Spicy Spicy Lotus!

If you don't like spicy, then this isn't a snack for you. For those that can take the heat, this makes a nice little side dish/snack. It's popular at the take-out stores called Duck Neck King (yes, they sell spicy duck neck). 

But today isn't about duck neck. Back to the lotus.

What you will need:

• Approximately 1 pound of Lotus root. You can buy the root and clean it up; however, I prefer (for ease and quality) the pre-sliced, boiled lotus roots packaged in a bag (like here)
• 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
• 15 dried chilies 
•  1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon of hua jiao (very similar to or the same as a Sichuan peppercorn or Prickly-ash peppers. Don't worry too much, they are all similar enough).
• 3 whole ba jiao (star anise) broken up.
• 1 tablespoon of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of black (Asian) vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• 3/4 tablespoon of hot crushed chili powder (less if you prefer less spice)
• 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or olive oil works well, too)
• water

Preparation: 

1) Warm the oil, ginger, garlic, hua jiao, ba jiao, and the dried chilies in a medium to large frying pan. For your safety, do not let the oil get too hot as it will start popping!

2) As soon as you can smell a fragrance in your oil mix, dump the washed lotus into the frying pan. 

3) Add the other ingredients and add enough water to cover about half of the lotus.

4) Bring to a boil. Stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. You can choose to leave more or less water in the pan. The lotus can take a reasonable amount of boiling and remain crispy. 

5) Serve. I would probably serve it as a side dish. As a snack, it is often served cold. Warm or cold, it's a tasty, spicy snack.

On a side note: Xiao Pang is pretty good at preparing "clear fried" (清炒  which we will post about later) vegetables. He sometimes prepares the lotus this way. Liking my spice the way I do, though, I prefer this spicy snack :)
 

Freezing Rice... I know!

I recently told some friends my "secret" to preparing rice for my lunches. I confessed. I freeze it! I know that this sounds like a huge no-no to the lovers of rice, but it works and doesn't taste that bad. Apparently this "trick" has been around for a while.

In my defense, it can be very hard making rice on a daily basis when you have trouble just getting a decent lunch ready for a long school day. Further, I don't have a fancy Zojirushi rice maker (yet). So my rice wasn't that gourmet to begin with.

The obvious benefit is that I can make a large batch of rice on the weekends, pack it away in the freezer, and take out small portions throughout the following week. Further, as I often warm up my food for lunch, I use the frozen rice as an ice pack to keep my lunches cool until lunchtime. It cuts down on the amount of weight I have to haul around in my lunch bag.

Here are the steps:

1) Make your rice like you normally would. I use the Kagayaki Select (my favorite). 

2) As soon as the rice is ready, pack it into small microwavable plastic containers (with a removable lid - I use something like this). Usually, the size would be for a one person serving. 

3) While still warm, place the packaged rice in your freezer. This is key as rice that sits out has a tendency to get hard. 

4) When you need your rice; remove it from the freezer, pop the lid (but still keep it on the rice), and microwave on high for 3 minutes (or as needed for larger containers of rice). 

5) Then, being careful as you handle your warm rice container, enjoy your rice. 

While nothing beats freshly made rice made in a high quality rice cooker, this really isn't such a bad tasting quick alternative. It saves me a lot of time and cleaning. I'd love to hear how this works for you or if you have suggestions for cutting down on prep time.

One final plus: because of how the rice is packed; after being microwaved, you will have a cute little rice ball.



UPDATE: When I wrote this post, I wasn't hungry. So I didn't warm up any of my rice. Below is a picture of a rice ball with some meat.

Chinese Spicy River Snail - 香辣螺狮

I know that River Snails doesn't necessarily sound like the most appetizing meal; but since studying in the US, I have not had the chance to eat this dish in quite some time. This dish is particularly popular in the southern coastal areas of China. I fell in love with it during my family trips to Hainan.

This is the perfect night time dish to have outdoors with friends. Many people enjoy having this with some beer. Part of the experience is digging out the meat with a toothpick. While this sounds like work, it is enjoyable to dig out these delicious morsels of meat.

Anyway, I've really been craving this dish lately. The other day, while at a larger Asian market, I saw there were some relatively fresh snails for sale. I decided to build up my courage and try to recreate this dish. I had help from various Baidu recipes. Following is my version of how to prepare this dish. I was pretty darned impressed with myself :)

This is one of those recipes where I kind of "eye ball" approximate what I should put in. It turned out pretty well.

What you need:

• Approximately 2 lbs of fresh River Snails (can be found at an Asian Grocery Store)
• 1 Tablespoon minced ginger (I used canned from Lee Kum Kee)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic (again, I used canned)
• 1/2 cup of cooking alcohol (I used rice wine)
• 2 Tablespoons of (Chinese/Asian) Black Vinegar
• 5 - 10 dried chilies (only break 1-2 if you don't like much spice)
• 3 Tablespoons of Chili Garlic Sauce (ex: Lee Kum Kee brand. Can also use Chili Bean Sauce - la douban jiang)
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon of salt (I used sea salt)
• 5-6 Tablespoons of vegetable oil (could also use olive oil)
• Water
• Toothpicks
• Green onions or cilantro (optional garnish)

Preparation: 

1) Wash snails in cold water. Rinse thoroughly. Then place snails into a bowl of cold water. Add a tablespoon of oil into the bowl. This will encourage snails to "spit up" bubbles and sand. Let the snails set for 24 hours. My snails did not try to escape. Put a lid over the bowl if you are unsure.

2) Rinse the snails again in cold water. Set them aside in a bowl (without water and oil).

3) Boil water with the 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 cup of alcohol. Bring to a boil (cover with a lid to keep in the alcohol).

4) After the water solution comes to a boil, add all of the snails into the boiling water for 30 seconds - 1 minute. This will clean the snails and draw out the snail meat. Then dump the snails and set aside to dry for a moment.

5) In a medium to large frying pan, put the remaining 4-5 Tablespoons of oil, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies. Warm the oil mixture up until you have a fragrant smell. Be careful. The oil may start popping. As soon as the oil is boiling and you can smell the fragrance, dump the snails into the frying pan. Add the chili sauce, soy sauce and 1/4 cup alcohol. Cover the snails with water. Have the stove at high temperature. Boil until the water evaporates (leave a little sauce to serve your snails in).

6) Put in a serving bowl and dump vinegar over shells. Serve. You will want some toothpicks to help dig out snail meat.

7) Could use green onions or cilantro as edible garnishes. I did not.

Below I have a picture of my creation. While this looks like a lot, this is really a serving for one (hungry) person. 

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes for you!