sichuan water poached beef 四川麻辣水煮牛肉 - part 2

I am having this urge to try out a number of Sichuan classic dishes. Of this Sichuan water poached beef 四川麻辣水煮牛肉 was the first that I recently tried. This seemingly difficult dish turns out to be quite simple, once I figured out a few shortcuts. This is my third time preparing this dish. This time I made a point of getting some ingredients that I didn't have.

I bought a jar of hot broad bean paste from Taiwan which looks better quality than the plain one that I have. I also bought a bottle Chinese cooking rice wine. For the vegetable I found some Chinese celery香芹 which is much more aromatic than common celery in the West, and is most important for this dish.

hot broad bean paste 豆瓣醬 from Taiwan (left)

Shaoxing rice wine 紹興花雕酒 for cooking; it is a yellow cooking wine made from glutinous rice

It is next to impossible to find acceptable Chinese cooking wine here in Portland. The reason is liquor and alcohol regulations which tax on any beverage that contain alcohol. Cooking wine and liquor should be very affordable and should not be taxed. Because of this only the worst of cooking wine and liquor are imported and sold at grocery and they have very low alcohol content and have salted added. The bottle that I bought is the most expensive in the store and has supposedly 17% alcohol content. I tasted a little bit and to me it is barely acceptable as a Shaoxing cooking wine.

Chinese celery 香芹 - the entire plant is used

I really want to amp up the heat this time around. I used three kind of dried peppers. They are happen to be what I have in the pantry.

I used generous amount of the hot broad bean paste 豆瓣醬 so the sauce is nice and rich.

I didn't feel like having rice to go with it, so I made some noodles and pile the succulent hot sauce on top of the noodle to make it into a lo mein (stir noodles in sauce). The dish this time packed a lot of heat, and the thinly slice beef is tender and moist.

I did a search for the list of notable Sichuan dishes and found this short list:

麻婆豆腐、回锅肉、宫保鸡丁、盐烧白、粉蒸肉、夫妻肺片、蚂蚁上树、灯影牛肉、蒜泥白肉、樟茶鸭子、白油豆腐、鱼香肉丝、泉水豆花、盐煎肉、干煸鳝片、东坡墨鱼、清蒸江团

The few other Sichuan dishes that I want to try soon include:

• water poached fish slices 四川麻辣水煮鱼
• twice cooked pork slices - 回锅肉
• kung pao chicken - 宫保鸡丁
• yuxiang shredded pork - 鱼香肉丝
• mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐

this is a video on how to prepare yuxiang shredded pork - 鱼香肉丝 in a restaurant kitchen; he is so proficient