687742&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00A9OF6NS&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1238GTBDG43CQ3178NCK I would caution against using two to three tablespoons as the recipe calls for or it will be too salty. I would like to find a broad bean chili paste that is authentic but not so salty. Fuschia Dunlop indicates that the Lee Kum Kee brand is not really good for authentic sichuan flavor.

  • twoyolks on March 14, 2015

    The predominant flavor is that of the chili bean paste but not so much that it's overwhelming.

  • Delys77 on January 08, 2013

    The technique in this dish is quite different. Dry fried led me to believe there would be very little oil, when in fact there was a bit more than the average stir fry. The dry fry refers to the process of cooking the beef till all moisture has cooked off, you are then essentially frying the meat on high heat in the oil. This took closer to 15 minutes for me to achieve, but the result was crisped beef slivers. The seasoning works very well, and the celery is an attractive and tasty addition, both in terms of texture and flavour.

• Spicy steamed beef with ricemeal (Xiaolong fenzheng niurou)

  • krue on July 01, 2011

    recipe was not clear about whether to cook beef with marinade or not. I did and it was a mistake. beef texture was sloppy and no rice crust formed as there was too much liquid in the dish. Won't make again.

  • JLDuck on December 05, 2020

    Requires some forethought and work but the effort is worth it. The ricemeal must be made first as it is part of the marinade. This process takes about an hour (including marinating time). I used good quality beef. The steaming made it very tender and melded the flavours.

  • clcorbi on January 10, 2017

    I agree with the below comment; recipe should be more clear on whether to cook with the marinade. I drained mine before mixing the beef with the ground rice, and since there was still a lot of thick marinade clinging to the meat, I also used less than 1/4c water to mix everything together. I really enjoyed making the rice meal--I found it so fascinating to toast the grains and watch them brown, and I used my mortar and pestle to pound them down. However, I'm not sure I'm sold on the final flavor of this dish. I found myself thinking something was missing, flavor-wise. Maybe salt? I reread the recipe and it doesn't seem that Dunlop calls for salt anywhere, which could have really helped here, as I found the dish had an almost muddy flavor. That being said, I did love how the long-steaming technique produced such tender beef--the pieces practically fall apart! I'm glad I tried this, at least.

• Red-braised beef with daikon (Hongshao niurou)

  • JLDuck on May 11, 2023

    Absolutely delicious. I cooked it for the two hours plus and found that it all came together in a luscious sauce. Given the previous note maybe it is a matter of taste

  • twoyolks on October 07, 2013

    I pressure cooked the beef for 50 minutes at 15 psi in the liquid instead of slowly braising. The beef didn't really seem to marry well with the braising liquid. The braising liquid itself was quite good, the flavor of the beef seemed to clash with it.

• Gong bao chicken with peanuts (Gongbao jiding)

  • Delys77 on January 08, 2013

    Very good rendition of Kung Pao chicken. While I like peanuts I did cut back on the suggested amount by about half as I thought it would be too much. As I served it I thought the amount of peanuts was just right. While the dish is spicy, it wasn't unreasonably so, especially since I removed the chiles from the dish before serving so that no one would have a bite with a chili in it. The acidity is very nicely balanced with sweetness and heat.

  • amraub on June 07, 2012

    I love this version of kung pao chicken. I've made it many times using both breasts and thighs and every time it's a huge hit. It is a little heavy on the peanuts, but I love peanuts so that's not a problem!

  • Breadcrumbs on April 19, 2014

    p. 237 - I know this is a very popular Chinese dish but I have to admit it’s been years since I’ve had it. During my recent trip to Beijing the chef at my hotel suggested I order Gong Bao since he knew I liked spicy dishes. I have to say, I absolutely loved it. Back at home and one week later I was already craving it so I pulled out FD’s book and set to it. Perhaps it’s not fair to compare but this was a bit of a let down. Like LlM, I too felt there were too many peanuts. The dish was also saucier than the one I had in Beijing. Certainly both issues are easy enough to rectify next time around but I think I’ll look to one of my other Chinese cookbooks for a different recipe next time. I should note that mr bc quite liked it and did not think there were too many peanuts. I used thighs vs chx breasts. Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/494664#8887996

  • Rradishes on December 29, 2017

    This was good but be very careful with the chilis; a handful for which the recipe calls made mine very very hot. Maybe it was just the batch of peppers, but will make again with alot less chilis.

