Fried string beans with dried chilli and vegetables

When we talk about factors that unify India, we usually think of Bollywood and cricket. To my mind, however, there is another great unifier — and one that never gets its rightful place among all those things that help Indians bond. And that is Chinese cuisine.

You get it everywhere — from, as the cliché goes, Kanyakumari to Kashmir, and Mizoram to Maharashtra. You have fine-dining Chinese, available in some of the best hotels, and people’s Chinese, made right in front of you in kadhais in vans and carts. And though Chinese cuisine has been suitably Indianised, the use of chillies and pepper indicates that for most Indians, it’s Sichuan food that rules.

For long years, of course, we have been referring to Chinese cuisine as one mass. That’s not true — for every region has its own peculiarities. Cantonese food is usually mild and light, Shanghai is known for its noodles and cold food, Hunan food is strongly flavoured, makes good use of vinegar, and loves its fermented soya beans or black beans. Beijing is known for its fried and crispy dishes.

Black peppered crab

Suzhou cuisine is a bit sweet, and the dishes are simmered and braised. Shandong cuisine is famous for its soups — clear soups and milk soups.

But if there is one cuisine that Indians enjoy, it’s Sichuan. The food of the southwest region of China makes liberal use of chillies, garlic and Sichuan peppercorn, which is a reddish brown and highly aromatic pod of the prickly ash family — a little larger than the usual peppercorn. Sichuan is known for its broad bean paste, spicy and pungent flavours and the chilli bean sauce. It is full of flavours — something that most Indians appreciate.

So I wasn’t surprised when I heard that the Hyatt in Calcutta was organising a Sichuan food festival. The menu was certainly comprehensive — and it included a large number of Sichuan specialities from poached chicken with crushed peanuts, steamed spinach with mustard-sesame sauce and fried string beans with dried chilly and preserved vegetables to peppery hot bean curd with soya bean paste, Sichuan chicken and black peppered king crab.

Peppery hot bean curd with soya bean paste

The Sichuan festival boasts of quite a few vegetarian dishes — and has very generously given me some of their recipes. For the fried strings beans, halve beans. Heat oil in a wok, deep fry the beans and keep aside. Sauté preserved vegetable, dried chilli, chopped ginger and garlic for a minute. Add the string beans, and then toss after adding salt, sugar, pepper and dark soya. Add finely chopped spring onions, toss for a minute and serve hot.

The much-loved Kung Pao chicken — it’s there on the menu of almost all Chinese restaurants — is from Sichuan, too. The name Kung Pao apparently comes from Gong Bao, or palatial guardian — the name given to a late Qing dynasty official called Ding Baozhen, who was once the governor of Sichuan.

The twice-cooked pork is from Sichuan, too. Some 25 years ago, I bought a great book of Chinese cooking, published by the Chinese. It’s a bit tattered now, but is still my Bible when it comes to different kinds of cuisine, for the recipes are both simple and authentic.

Sichuan chicken

It was from this book that I got the recipe for twice-cooked pork. For this, you need to boil 125gm of pork for a few minutes. Drain and cut them into long and thin pieces. Cut the white ends of 75gm scallions into rounds. Set a wok on high heat for 30 seconds. Pour in 40ml oil and heat till it bubbles. Add the pork slices and stir-fry until a little brown.

Take the pork out of the pan, leaving a little oil behind. Now drop in 30ml of chilli bean paste and stir lightly. Pour in 1tsp soya sauce, 10ml cooking wine, 10gm sugar, salt and a slice of ginger mashed in water. Add the pork and stir. Add the scallions and stir until the sauce thickens. Now put on a plate and serve.

The Hyatt’s Sichuan chicken recipe is an easy one to follow, too. In a mixing bowl, marinate 150gm chicken dices with salt, pepper, 10gm cornflour, 5gm chicken powder and 10ml beer. Set aside for 15 minutes.

In a wok, heat 150ml oil until it is almost smoking and carefully fry the chicken for about 40 seconds. Strain and set aside. Now clean the wok. Over a medium high flame, heat 15ml chilli oil until almost smoking. Now sauté Sichuan pepper (3gm), chopped garlic (10gm), ginger diamonds (10gm), Chinese dry chilli (5gm). Add chilli bean sauce (1tsp), the fried chicken and toss. Add spring onion dices (15gm) and toss. Adjust seasoning by adding salt, chicken powder, pepper powder, sugar and rice vinegar. Add dark soya sauce, fried peanuts and toss again. Add 5gm of cornflour diluted in lukewarm water for thickening the sauce. Serve very hot.

You feel as if you know a region intimately because you know its cuisine. That’s why I was particularly saddened when parts of Sichuan were devastated by an earthquake last month. I knew Sichuan, its prickly ash peppercorn, and its pungent food. Curiously, that’s what food does to you. It bonds you to people and places far away.

Steamed spinach with mustard and sesame sauce

Ingredients
• 250gm spinach leaves • 50ml sesame paste • Salt, to taste • 10gm sugar • 20ml light soya sauce • 60ml vinegar • 20ml water l5ml mustard oil • 5ml sesame oil • 5gm sesame seeds, roasted

Method
Boil the water in a lean saucepan, blanch the spinach and keep aside. Drain the excess water. Squeeze the spinach. Except the spinach leaves and sesame seeds, mix all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl to make a sauce. Arrange one layer of spinach in an oval plate and pour a little sauce on top. Arrange the second layer of spinach on top of the sauce, and pour some more sauce on the spinach. Serve cold, garnished with roasted sesame seeds.