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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Chicken and Hot Peppers


One day, we bought some beautiful hot frying peppers from the local farmer's market. I decided to stir fry them with some chicken, Hunan style. It was fragrant and purely hot - an addictive burn with every bite.

Method

Cut chicken into thin small slices and mix in salt and a little cornstarchCut hot frying peppers into thin cross sections. Smash mince several cloves of garlic.

Heat up a good amount of oil in a pan. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds.  Add the hot peppers and stir for a few seconds. Add the chicken and stir fry until done. Add soy sauce at the end if desired.

Notes

The goal was to make this fresh and spicy, so I used peppers and chicken in a 1:1 ratio. The fumes from the peppers frying in the oil are very strong. Do not be surprised if you find yourself coughing and gasping for breath. 

Keep stirring to avoid burning any of the ingredients, especially the garlic. That means no searing the meat. The sauce was already created by the hot peppers and oil.

Hunan cuisine is known for being "purely hot" from its extensive use of chili peppers, whether they're fresh, dried or pickled. It's a bit different from the numbing hot of Sichuan cuisine which extensively combines chili peppers with Sichuan pepper to counteract the burn, resulting in a tingly sensation. Instead, a lot of Hunan dishes burn with every bite and leave eaters sweating. Awesome.

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