  • minerva on July 28, 2013

    I've made this with both chicken and pre-fried tofu. When using tofu, I add some of the marinade ingredients to the wok instead of actually marinating. It is not very spicy unless you bite into a chile, which is very much so.

  • stockholm28 on August 25, 2013

    Really delicious! I will be making this again.

  • stockholm28 on February 17, 2020

    Version from ”The Food of Sichuan (FoS)” - There are some slight differences in this version versus the version in ”Land of Plenty (LoP)”. The FoS version has double the oil (4 Tbsp), double the sugar (2 Tbsp), and a few other small differences. I’d probably have to try them side by side to really taste the difference. I loved the original version so may go back to that to save a few calories.

  • clcorbi on December 14, 2016

    We really enjoyed this! I loved how the ultra-quick cooking time kept the chicken breasts super tender. This is one dish where I actually didn't mind the white meat (as normally I prefer to cook with thighs). We both thought the sauce was super flavorful. Surprisingly, I didn't find this spicy enough! I may not have let the dried chiles stir-fry long enough before adding the chicken, but I think next time I would just add more sichuan peppercorn, since we love that numbing flavor. I also ground the peppercorns in my mortar and pestle rather than leaving them whole, since I don't love biting into a whole one. I think I decreased the quantity of peanuts a bit as well. This was very quick and easy and great for a weeknight.

  • kitchen_chick on January 21, 2020

    I think I like the version from her older Land of Plenty book slightly better than this one. (I don't know why the reviews from the older book are included with the newer book. The two recipes do use different proportions of the same ingredients.)

• Chongqing chicken with chiles (Lazi ji)

  • JLDuck on March 05, 2020

    Truly delicious. The chillies were not too strong with the favours melding satisfactorily. I used thigh fillets.

  • Rradishes on March 19, 2018

    This was good, less ingredients than some other dishes in this book. Next time I'll try skin-on boneless chicken thighs though, chicken breast is a little too lean for my taste. Still good though.

  • twoyolks on July 21, 2015

    This is a bit different than when I've had this served in a restaurant. The chicken isn't coated in anything before frying. The preparation amps the chicken flavor but the chile flavor was subdued.

• Chicken in a delicate vinegar sauce (Culiu ji)

  • clcorbi on March 15, 2017

    Absolutely delicious. My only change was to use sambal oelek in place of the pickled chile paste. I did find it a bit wasteful to use a cup and a half of oil to fry the chicken and celery for less than a minute, so I decreased the oil slightly, which didn't hurt anything. The chicken batter didn't stick to the bottom of the pan, so if I make this recipe again I'll try shallow-frying it rather than deep-frying. I was very careful not to overcook the chicken, as Dunlop cautions, and the resulting dish was indeed luscious. The flavor is quite spicy and vinegary, so plenty of white rice is necessary. I think the celery works really well in this dish. Definitely will be made again.

• Dry-fried chicken (Ganbian ji)

  • clcorbi on December 30, 2016

    Delicious! We used chicken breasts which stayed nice and moist, but I'd still try this with thighs next time. I didn't salt my chicken this time, but would next time. Very nice and flavorful.

  • JLDuck on June 29, 2020

    Absolutely use thighs, if available, rather than breasts. Delicious.

  • stockholm28 on April 08, 2014

    Great flavors. Used chicken thighs as suggested.

  • slouj on August 08, 2020

    Gorgeous recipe! Spicy but not too spicy and perfectly balanced flavours. Yum!

  • TrishaCP on August 16, 2021

    We really enjoyed this but I agree that I would salt my chicken next time. All of the flavors together were really wonderful.

  • Snadra on November 25, 2011

    This works better with thighs than breasts, but is alright with breasts if the meat isn't cut too small. It really is fragrant and spicy and numbing -very nice. Watch the salt if your chile paste is as salty as mine!

  • okcook on October 22, 2013

    I agree with the chicken thighs being the cut to use. Love this dish. Surprisingly not too hot, unless of course you eat the whole chili. This dish will keep nicely in the oven while you prepare other stir fries.

  • cheffreddie on August 13, 2021

    Delicious dish, but I did add a little shaoxing cooking wine to deglaze my cast iron at one point as some of the aromatics were starting to stick. If you're like me and don't own a nice big wok, you might want to cook the ingredients in stages to prevent the ingredients from crowding and help achieve a nice sear.

