dan dan noodles – Shananigans Blog

Flavours of China at Donnybrook Fair Cookery School

Happenstance… Don’t you just love that word…
Back in April I was at the Leinster Regional Awards of the Restaurant Association of Ireland and I got talking to this very nice guy, a professional chef who has worked in Chapter One and the Dylan Hotel and was formerly a fashion designer. After a few minutes chat I realised that he – Robert Jacob – was the chef who had taught me knife skills at a class last year and he figured out that I was writing the blog he enjoyed and whose recipes he had delved into and experimented with at home. We followed one another on Twitter but had never met or made the connection. Robert writes his own blog which you can read here.
Fast forward to 3rd July and he and I had put together a night at Donnybrook Fair Cookery School where he teaches. I talked about Chinese food and tried to give some insight into the flavours of China, the main regional variations, how Chinese food must indulge taste, smell, sight and “mouth feel” as well as satisfying the appetite, and some of the traditions and health giving properties associated with Chinese food.

Meanwhile Robert demonstrated five recipes from my blog. Now I have to admit to having been a bit nervous. There is no way I would have the confidence to cook those recipes at a demonstration myself – some fingers might go missing while I gesticulated as I talked – but handing over the recipes to a professional was a bit like letting your baby out to play for the first time or your teenager off to her first disco.

Robert Jacob — Robert demonstrates his knife skills with Miss Henckels knives – photo by Irene

We had great fun choosing which recipes to use from over 100 posts on the blog. Robert opted for the ones below and you can try them yourself if you haven’t already. The links to the recipes are included.

Crispy Chilli Beef – a real favourite on the blog which can also be made with chicken – hard to put a region on this one but it probably emerged as a western variation on a Sichuan dish – a takeaway favourite with a more traditional and lighter twist.

Crispy chilli beef — Crispy Chilli Beef – photo courtesy of Marie McKenna

Xinjiang Lamb with Cumin and Red Onion – very evocative for me of my visit to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province to meet my daughter -in -law Shan’s family last July. That’s the region in the far north west of the map above and it’s capital is the most inland capital in the world.
Hunan Steamed Fish with chopped salted chillies – a simple and fragrant dish from one of the spicier regions of China where Chairman Mao hailed from. You will spot it in the south east/ central part of China on the map.

Hunan Steamed Fish – photo courtesy of Marie McKenna

Sichuan Fried Green Beans – the dish that tickled my taste buds and started me on this blog – a perennial Sichuan favourite from the spice bowl of China – you will see it there in the map located in the south west of China, steaming in it’s inland heat.

Sichuan Fried Green Beans – photo courtesy of Marie McKenna

Dan Dan Noodles also from Sichuan Province – because no Taste of China would feel right without this unique, flavoursome Chinese fast-food, the kind of thing you can rustle up late at night when you’ve arrived home with the “munchies”.

We also shared the recipes for Tom Chef’s Chilli Jam and also Homemade Chilli Oil – two condiments I now can’t do without in my store cupboard.
Needless to say Robert handled the demo with a lovely relaxed style, adding his own touches to some of the dishes, and the attendees seemed to have lots of fun and enjoy the food. Two of my good Twitter friends were there – Marie McKenna (@Maud Monaghan) and Irene (@MissH_Ireland) with her great Henckels knives. They took photos and a small selection of them feature in this post (thanks ladies).

Julie and Robert — Job done – thanks for the photo Irene!

