A Taste of China
It always struck me as slightly amusing that although I've tried out a good amount of recipes, I've only made a handful of recipes that could be considered as "Asian Cuisine" - aside from desserts, that is. ^^ So when I found a recipe for a Chinese dish hailing from Hunan province, I decided that I must try it out because it was pretty simple and I didn't need to substitute or remove many things because it's already a vegetarian dish, not that it ever stopped me from trying out something new anyway although the authenticity factor of the dish is affected. It's also categorized as an appetizer, but do I ever follow that? Nope. ^^ And so, I present:
Potato Slivers with Vinegar (醋熘土豆絲)
[original recipe]
INGREDIENTS
2 large Potatoes (~1 pound), sliced into thin strips
1/2 tsp of Salt, or to taste
1 or 2 fresh Red Chilies or 1/4 of a Red Bell Pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 Scallions, green parts only and sliced into thin strips
3 TBSP of Clear or White Rice Vinegar
3 TBSP of Peanut Oil
DIRECTIONS
Bring a large saucepan to boil and slice the potatoes into the finest slivers. Soak the slivered potatoes in lightly salted water as you work. Then cut the chili/pepper and scallion greens into fine slivers and set aside.
Once the water has reached a boil, add the drained potatoes and blanch until the water just returns to a boil. Drain and set aside.
Heat a wok over a high flame until smoke rises, then add the oil and swirl it around. Add the potatoes and chili/pepper slivers and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add the vinegar and salt to taste and continue to stir-fry until the potatoes are cooked, but still a little crunchy.
Add the scallion slivers and toss a few times until you can smell their fragrance, then serve.
COMMENTS/NOTES
Potato Slivers with Vinegar (醋熘土豆絲)
[original recipe]
INGREDIENTS
2 large Potatoes (~1 pound), sliced into thin strips
1/2 tsp of Salt, or to taste
1 or 2 fresh Red Chilies or 1/4 of a Red Bell Pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 Scallions, green parts only and sliced into thin strips
3 TBSP of Clear or White Rice Vinegar
3 TBSP of Peanut Oil
DIRECTIONS
Bring a large saucepan to boil and slice the potatoes into the finest slivers. Soak the slivered potatoes in lightly salted water as you work. Then cut the chili/pepper and scallion greens into fine slivers and set aside.
Once the water has reached a boil, add the drained potatoes and blanch until the water just returns to a boil. Drain and set aside.
Heat a wok over a high flame until smoke rises, then add the oil and swirl it around. Add the potatoes and chili/pepper slivers and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add the vinegar and salt to taste and continue to stir-fry until the potatoes are cooked, but still a little crunchy.
Add the scallion slivers and toss a few times until you can smell their fragrance, then serve.
COMMENTS/NOTES
- I used one really large potato (around 1.23 pounds). Since I can't take heat, I didn't use the chilies, but I did use the red bell peppers instead. I don't eat scallions and other foods in the family so I omitted that. I didn't have peanut oil, so I used a 1:1 ratio of canola oil and sesame oil instead. While the slivered potatoes are in the salted water and you're finally done with the cutting, I rinsed them all in an attempt to be rid of the potato starch before stir-frying them. I added in a little more vinegar than the recipe asked for. :)
- All in all, it was pretty simple, using only two main ingredients. The only thing that took the longest was cutting up over a pound of potato into the finest slivers. My fingers felt like them were cramped up once I was done. The taste? :) I liked it. It was subtle; the crispness of the potatoes drew me in, the sweetness of the bell peppers was a nice complement, and there's a faint hint of tang from the vinegar. Now, if only if I could find a machine or something to do all the cutting for me...