• Taibai chicken (Taibai ji)

  • jenburkholder on February 23, 2021

    Really enjoyed this, although one person thought it was bland. The primary flavour comes from the pickled chiles (we subbed Hunanese), so if it's going to be too spicy, cut down the dried chiles. That's what I'd do if making it again.

  • Delys77 on February 03, 2016

    This was excellent. Definitely a repeat.

  • chawkins on August 19, 2019

    The flavor was good, however I overcooked the chicken when oil blanching them, so do high heat to reduce the sauce, not simmer, so the resulting chicken pieces were not as tender as they ought to be. Instead of whole pickled chile, I bought chopped pickled chile, so I just used 1 teaspoon and it was spicy enough.

  • JLDuck on September 03, 2020

    Absolutely delicious. Thanks to another note I made the first stir fry very short, just waited until the chicken was barely white. It was moist and delectable.

  • clcorbi on November 13, 2017

    Wow. This was so delicious, I think it set a new bar for me as far as recipes from this book go. Although this dish takes a bit longer to cook than a standard stirfry, the flavor is so much more luscious that I can hardly complain. I also think you could easily double the recipe and still cook it in one skillet, since most of the cooking is just simmering time (rather than stir-frying over high heat). The only change I made was to grind up my Sichuan peppercorns, rather than throw them in whole. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written and we were totally wowed by the result. Make this one.

• Braised chicken with chestnuts (Banli shaoji)

  • JLDuck on December 15, 2020

    Very easy recipe, especially if using canned chestnuts. The taste is great.

• Stir-fried chicken hodgepodge (Chao jiza)

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    I've made this with chicken breast and/or thigh instead of chicken livers. I use more meat and adjust the sauce ingredients and pickled ginger to balance out the increased meat amount, though I don't increase the celery. It's still a very tasty dish made this way instead of with the livers. I've served it to friends this way, and it's always received well. They're usually surprised that they like the celery. I think de-stringing it as Dunlop says to do is important.

• Fragrant and crispy duck (Xiangsu quan ya)

  • Siegal on January 24, 2020

    I cut the duck up bc my pot wasn’t big enough and still came out great. Maybe steam less if cut up.

• Fish braised in chili bean sauce (Douban xianyu)

  • clcorbi on August 09, 2017

    Very tasty. I used cod filets rather than a whole fish, so the deep-frying step didn't apply (not that that stopped me from trying anyway and make a big mess). I used homemade fish stock as the stock base which made this even more delicious. I liked the idea in the headnote of braising some tofu in the sauce to eat as a second course, so I saved the leftover sauce to eat with some tofu or leftover meat on another day.

• Numbing-and-hot tiny fish (Mala ziyu)

  • evergreengirl on November 17, 2012

    Use shrimp instead!

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    I agree. This dish is fabulous with shrimp. I've also used scallops. I don't deep fry often, but when I do this dish is at the top of my deep fry list.

• Fish-fragrant eggplants (Yuxiang qiezi)

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    Sauce is fabulous and great on other things.

  • JLDuck on March 19, 2020

    Another fabulous aubergine recipe. Able to cook in advance to the point of returning the eggplant to the sauce. It is spicy but not over powering.

• Tiger-skin green peppers (Fupi qingjiao)

  • JLDuck on May 10, 2021

    A very simple recipe. Surprisingly delicious.

• Dry-fried green beans (Ganbian sijidou)

  • JLDuck on May 10, 2021

    I too found this recipe a little dull. (See previous note). My partner thought it was delicious. So there you go.

  • sarahcooks on April 04, 2011

    I love this, especially with yard long beans. It's a great way to make a little meat go a long way.

  • Delys77 on January 08, 2013

    These were delicious, with a good balance of salty from the Tianjin Preserved Vegetables, and heat from the chilies. I would suggest you go a little lighter on the preserved vegetable as it is quite potent, but otherwise the recipe is excellent as written.

• Vegetarian dry-fried green beans (Ganbian sijidou)

  • amraub on June 07, 2012

    This is a very versatile way to cook greens. She mentions several substitutions in the book. I had some extra asparagus so I decided to roast it and then finish it using this method. It's not traditionally Chinese, but it worked very well.

  • clcorbi on December 11, 2016

    I'm not sure what went wrong for us, but neither of us found this dish to have much flavor at all. Considering the amount of dried chiles and peppercorns used, as well as all the ginger and garlic, this shouldn't have been the case. I don't really have an explanation--maybe we didn't let the oil infuse with the aromatics long enough? At any rate, I totally trust Dunlop's recipes and would give this one another try. The result wasn't bad--just bland.