So another Shanaingans first for a blog that will only celebrate its first birthday on Monday next 29th July. Thank you Robert and Donnybrook Fair for the fun and the opportunity and thank you all who have encouraged me and kept me going in my first year. I’m told most food blogs don’t last this long.
I’m still marvelling at how many new friends I’ve made, how much I’ve learned and how many extraordinary experiences I’ve had, all as a result of a random conversation with my son Shane last July… yes… happenstance…
As an indirect result of the blog I attended dinner at the Chinese Ambassador’s Residence in Dublin last night. My friend Brendan Halligan told the story of an essay competition in Ancient Greece, a very serious challenge where philosophers were asked to write on the theme “what do you know?”. There was much frenetic writing but Aristotle was the first to put down his pen. He won the prize. His essay was short. He wrote “I know.. that I know… nothing…”
When it comes to Chinese food I still know “nothing”, but perhaps a little less of nothing than this time last year.
Thank you all,
Julie

Favourite Shananigans Recipes from 2012

We have had a traumatic start to 2013. New Year’s Day dawned fresh and shiny and we celebrated in Duncannon by preparing a farewell meal for Shane who was returning to China later that week. It was a cheerful, happy occasion attended by 13 of my family including my mother, brothers and their children.
Sadly, just two days later, we lost my mother-in-law, a special woman who I paid tribute to in “In Memory of Alice”. Shane had just returned to Beijing, reeling from the loss of his beloved Gran, when Baby Shananigans attempted to make a premature arrival. Shan’s due date is 22nd February and she is holding on for now. We love you dearly Baby Shananigans and are really looking forward to meeting you but we can wait a little while longer. Honest!

As a result of this and a number of other family matters I’ve been preoccupied for the past week and I haven’t had time to write. But I’ve found cooking therapeutic. Tasty, nourishing food is a physical necessity when the going gets rough and I’ve discovered that Chinese spices can awaken senses that are numbed by shock and worry.
During the last few days, I found myself returning to some of my favourite recipes from 2012, accessing them on my iPhone or iPad when out and about so that I could identify the ingredients I needed to rustle up a meal that evening. I have lots of new recipes to share with you as soon as I re-group and some exciting plans to celebrate the Chinese New Year in mid February but meanwhile I thought it would be useful to remind you of the links to the recipes that got the most positive reaction since I started the blog at the end of last July and to which readers return again and again.
Stir-fried beef
Beef recipes are always popular, especially those that are similar to dishes available on Chinese take-away menus but are lighter and fresh-tasting. These dishes have become firm favourites with readers and I love when I hear that you have come up with your own variations. Recently I’ve taken to using bavette of beef in these dishes because it is great value and has a lovely texture. Sirloin and fillet also work well.

Pork cooked many ways
Pork is a staple in Chinese cooking and Chinese cooks have perfected techniques over the centuries for making even the cheapest cuts taste tender and delicious. My most popular pork recipes so far are all inspired by traditional Sichuan or Hunan recipes and variations of them can be found on the menu of the China Sichuan restaurant in Dublin whose chef gave me the fish-fragrant pork recipe below.

Lamb
Lamb dishes are particularly prevalent in Xinjiang province where Shan was born and her family still live. In that far western province of China the influence of the Uighur Muslim community is strong. These two recipes came from Shan and her MaMa and make for simple, satisfying everyday meals.

Lamb rice served in Urumqi, Xinjiang Provicne

Chicken
Shan’s Big Plate chicken is already the stuff of family legend and is the dish she and Shane use to celebrate the Full Moon Festival. Lemon chicken is a more traditional Cantonese dish and the version below is simple, tangy and light.

Seafood
I have had great fun experimenting with giving a Chinese twist to our wonderful Irish seafood. Sichuan Seafood Duncannon Style was included in Goodalls Modern Irish Cookbook, much to my delight. I also stumbled on an interesting way of using Flahavan’s Multi-seed Oatmeal in salt and pepper seafood dishes.

Starters and light supper dishes

Preparing spring rolls — Preparing Spring Rolls

Finger food Chinese style and light supper dishes can be great fun to make at home. Pot-sticker dumplings are strongly associated with celebration of the Chinese New Year where you will find them laid out on every surface ready to be cooked. For our New Year’s lunch in Duncannon I made large quantities of duck pancakes and spring rolls as a starter. They were all gobbled by appreciative adults and children. Noodles symbolise longevity in China and the Dan Dan noodle recipe below is one of those staples that I prepare whenever I need a fix of Sichuan pepper.

