Читать книгу The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook - Jaden Hair - Страница 10

the basics

I hope that these recipes for chilli sauces, dips and stocks will be some of your favorites, whether you use them to cook dishes in this book or adapt them in your own recipes. The chilli sauces store well and are great to put out on the dinner table every night to add a little fire to your meal, and the dipping sauces (like the Cashew Nut Dipping Sauce, page 30) are great for satays, chicken wings, summer rolls or even carrot and celery sticks! The stocks are the basis of many soups (stocks made from scratch always make a difference!) I also use stocks to flavor my stir-fries and when steaming vegetables—they just add an amazing dimension of flavor! Make a big batch of stock and freeze them in freezer bags, plastic containers, silicon cupcake trays or ice cube trays so that you have homemade stock whenever you need some. Have fun with these recipes!

Sweet Chilli Sambal

My friend and talented chef, Jeremy Hammond-Chambers, taught me how to make a sweet chilli sambal and I’ve been hooked ever since. Sambal is a condiment usually made with chillies—lots of chillies. I’m not a big blow-off-your-tongue spice gal, so I like using very mild chillies. This recipe is definitely a favorite of everyone who tried it. In fact, I make a massive batch of Sweet Chilli Sambal, can several jars and give them away as presents.

MAKES 4 CUPS (1 LITER)

¹/₂ cup (125 ml) hot water

1 walnut-sized piece of tamarind pulp or 1 heaping tablespoon tamarind paste (also called “concentrate”)

1 lb (500 g) sweet chillies, roughly chopped

2 onions, each chopped into 8 pieces

8 cloves garlic

1 ¹/₂ cups (350 ml) cooking oil

¹/₄ cup (40 g) palm or light brown sugar

2 ¹/₂ tablespoons fish sauce

1 If you’re using tamarind pulp, combine the hot water and tamarind pulp in a bowl. Smash the tamarind pulp with a fork to dissolve as much as of it as you can. Let sit for 10 minutes. Discard the pulp, keeping the tamarind water.

2 Process the onions, chillies and garlic in a food processor with the oil until a rough pastelike texture is reached. Place the paste in a non-reactive pan over very low heat and cook for approximately 1 hour stirring the mixture regularly to make sure it does not stick or burn. Add the tamarind water or concentrate, palm sugar and fish sauce and cook further until the mixture becomes sticky, thick, salty and sweet, about 1 hour. At this point the oil should have fully separated from the paste and will be sitting on the top. Cool and store in refrigerator.

TIP: The general rule is the larger and fatter the chilli, the milder it will be. At the market, look for chillies that are labeled “sweet” or “stuffing” chillies. If you enjoy the flavor but no spice, then feel free to use red bell pepper as a substitute.

Asian Flavored Salts

Creating a flavored salt is the simplest way to add a dash of Asian flavors to anything you serve. They make fab gifts too—just bottle each flavor in a jar and give as a set. Try to use good salt—sea salt is best, followed by kosher, but I would steer clear of regular table salt. Use flavored salt in any way that you want—in place of regular salt or as a finishing salt to sprinkle on just before serving. It’s great on steamed vegetables.

Sichuan Peppercorn Salt

1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn

3 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt

In a dry, heavy-bottomed frying pan, toast the Sichuan peppercorn over medium-low heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool and grind to a coarse powder in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Combine with sea salt. In addition to a lovely dipping salt, your house will smell wonderfully aromatic all day.

Citrus-Ginger Salt

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 ¹/₂ teaspoons grated orange and/ or lemon rind

2 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 200 ° F (95 ° C). Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread out the grated ginger and citrus on the paper. Bake for 30 minutes, or until completely dry. Combine with the salt.

Vietnamese Pho Salt

2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds

3 whole cloves or ¹/₄ teaspoon ground cloves

1 small star anise

¹/₄ cinnamon stick or 1 dash of ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt

In a dry frying pan over medium-low heat, toast the spices until fragrant, about 3 minutes. In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind the toasted spices to a coarse powder. Combine with the salt.

Ginger Scallion

Here’s proof that you don’t need to add ingredients to a wok to fry. If you pour hot cooking oil over herbs or aromatics, the heat of the oil will “pow” or flash-fry the ingredients, releasing its aromas, and natural oils while keeping them bright and fresh. This is my magic condiment, transforming a plain, poached chicken into an explosion of vibrant flavors. I also use it for any steamed or fried fish … and sometimes I even just mix it in plain rice! It’s important that you use a medium heatproof dish to pour the hot oil in. The oil will sizzle a bit, so you want some room in the bowl. Plastic and thin glass are not good options as they will melt or shatter! You can make the sauce in a small pot if you don’t have a heavy heatproof dish. I suggest that you chop up all the ingredients for this sauce and have them ready for “powing” just before serving.

