Get this recipe and others from my new cookbook, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen.

Is any Chinese meal really complete without a dish of this savory, garlicky smacked cucumber salad on the side? The sauce is a piquant mix of soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and a pinch of sugar, with a drizzle of chili oil for aroma. Simply smash and cut the cucumbers, toss them in the sauce and adjust until the flavors sing. It’s an effortless dish that’s always refreshing.

Tips for making this recipe:

• Use good-quality cucumbers! I like to buy local organic cucumbers from my farmers market as I’ve found they have the best flavor. In terms of variety, hothouse cucumbers (the long, slender ones), Persian, or Japanese cucumbers work best as they have thinner skin and very few seeds.
• Smack the cucumber with the flat blade of a wide chef’s knife/cleaver or a rolling pin, then cut on the diagonal into bite-sized pieces. This is actually a crucial step for flavor: when you split open the cucumber this way, it creates craggy edges and rough surfaces that better absorb the sauce.
• The Sichuan chili oil is optional but recommended if you want a bit of heat (and a drizzle of it makes the dish look prettier!).

If you made this recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and a rating below. Or tag me on Instagram @hannah.che, I love seeing your re-creations!

Get more recipes like this in my new cookbook with Penguin Random House, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen!

📖 Recipe

Smacked Cucumber Salad 拍黄瓜

★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

Perfumed with sesame oil and garlic, this crunchy and refreshing cucumber salad is one of the most ubiquitous Chinese starter dishes, and everyone makes it differently, so feel free to adjust until it’s exactly the way you like it—a pinch more sugar for extra sweetness; black vinegar for a mellower, fragrant aroma; pale rice vinegar for sharper, fruity acidity; extra chili oil for roasted, smoky notes; or one or two thinly sliced bird’s-eye chiles for heat. At some Chinese restaurants, they’ll scatter a handful of crisp fried peanuts on top right before serving. And be sure to whack the cucumber with the blade of a Chinese cleaver or a large rolling pin until it splits: the craggy edges look more appealing, and the rough surfaces of the cool, juicy flesh better absorb the sweet-sharp flavors of the dressing.

• Author: Hannah
• Prep Time: 40
• Total Time: 40
• Yield: 4
• Category: Side Dishes
• Method: No Cook
• Cuisine: Chinese
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 long hothouse cucumber or 3 small Persian cucumbers (12 ounces/340 grams)*
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons Chinkiang black vinegar (sub clear rice vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Sichuan chili oil (with sediment), ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red chiles

Instructions

• Trim off both ends of the cucumber. Lay it on a cutting board and smack it a few times with the flat side of a Chinese cleaver, knife blade, or heavy rolling pin until it splits into large pieces. (To prevent the seeds from flying out over your counter, you can also place the cucumber in a zip-top bag or wrap it in a towel first.) Cut the split cucumber at a diagonal into ½-inch bite-sized pieces. Place them in a medium bowl and sprinkle evenly with the salt, then cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. 
• Drain off any water the cucumber has released (without rinsing off the salt). Add the garlic, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili oil and toss to coat, adjusting the seasonings to taste; more soy sauce for savoriness, more vinegar for acidity, or chili oil for extra aroma and heat. Let sit in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes before serving.
• The cucumbers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes

*Avoid thick-skinned, seedy cucumbers—the best choice is slender hothouse cucumbers, Persian cucumbers, or Japanese kyuri cucumbers, which have delicate, thin skin, smaller seeds, and crunchier flesh. 

Nutrition

• Serving Size: ¼ of recipe
• Calories: 58
• Sugar: 1.9g
• Sodium: 303.5mg
• Fat: 4.6g
• Carbohydrates: 4g
• Protein: 0.8g

Keywords: cucumber, smacked cucumber, chinese cucumber salad

I love making a batch of this tea-brined tofu and keeping it in the fridge. It lasts for up to two weeks, and the longer you let the tofu sit, the more flavorful it gets. You can dish it out to serve to guests as an appetizer to nibble on before a meal.

What’s in the brine?

If you’ve been cooking Chinese food for a while, you might be familiar with some of these spices. Part medicinal and part culinary, a few of them share uses in the West, like bay leaf and cloves, but others are less common, although readily available in any Chinese supermarket.