• Stir-fried mixed mushrooms (Shanzhen hui)

  • kitchen_chick on January 21, 2020

    I used fresh oyster mushrooms with some rehydrated king mushrooms (another type of oyster mushroom), and it was quite tasty.

  • JLDuck on January 23, 2021

    The previous notes say all that is required. Goes with anything really.

  • minerva on July 28, 2013

    Using a mixture of interesting mushrooms is not optional. I used a mixture of button, oyster, nameko, and lobster mushrooms. Just garlic and salt was enough to bring out the flavors without drowning them.

• Stir-fried amaranth leaves with garlic (Chao hancai)

  • Delys77 on January 08, 2013

    I tried this technique with chinese lettuce (Ong Choi) and it worked quite well. I did however have to add a bit of stock and put the lid on the greens to get them to cook through in the alloted time.

• Spiced potato sliver salad (Qiangban tudousi)

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    Great with sweet dishes like hot-and-numbing dried beef.

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    We tried this recipe tonight using the broccoli variation--broccoli is cut into florets, blanched, and then stir-fried in the same way as the potato slivers. This made a good side dish as it was less spicy than everything else we served, but overall was not extremely flavorful. I think this dish really relies on a good salting and a generous pour of sesame oil. I would like to try this with potato as I suspect the thin potato slivers would allow for better distribution of the salt, oil and spices.

• Sweetcorn kernels with green peppers (Qingjiao yumi)

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    I love this dish. It's my go-to way for preparing fresh corn. It's simplicity in seasonings means it goes well with just about anything regardless of cuisine. I use just enough bell pepper to give some color but not enough to dominate the dish.

  • sarahcooks on July 16, 2011

    It's hard to know how to rate this. It's a very simple dish. A bit too simple for my taste. But if you just want an alternative to boiled or steamed corn, this is it.

• Zucchini slivers with garlic (Chao nan gua si)

  • sarahcooks on July 25, 2013

    I make this a lot in the summer, it's a delicious way to use zucchini, and the simple ingredient list means it can accompany any type of food, not just Chinese. Take your time to cut it thin and with care because it's really all about the texture.

  • Snadra on October 23, 2012

    This is my go to zucchini side dish for all kinds of meals. Very simple flavours make it versatile and refreshing. The worst part is cutting the zucchini. But it's quick if you have a beriner-type slicer.

  • mfto on January 26, 2012

    p 303

  • chawkins on October 06, 2013

    Simple and delicious recipe for my over-abundant supply of zucchini from the garden.

  • clcorbi on June 23, 2017

    Yum! So simple but so good. Agree with the other comments that you could serve this as a side dish for many types of food, not just Chinese food. We were both surprised by how flavorful it was considering the minimal ingredients.

• Fried eggs with tomatoes (Fan qie chao dan)

  • chawkins on September 16, 2013

    This is really good with super fresh tomatoes. Unlike my mom's that has the tomatoes cooked down to a sauce, here, the tomatoes are sliced thin and barely cook, so they keep their integrity and you can taste the freshness of the tomatoes. This will be my go to with tomatoes from the garden, will revert back to my mom's with less than stellar tomatoes.

• Pickled string beans with ground pork (Rou mo jiang dou)

  • clcorbi on December 19, 2017

    I've been wanting to try this dish for so long, and wow, it didn't disappoint. Even with having to factor in pickling time, it's such a simple dish to throw together, very weeknight-friendly (as long as you have planned ahead, of course). I only brined my green beans for one day and they were very flavorful and provided plenty of salt to the final dish (although I did add a few pinches of salt to my ground pork mixture as instructed). I will make this again.

  • kitchen_chick on May 03, 2016

    One of my favorite dishes, but you have to plan a few days ahead if you're going to pickle your own beans. If you do it without the pork (and without a meat substitute), I'd leave off the soy sauce.

• Stir-fried mixed vegetables (Si zhong shu cai)

  • Delys77 on May 27, 2015

    Pg. 308 This was easy to put together and fairly tasty. I did cut back the oil a touch and I also went with cherry tomatoes because that is what I had. Lastly, skipped the lotus and just replaced it with carrot. Quick and easy prep.