MAKES ¹/ 3 CUP (80 ML)

2 green onions, minced

¹/₂ teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (see Jaden’s Ginger Tips, page 33)

¹/₂ teaspoon minced red chillies

¹/₄ teaspoon rice vinegar

Generous pinch of salt

¹/₃ cup (80 ml) high-heat cooking oil

In a heatproof dish, combine the green onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, rice vinegar and salt. Mix and set aside. In a wok, heat up the oil. When the oil is hot and just starting to smoke, carefully pour the hot oil into the heatproof dish on top of the ingredients. It will sizzle—please be careful!

Apricot Sweet Chilli Sauce

My kids love this for dipping Mom’s Famous Crispy Eggrolls (page 50), Firecracker Shrimp (page 48), Vietnamese Summer Rolls (page 44).

MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP (250 ML)

¹/₂ cup (125 ml) apricot marmalade

¹/₂ cup (125 ml) sweet chilli sauce

In a bowl, mix the ingredients together. If sauce is too thick, thin with 1 tablespoon of water.

Vietnamese Dip

The quality of your fish sauce has everything to do with this sauce, known as nuoc cham in Vietnamese. Look for tea-colored fish sauce. This dipping sauce is perfect for Vietnamese Summer Rolls (page 44).

MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP (250 ML)

3 ¹/₂ tablespoons sugar

³/₄ cup (175 ml) warm water

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

4 tablespoons fish sauce

¹/₂ teaspoon chilli-garlic sauce or 1 /₂ teaspoon minced fresh chilli pepper (or more, depending on your taste)

In a bowl, add the sugar and warm water, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Taste and add more fish sauce or chillies if desired.

Thai Dipping Sauce

Sweet, spicy, sour and salty! The four flavors of Thai cuisine describe this delicious sauce perfectly. Use this sauce for Crispy Fish Cakes (page 36). You can leave out the chillies if you like.

MAKES ABOUT ¹/ 2 CUP (125 ML)

2 teaspoons sugar

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) warm water

¹/₂ to 1 teaspoon minced chillies

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves

In a bowl, add the sugar and warm water, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Taste and add more fish sauce or chillies if desired.

Chilli Garlic Sauce

I grow several varieties of chillies in my back yard—always the ones that are a bit milder than the mouth-on-fire stuff at the Asian markets. Rather than use the store-bought chilli sauce, sometimes I just make it from scratch, because it only takes about 5 minutes.

Plus, it’s fresher tasting and you can jar the rest and keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. When I’m feelin’ frisky, I’ll make a massive batch of it in the wok and store them in sterilized jars to give to friends. It makes a hot gift.

Try making this chilli sauce with the larger, milder chillies—you’ll really get the full, fruity flavor of chilli, not just the searing heat. (See page 18 for information on chillies).

MAKES ¹/ 2 CUP (125 ML)

¹/₂ cup (125 ml) cooking oil

4 fresh chilli peppers of your choice, chopped

8 cloves garlic, finely minced

One 2-in (5-cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced

2 green onions (scallions), finely minced

1 generous pinch of salt

¹/₄ teaspoon sugar

1 In a wok or small pot, add the oil, chillies, garlic and ginger.

2 Turn the heat to medium-low. The oil will begin to heat up and gently sizzle the ingredients. As soon as you start smelling the fragrant aromatics, turn the heat to low. Cook on low for 1 minute. Add the green onion, salt and sugar. Stir and remove from the heat and let cool.

3 Store unused Chilli Garlic Sauce in a clean jar and refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Chinese Dipping Sauce

This is a very versatile dipping sauce. It’s great for Pork and Mango Potstickers (page 48), boiled Wontons (page 60) on their own, or just having at the table as a sauce. You can use homemade Chilli Garlic Sauce (recipe on this page) or use store-bought chilli sauce.

MAKES ¹/ 4 CUP (65 ML)

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

¹/₂ teaspoon very finely minced garlic

Chilli Garlic Sauce (recipe on this page), as much as you want

Few sprigs fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped

In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together until combined.

Fried Garlic Oil

Steamed vegetables can get really boring, so I started making garlic oil to keep handy. I use it to drizzle on steamed vegetables just before serving, whether it’s broccoli, cauliflower or carrots. It’s also great on simple grilled or steamed fish too, adding a rich, nutty garlic flavor! Make sure that you strain out all the garlic bits, as garlic does not store in oil at room temperature. Take the strained garlic cloves, slice and toss them in that evening’s noodles or vegetable dish. The toasted garlic is lovely and mild.

MAKES 1 CUP (250 ML)

1 cup (250 ml) cooking oil

10 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

In a cold wok or saucepan, add the garlic and oil. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook until the garlic is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the garlic cook a little further in the hot oil. Strain out all the garlic and reserve for another use. Let the oil cool completely and pour into a clean, glass jar. Cover tightly. Keeps for 4 to 6 weeks.

Sweet Soy Sauce