• Bay leaf (xiangye): provides an herbal, slightly floral note that’s more on the savory side
• Cloves (dingxiang) are rich, pungent and warming
• Fennel seeds (xiao huixiang) provide a sweet, licorice-like flavor
• Black cardamom (caoguo) is resinous with notes of citrus and eucalyptus
• Cassia bark (guipi) is basically cinnamon (it’s called Chinese cinnamon), although more assertive
• Star anise (bajiao) also has a strong black licorice flavor, although it isn’t related to either anise or fennel
• For the tea, you can use black tea (hongcha) or oolong tea (wulongcha). Black is stronger in color and flavor. (I only had oolong on hand, and I love the more delicate, subtle aroma!)

The rest of the brine is very simple, just soy sauce or tamari and rock sugar. Also salt.

What kind of tofu should I use?

I use dougan, which is a kind of pressed tofu that’s extra-firm, sold in the Asian supermarket. It’s chewy to the point of rubbery, and the resultant brined tofu reminds me of jerky. If you want a softer bite, use medium or firm tofu. I’ve also used store-bought fried tofu puffs, which absorb the brine like sponges.

Do I need to fry the tofu first?

Frying tofu is an efficient way to prepare the tofu for brining. It makes the surface sturdier and adds richness, and pulls out some of the water. The bubbly golden crust that develops also transforms the tofu’s surface, resulting in pleasantly chewy edges.

You can always skip the frying, but I recommend it for the best flavor and texture.

Storing and serving

The tofu can be stored up to two weeks in a container in the fridge. The longer you let it sit in the brine, the more flavor it takes on. Sweet-salty and heady with spices, stained dark with the color of the tea leaves, it’s a sophisticated yet simple little appetizer. I’m always fishing out a piece or two with my chopsticks to snack on, it’s hard to resist.

Here I serve the brined tofu chilled, with soft five-spice boiled peanuts. It’s a play on “Q” textures: tender and chewy.

📖 Recipe

Tea-Brined Pressed Tofu 茶香干

A crowd-pleasing little appetizer: chewy, flavor-potent cubes of pressed tofu (dougan) brined with Chinese herbs, spices, and oolong tea leaves. 

• Author: Hannah
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 35
• Total Time: 1 day
• Yield: 4
• Category: Appetizers
• Cuisine: Chinese
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 14–16 ounces (450 grams, 1 pound) medium tofu, firm tofu, or plain white pressed tofu (dougan 豆干)*, or 8 ounces (120 grams) fried tofu puffs
• 1 cup vegetable oil, for frying

For the tea brine:

• ½ cup (120 grams) rock sugar, crushed into small pieces, or regular granulated sugar
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (150mL) tamari or soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 2 teaspoon fennel seeds (xiaohuixiang)
• 1 black cardamom pod (caoguo)
• 1 tsp whole cloves (dingxiang)
• 3–4 heaping tablespoons loose-leaf oolong or black tea
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus more as needed

Instructions

1. Fry the tofu. Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes. In a deep saucepan or wok, heat the oil until it reaches 350°F/177°C. Add about a third of the tofu to the oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes until the edges take on a golden color. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider and transfer to paper towels to drain. Wait for the oil to return to the frying temperature, then repeat for the remaining tofu.
2. Prepare the brine. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over low heat, heat the rock sugar, stirring occasionally, until it starts to change color. Add 3 cups (720mL) water, the tamari or soy sauce, bay leaf, star anise, fennel seeds and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and add the tea leaves. Steep for about 5 minutes, then add the salt. Taste and adjust as needed— the brine should be very flavorful, and slightly saltier than how you would season a soup.
3. Add the fried tofu. Fold the tofu into the liquid (spices and tea still in the pot) and continue to cook at a gentle simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tofu is visibly darkened in color. Try a cube— you should be able to taste the flavor of the brine, although it will continue to absorb over time.
4. Transfer to a container. Remove the pot from heat. Cool to room temperature, then spoon the tofu into a lidded container. Pour in enough of the brine to cover. Chill in the fridge overnight.
5. Serve. Using clean chopsticks, transfer the amount of tofu you wish to serve to a small dish. You can enjoy the tofu whole or cut each cube into slices to showcase the cross section.

Notes

• *The texture of the tofu will depend entirely on what type of tofu you use. I used pressed tofu, which is extra firm tofu that’s chewy and quite sturdy, like jerky.  For a more tender bite, fry medium tofu or firm tofu, which is more porous, or use pre-fried tofu puffs.