• Braised silk gourd (Bai you si gua)

  • chawkins on September 25, 2013

    Wow, talk about indexing gone wrong. The EYB ingredients list pork bones, chicken pieces and scallions, all ingredients for the 3/4 cup of chicken stock used. Anyway, this is just a simple stir-fry of the silk gourd with slices of ginger, and the stock added at the end, braising the mixture for a few minutes. Very simple recipe to showcase my fresh home-grown silk gourd.

• Pock-marked Mother Chen's bean curd (Ma po dou fu)

  • chawkins on April 24, 2014

    Absolutely delicious even though it is quite different from most other ma-po tofu recipes. Most recipes use ground pork and do not include fermented black bean. My block of tofu was 20 oz, so I increased everything a little bit according. I used ground pork and leek and did not use the optional Szechuan chili powder. The recipe calls for 4 baby leeks or 2 leeks, I have never seen baby leeks anywhere so I just bought regular leeks. I sliced one leek and got over two cups, so I stopped at that. I stir-fried the leeks by themselves for a bit to soften them first and added them back at the end as directed. FD was right to tell you to add the slurry in two goes, I only needed about half of the slurry made.

  • Delys77 on February 08, 2013

    Pg. 313 This was excellent. I have often seen this on menu's but have not ordered since I am not always partial to tofu. I thought I would give this a try as a I had read good reviews of Dunlop's version. I went a 1.5 X batch as I had more tofu than required and it probably served 4-5 good sized portions along with rice and a vegetable side. I used the beef as suggested and it was great, but pork would likely be very good as well. The best part of the dish is the complex layer of flavours that is very savoury, a little umami, without any sweetness. I usually like the balance of sour, sweet, salty, and bitter that you find in many chinese dishes, this one was missing a few of those notes which made it very different, but all the better for it. The savoury nature of this dish is excellent with the chilli bean paste and the black beans adding a lot of complexity. I found that it did need the ground chillies but next time I'll use chilli oil for its even heat.

  • Breadcrumbs on September 23, 2015

    I've been making this FD version of Ma Po Dou Fu for years and it is still my "go-to" Just adding a link to my recipe notes, impressions posted on Chowhound since they won't fit here and in case they are of use to anyone: http://www.chowhound.com/post/dunlop-march-cookbooks-month-vegetables-bean-curd-494666?commentId=7292870#7292870. If the link doesn't go to my exact notes due to a CH update issue where only a portion of the posts are displayed you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page and "view all" so all posts in the thread display. Hopefully CH fixes this issue. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/dunlop-march-cookbooks-month-vegetables-bean-curd-494666?commentId=9730903#9730903

  • mirage on January 16, 2010

    Excellent!

  • clcorbi on January 04, 2017

    Delicious! Ma po tofu is one of my favorite dishes, period, so I was very excited to try this version. I used 1.5t of the optional Szechuan chili powder (although I used red pepper flakes which I believe is the substitute she provides) and this was SPICY, just the way we like it. I could probably go all the way up to 2t next time. We did not have baby leeks and so used regular ones, but I'm sort of unsure if that's what we were meant to use--in the instructions, Dunlop says "baby leeks or scallions," and I think scallions would have made more sense in this dish. The leeks, sliced as instructed into 1/2" rounds, were obviously still quite large. With scallions (and, presumably, baby leeks), you wouldn't have that issue. I chopped the leeks down further so that we would not have to eat huge rings of them at a time, but next time would probably go with my gut and use a handful of scallions cut into rounds. Other than that, this recipe is perfect.

  • stockholm28 on January 27, 2014

    Delicious. I cut the recipe in half and it made two decent servings with rice. I used about half the amount of optional ground chiles. I used extra firm tofu.

  • Rradishes on September 18, 2017

    Great flavor. Was a little salty, I might have put too much chili bean paste, but I put some more sugar in and it was great. Next time I'll up the Sichuan pepper too. Great recipe overall, will make again

• Homestyle bean curd (Jia chang dou fu)

  • clcorbi on December 18, 2016

    We had this tonight following the Bear's Paw variation and loved it. I used normal bacon rather than lean as that was what I had on hand, and I know the bacon is listed as optional, but it added a really nice layer of flavor and now I'm not sure I'd want this dish without it. As per usual, I was too impatient as I pan-fried my tofu slices, and so some of them ended getting torn up because I tried to pry them out of the pan too soon. I had leftover poaching broth saved from the Bang Bang chicken and used that as the stock for this dish, which I think also added a nice flavor boost. I had to substitute a little ground ginger for the fresh as I realized mid-cooking that I'd run out of fresh, but I don't think the dish suffered. I let the broth reduce down by about half before adding in the cornstarch, so there was still a decent amount of sauce left but it was fairly thick. This was delicious and I would make it again in a heartbeat. It was just the right amount of spicy.