Experiments

Apart from learning how to cook some of the better known dishes of China, I’ve also had fun using new and lesser known cuts of meat. Thanks to Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers I’ve tried several ways of cooking his wonderful wagyu beef from his herd at Garrentemple, Co. Tipperary. I ended up having my wagyu stew tasted by local celebrity chefs live on The Sue Nunn Show on KCLR during the Savour Kilkenny festival. And with the help of many chefs who are friends on Twitter, especially Tom Walsh of Samphire at the Waterside, Donabate and Niall O’Sullivan of Isabel’s in Dublin, I have discovered some unusual ways to cook pig’s cheeks and short beef ribs (also knows as Jacobs Ladder).

And finally – where it all began

I doubt if I would ever have started this blog if Shan hadn’t chosen a side dish of fried green beans in a Sichuan restaurant on our first night in Beijing last June. That was also the day she and Shane revealed to us that Baby Shananigans was on the way but that’s a whole other story. 🙂
The Sichuan peppercorns exploded in my mouth, the dried facing heaven chillies added heat, the crunchy Sichuan preserved vegetable yai cai added texture and flavour, and of course the magic trinity of garlic, ginger and spring onions provided their subtle notes. Combined they elevated this simple vegetable out of the ordinary. It was in that moment that I decided I wanted to learn and write about Chinese food. I made fried green beans as a side dish at home the other night using the yai cai, Sichuan pepper and dried chillies Shan’s MaMa sent home to me with Shane at Christmas. Comfort food to awaken the senses.
I hope you continue to enjoy the blog during 2013 and thank you for your encouragement and support.
Julie
P.S. Don’t forget you can find a convenient list of equipment and ingredients in Chinese Kitchen Essentials

Dan Dan Noodles with Minced Beef (niu rou dan dan mian)

I’ve a head teeming with ideas for blog posts and recipes I want to try but it’s been a hectic week since I came back from Sicily and I haven’t yet had time to cook anything new. A Twitter conversation with Elaine (@LainerC) on how and in what combination with other ingredients to use Sichuan pepper reminded me of Fuchsia Dunlop’s version of Xie Laoban’s dan dan noodles which I tried for the first time just before I went on holidays and captured all the flavours of Sichuan in one simple dish. This dish is also a good example of ma la – the balance of numbing, cooling ma with spicy la, and I’m grateful to Ronan Farrell (@ronan_farrell) for reminding me of that lovely Chinese expression.
I love the Chinese characters for noodles 面条- mian tiao where the first character is the symbol for “face” and the second for “twigs”. I always remember it by thinking of a man piling “twigs” of noodles up to his face.
I also love Fuchsia’ story, told in detail in Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, of the inscrutable and often cranky Xie Laoban who made this legendary version of dan dan noodles in a tiny restaurant in Chengdu and her painstaking efforts to recreate the recipe by getting little nuggets of information from him over time and by closely examining the dish.
Increasingly for me Chinese food is not just flavour, it’s story and history woven into a tapestry on a plate. Noodles are a very significant part of the Chinese diet and, while I sometimes craved something more like a Western breakfast while I was there, Shan was constantly in search of noodles, eating little and often as the Chinese do. I can never eat them now without thinking of her Mum explaining the importance of serving them when welcoming family home, because of their symbolism in binding people together.
The dish below is unapologetically spicy, one for the spice girls – or the la men zi as they are known in China – and is the version Fuchsia included in her seminal cook book on Sichuan cuisine Sichuan Cookery. Get this right and you know exactly what balance of flavours to look for in a Sichuan dish.
The joy of this recipe is that it can be prepared in minutes from store cupboard ingredients and a 100g of minced beef. I got some extra lean minced beef today and froze it in 100 gm portions as an emergency supply so that I can avoid the need for mid-week takeaways. It has already become one of our favourites.
Dan Dan Noodles – Niu Rou Dan Dan Mian*

300 g dried Chinese noodles Continue reading