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 cornstarch. Cut 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.

Beef and Garlic Chives

Tender garlic chives have a nice fragrant and earthy flavor and a slight crunch. It's complemented by the beefy goodness of seared beef slices. Very simple and quick to cook up.

Method

Cut beef into very thin shreds. Add salt, sugar, and vinegar to tenderize and flavor the beef. Set aside and cut up garlic chives into segments matching the beef. 

Heat oil in a pan. Sear, then stir fry, the beef. When there's just a little pink left, add the garlic chives and cook until the chives are slightly softened. Add a little soy sauce if you want near the end.

Notes

You can replace the beef with pork (more common in China).

Cook with a good amount of oil. Don't overcrowd the beef. You want it to sear not boil. That way, you'll get flavorful beef pieces and brown pan drippings that will be raised and flavored by the garlic chives. This pan sauce is why soy sauce is optional.

Be sure to use young garlic chives. They'll have little bulbs on the end. Don't use the mature garlic chives because they're tougher. Save those for dumplings.