  • chawkins on May 15, 2017

    I made the bear's paw version (pan-frying the bean curd instead of deep frying), my box of tofu was 20 oz and I used about 3 oz of Chinese bacon, I kept everything else the same as specified in the recipe and it was delicious. There was a bit of kick but not very spicy. Will be making this again. I think it would still be good without the bacon which is optional.

• Fish-fragrant bean curd (Yu xiang dou fu)

  • clcorbi on November 13, 2017

    Very nice. Not quite as delicious as the fish-fragrant pork slivers, but still tasty. I substituted some chopped pickled chilis for half of the pickled chili paste, and the result was extremely spicy. Next time I might decrease the pickled chilis slightly, since the flavor on this dish didn't seem quite as well-rounded as on the pork dish.

• Chicken soup with pickled mustard greens (Suancai jisi tang)

  • krista_jo on January 10, 2022

    If you have stock and chicken breasts in the freezer and pickled mustard greens in the pantry this soup is insanely simple and extremely tasty, not to mention healthy. The chicken breast is super tender and the mustard greens lend instant sweet and sour flavour to the broth without losing their own flavour. (Make sure you have the correct pickled mustard greens--suancai.) I had leftovers for lunch and it was no worse for wear after 2 days in the fridge. I am adding this to the regular rotation.

• Sour-and-hot "flower" tofu soup (Suanla douhua tang)

  • darylm503 on February 20, 2017

    p. 329 Pork bones? My book doesn't use pork bones for this recipe. This is possibly the best Hot-and-Sour Soup recipe I have ever tried. It is very forgiving. Every time I make it I use a different mix of vegetables, meat or no meat, We frequently have this for a main course. Sometimes, I'll make a small batch for lunch. Be careful not to burn the ginger, and don't add too many vegetables. I sometimes add a tablespoon of dark brown sugar to the full recipe. It adds another dimension of complexity.

• Chicken balls in clear soup (Qingtang jiyuan)

  • JLDuck on May 10, 2021

    I did not have time to make chicken stock so used a good commercial one. It was delicious. My chicken balls were a little bit soft. I used too much liquid. However it still worked.

  • Delys77 on January 08, 2013

    I made the variation with the pork balls and it was delicious. I started by enriching regular chicken stock with some goji berries, red dates, green onion, ginger, and a few chicken bones. Once that had simmered for about 45 minutes, I strained it, seasoned with salt and white pepper, and then added the pork meatballs, for which I followed the directions precisely. I was concerned the meatballs had been overworked, but the texture was silky smooth and the flavour was very nice. They complimented the broth very nicely, especially when I added a few bok choy leaves to the soup, and then garnished with green onion.

• Cold fish in spicy sauce (Liangban xianyu)

  • krista_jo on June 27, 2022

    This was easy and tasty though the chiles are very salty. Poaching was easy but next time I might steam as the fish got a bit beaten up. Used sea bream but think steelhead trout would have been really good.

• Smacked cucumber in garlicky sauce (Liangban huangua)

  • stockholm28 on August 27, 2021

    Regarding jardimc’s comment, note that this has a recipe within a recipe. The ingredients listed also include the ingredients required to make the sweet aromatic soy sauce on page 459.

  • Jardimc on August 27, 2021

    I have a hard copy of The Food of Sichuan and the hard copy recipe lists 6 ingredients: Cucumber, salt, sweet aromatic soy sauce, garlic, chili oil and sesame oil. @eatyourbooks please remove the erroneous ingredients.

• Dry-fried beef slivers (Ganbian niurou si)

  • JLDuck on January 23, 2021

    The butcher was a bit abashed at the small amount of fillet required (for two) but half was more than enough. The dish itself is easy to cook but time is required for all of the fine slicing. The result is worth the effort.

• Fish-fragrant fried chicken (Yuxiang bakuai ji)

  • JLDuck on May 04, 2020

    Tried this earlier and messed it up. This time I got it right. You need to be patient at the first cook, otherwise it gets very gluggy. It is delicious.

  • Running_with_Wools on May 17, 2021

    I have made this now four times and my family loves it. I use boneless breast of chicken, and make the fish-fragrant eggplant too, then combine them. It is so good. Only problem is the frying assembly-line required, and it messes up the kitchen. But worth it.