Using hua mei to flavor a pickling brine: The dried plums are preserved with salt and other spices until they’re shriveled and deliciously sweet-salty, and people usually buy them to suck on as a mouth-puckering candy. But you can also use them in cooking— they’re a key ingredient in traditional Cantonese plum sauce. Here, all you have to do is simmer the plums in the pickling brine and then let the tomatoes sit in the liquid and soak up all the aromatic, funky flavor.

For the ingredients, you’ll need to find preserved plums, which are available in any Asian grocery store, and sugar— I like using rock sugar (冰糖 bing tang) but regular granulated sugar will also work. Instead of a vinegar, I actually prefer lime or lemon juice; the freshly squeezed juice adds a gentler, more fruity acidity than vinegar, and the citrus aroma goes particularly well with the cherry tomatoes.

Once pickled, the cherry tomatoes will keep for a few weeks in the fridge, and you can spoon out a few glistening red orbs into a little dish for the table for every meal. Invite guests to pop one into their mouth between bites for a burst of palate-cleansing brightness. This is a wonderful sweet appetizer to go with spicy or heavier dishes, or you can snack on them just on their own.

📖 Recipe

Cherry tomatoes pickled with dried plums 话梅腌小番茄 | hua mei yan xiao fan qie

Juicy, sweet tomato orbs pickled in a sour brine infused with hua mei, salty-sweet Chinese dried plums. A chilled, effervescent, and refreshing appetizer to serve with dim sum dishes or as a starter.

• Author: Hannah

Ingredients

• 1 pint (300 grams) cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons (25 grams) rock sugar, a chunk slightly smaller than a golf ball
• 8 to 10 dried salted plums
• Juice of two limes, about ¼ cup (60 mL)

Instructions

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Using a sharp-tipped knife, make two small cuts in a cross-shape on the bottom of each cherry tomato. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10 seconds, then drain and shock in a bowl of ice water to loosen the skins. Remove the skins and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups (480mL) filtered water, sugar, and the dried salted plums. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook over medium-low until the liquid is reduced by about a third. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely; the salted plums will release more of their flavor as they soak.
3. Add the lime juice and the peeled tomatoes to a pint-sized mason jar. Pour in just enough brining liquid to fully submerge the tomatoes. Seal the lid and let tomatoes marinate overnight in the fridge. Spoon out a small amount with a clean utensil each time you serve, and return the jar to the fridge. The tomatoes will keep for up to three weeks, and their flavor will intensify over time.

The first time I ate liang fen was in Chengdu. It was a humid, lazy afternoon, and the street vendor selling the noodles filled a paper bowl with freshly cut jelly noodles and topped it with a spicy, red-oil laced dressing and a crunchy topping of fried peanuts. My mouth watered even before I tasted that first bite.

This dish is all about texture. Cool, slick noodles that glide pleasingly in the mouth, juicy crunchy julienned cucumber, snappy fried peanuts and toasty bits of chili oil. Each mouthful you slurp up is tingling on the tongue, spicy with heat and brightened with vinegar. It’s a joy to eat in the summer.

Ingredients

The “jelly” noodles are made with mung bean starch and water. As you cook this mixture, it thickens, and after several hours in the refrigerator, it sets into a bouncy, slightly translucent solid. Mung bean jelly is naturally gluten-free. It’s also low in calories and said to be cooling in nature. In many provinces, potato starch or pea starch is used in place of mung bean starch.

You can find mung bean starch (lü dou fen 绿豆粉）in small bags in the dry goods aisle of Chinese or Korean supermarkets.

How to Serve

There are two options for serving. Many times, you’ll see jelly noodles cut into thick fingers or batons.

You can also cut the jelly into noodles: the extra surface area gives each bite more flavor. You can even buy a specialized liang fen cutting tool (a round, grater-like surface with preforated holes), although a sharp knife will work just as well.

To make green noodles, I blended spinach leaves with water and used the strained juice to make the mung bean slurry.

You can prep the sauce separately and make the jelly in advance (it takes on a firmer, bouncier texture after chilling overnight) and dress the noodles right before serving.

📖 Recipe

Sichuan jelly noodles (liang fen 凉粉) with chili oil sauce

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Jade-colored liang fen (mung bean jelly noodles) anointed in a spicy, vinegary dressing and topped with crushed peanuts and julienned cucumber. Serve chilled as a snack or an elegant appetizer. Vegan and gluten-free.

