Flashback Friday - Tangerine Beef

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on February 13, 2013.

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Calbee USA

Just in time for Super Bowl snacking, we received not one but two boxes full of goodies from Calbee, a Japanese snack manufacturer that has been around since 1949. Perhaps best known for their shrimp-flavored crackers, they also make potato chips, potato sicks, and snow pea crisps, among other things. Available in Asian grocery stores (of which there are several on the west side of Baltimore County), Calbee snacks offer flavors that are a bit more unusual than the norm.

We immediately dug into the wasabi ranch Snow Pea Crisps and found them to have quite a nice punch of heat. The seaweed and salt chips were the next to be sampled, and we enjoyed their light "of the sea" flavor. Then I thought, as I was binge eating handfuls of the salty treats, we should do something with the snacks, you know, other than, um, binge eat them. Like cook with them.

Our first experiment was to use the hot garlic shrimp chips as a coating for tofu. (We have other ideas that we'll share in later posts.)

Not too hot, but pretty garlick-y, they're my favorite of the shrimp chip flavors, which also includes yuzu and black pepper, wasabi, and plain. All the flavors are definitely shrimpy, but I like that.

I crushed a couple ounces of the shrimp chips and combined them with a pinch of salt and some corn starch, using the resulting mixture to coat cubes of drained firm tofu. While the flavor of the chips was somewhat muted by the process, they lent a super crunch, almost as if the tofu had been deep fried rather than pan fried. With a little mayo-based dipping sauce, the tofu made a tasty dinner when paired with steamed rice and a vegetable. They'd make a great app, too.

Shrimp Chip-Crusted Tofu

(1) 14-to-16-ounce block of firm tofu
Calbee Shrimp Chips
Corn starch
Pinch salt
Oil for frying
2 tablespoons Thai chili paste with basil leaves (Por Kwan or Maesri brand, available at Asian supermarkets)
2 tablespoons mayo, preferably Kewpie
Couple splashes fish sauce

Remove the tofu from its container and blot dry. Wrap in paper towels, put on a plate, and weigh down with an empty saucepan or another plate. After an hour, remove the wet towels and repeat. Refrigerate drained tofu until ready to use.

Crush enough of the shrimp chips into a chunky dust equaling about 1/2 cup. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and the salt and put on a plate.

Cut the tofu into 1" cubes. Dredge each in the shrimp chip/cornstarch mixture, gently but firmly pressing the shrimp chip bits into the tofu. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the tofu cubes and fry, turning pieces with tongs, until all sides are browned and crisp, about 8 minutes. Drain tofu on paper towels.

Stir together the chili paste, mayo, and fish sauce. Serve tofu with sauce for dipping.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tangerine Beef

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! 2013 is the year of the Snake, which just so happens to be my zodiac sign. Apparently we snakes are intelligent, graceful, analytical, and enjoy quiet. Sounds like me to a T! Regular readers will know that I also enjoy Chinese food and have in the past indulged in yummy New Year feasts at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Grace Garden.

This year, we stayed home, but I put together a couple of dishes that are traditionally served for the New Year. The first of them is marbled tea eggs. They symbolize gold nuggets, aka wealth, which is always a good thing to hope for in the coming year.

Chinese marbled tea eggs are really easy to make and very tasty. Just par-boil some eggs, crack the shells, and soak them in a flavorful liquid that includes black tea, soy sauce, and star anise. We ate them in a rather non-traditional way - for breakfast, with hot buttered toast. But you can eat them as a snack any time of the day.

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs (adapted from Steamy Kitchen)

6 large eggs
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 whole star anise
2 tea bags (plain Lipton-style black tea)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 strips dried orange peel (optional)

Place the eggs in a medium saucepan and fill with water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the eggs from the water and place in a bowl of ice water to cool down.

Add the soy, star anise, tea bags, cinnamon stick, sugar, peppercorns, and orange peel to the hot water still in the sauce pan.

Remove the eggs from the ice bath and, one at a time, crack the shells all over with the back of a teaspoon to produce a spider-web effect. Don't break off chunks of shell!

Add the cracked eggs to the soy mixture in the pot and turn the heat on. Cover pot, bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer eggs for about half an hour. Turn off heat and allow eggs to steep in the liquid. After the pot has cooled down, refrigerate the eggs in the liquid to allow more flavor and color to seep into the eggs.

Posted on Minxeats.com.