• Boiled fish in a seething sea of chiles (Shuizhu yu)

  • kitchen_chick on December 14, 2020

    The main note says to begin this recipe two days ahead, but you can begin this recipe 24 hours ahead. You need to make the infused oil and let it infuse 24-48 hours - so that’s one day at the minimum if you don’t already have the oil ready.

• Gong bao shrimp with cashews (Gongbao xiaqiu)

  • JLDuck on May 10, 2021

    A real find. Absolutely superb. The marinating period is 2 hours and it is worth being organised to allow for this. I dry roasted the cashews. Used corn flour as I had run out of potato flour. Still worked well. Highly recommended recipe.

• Mapo tofu (Mapo doufu)

  • imaluckyducky on May 25, 2023

    5 stars! Absolutely perfect recipe as written. Without any changes to the sauce ingredients, this came out searingly spicy (the dried Chinese chiles we used for the ground chile were rated 100k scoville) with a very pleasant numbing sensation from the sichuan peppercorns. No salt needed to be added, the broad bean paste and the black bean paste are salty enough. Only deviation is I used firm tofu and air fried the chunks because I like more texture. Tripled recipe, freezes and thaws nicely. Served with a smashed cucumber salad and collards braised with oyster sauce and rice.

• Home-style tofu

  • excurvatus on March 19, 2020

    Great - love the flavours of the "home-style" flavour combination. note to self: the local "medium firm" tofu from Superior is too crater-y. I'd use my carbon steel wok next time for deep frying instead of cast iron - once it started to get hot, it kind of run away! Anyway, great flavours. just inchingly hot from the chili bean paste but not "spicy" per se. Ate it with other cooling dishes. will definitely make it again.

• Leshan "bear's paw" tofu (Xiongzhang doufu)

  • Jardimc on August 31, 2021

    Agree with @DayOwl, that the sauce is a little sweet. Next time, I would reduce the sugar to 2.5 tablespoons and increase the soy sauce to 3 teaspoons. I didn’t have any stock at hand so I used water which likely accounts for the need for additional seasoning. Overall, the recipe is okay, but I prefer the recipe for vegetarian Mapo Tofu over this recipe.

  • DayOwl on January 17, 2021

    Have made this recipe at least twice. Where I live, firm tofu is sold in 14 oz packages, so I used 2 14 oz packages of firm tofu and doubled the sauce recipe. Sauce is a little sweet for my taste; in the future, I would reduce by 1 T.

• Stir-fried cabbage with chile (Qiang lianhuabai)

  • Apollonia on July 19, 2021

    In my opinion, a perfect cabbage dish. Spicy, numbing, savory, salty--- everything delicious.

• Stir-fried celery with ground pork (Lanrou xiqin)

  • meggan on March 16, 2021

    I doubled this recipe and added a bit more pork so I can serve it alone as a main course. I think the key is good chile bean paste. Would definitely repeat.

  • excurvatus on April 20, 2020

    This was amazing. just amazing! after eating, I was sad we were in coronavirus lockdown [and that I didn't make two batches - but don't double up that wok!] so I couldn't share it too far. I've made the 'send the rice down' dish in every grain of rice, but this adds Sichuan peppercorn and chile oil [amongst other things] and WOW.

• Chongqing "small" noodles (Chongqing xiaomian)

  • sometimes on November 11, 2020

    This one is more of a general idea than a specific recipe; between the optional ingredients and ranges, variant recipes, and suggestions in the text, you could probably put together a few dozen noticeably different bowls of noodles based on these two pages of the book. The common feature is the sauce, which I thought was quite tasty. For my particular go-round, I used buckwheat noodles because I didn't have wheat ones on hand. A different flavor but still goes great with the rest of the ingredients. Aside from that I cut the recipe in half for a single serving, used yacai, the smaller amount of chili oil, omitted the optional garlic, and ate them dry without added broth as mentioned in the text/variant recipes. I also included a small handful of blanched mung bean sprouts on top because I needed to use em up.

• Cold buckwheat noodles (Liang qiaomian)

  • jenburkholder on November 03, 2022

    Excellent - slurpable and totally satisfying. The chili oil I had wasn’t very hot, so I added a spoonful of gochugaru, which gave it a nice kick. I also added freshly fried peanuts, which took it over the top - in my opinion a must.

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