• Author: Hannah

Ingredients

For the jelly noodles:

• ⅓ cup (50 grams) mung bean starch
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large handful (3.5 ounces, 100 grams) fresh spinach
• 1 ⅔ cup (400 mL) water

For the chili oil sauce:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (sub tamari if gluten-free)
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon mushroom bouillon seasoning or MSG (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Chinkiang black vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons homemade chili oil, or lao gan ma chili crisp condiment

For serving:

• 1 small Persian cucumber or ½ hothouse cucumber, julienned
• 2 bird’s eye chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
• ¼ cup (35 grams) roasted or fried peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 scallion, green part only, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

1. Blend the spinach with 1 ⅔ cup (400 mL) cold water, then strain and discard pulp. Prepare an 8 inch square baking pan or 8 x 4 inch glass container. In a small bowl, whisk together the mung bean starch, salt, and ⅔ cup cold water. Add the remaining 1 ⅓ cups water to a medium saucepan, and heat over medium heat for 2 minutes, until you can see small bubbles rising from the bottom of the pot. Add the slurry and stir continuously for about 2 minutes; it will begin to thicken rapidly.
2. Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, gently scraping the spatula across the bottom and sides of the pot. The clouded mixture will become translucent and glossy as you stir, about 1 minute. Do not bring the mixture to a full boil. Remove from heat.
3. Use the spatula to scrape the jelly mixture into a rectangular pan or a medium bowl and tap a few times to eliminate any air bubbles. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until the jelly is completely opaque in color and has separated from the sides of the container (there will be a thin layer of water at the bottom).
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the soy sauce, sugar, stock, Chinkiang vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, and chili oil. Set aside.
5. Slide the spatula around the sides of the pan to loosen the cooled jelly and invert onto a cutting board. Dip a sharp knife into water and cut the jelly into rectangular batons ½-inch by 4inch long, or thin noodles/ribbons. Stack or heap the jelly pieces in a serving dish and pour the sauce on top. Top with the cucumber, crushed peanuts, scallion, and chopped chilies, and mix together before eating. Serve chilled.

This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes— a crunchy potato sliver salad dressed with a sharp, zingy vinaigrette and aromatic chili oil. You’ll find served in restaurants across China as an appetizer.

In Chinese cuisine, potatoes aren’t considered a staple food or main starch, but a vegetable that you can prepare as a seasoned dish to go with rice, or cai 菜. Thinly slivered into “threads” (tudousi), the potatoes are usually cooked until al dente— tender but still slightly crunchy. My dad loves to stir-fry potato slivers or blanch them for a liangban (cold-dressed) dish like this one.

The key to these dishes is to soak the cut potato threads and rinse off as much starch as possible, and cook them just long enough so they’re no longer raw but still crisp to the bite. This al dente potato texture isn’t very common in the West, where potatoes are eaten starchy and soft, but it’s beloved in Chinese cooking and called shuang cui 爽脆, or “refreshingly crunchy.”

The enoki mushrooms in this dish are optional, but I love adding them for a chewy, slippery texture. They also bulk up the salad with volume and fiber (and savoriness!).

Instructions/Tips

• Any type of potato will work, but I like using gold potatoes because of their waxy texture (they’re not as floury or starchy as Russet) and their warm, jewel-toned color. I picked up these beautiful yellow-fleshed new potatoes at the farmer’s market here in Portland.

• Peel the potatoes. Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice the potatoes into thin ⅛-inch rounds. Stack and cut into thin slivers. You can also use a food processor with the grater blade. Place in a large bowl of cold water and rinse several times to wash the starch from the potatoes.

• Trim off the root end of the enoki mushroom bunch. Tear it into smaller clusters, each about two or three mushrooms thick. 

• Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the potatoes until they are softened but still crunchy, about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of water to cool. Bring the water back to a boil and blanch the mushrooms until you can smell their earthy fragrance and the water’s surface starts to foam, about 2 minutes. Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, refresh them under cold water, and squeeze as dry as possible. Place in a large bowl. Squeeze out the water from the blanched potato slivers and place in the bowl with the mushrooms.

• Season with salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, MSG, chili oil, scallion oil, and sesame oil. Add the minced garlic and chopped cilantro at the end and mix thoroughly to incorporate.

• Taste and adjust as necessary, adding more vinegar for brightness, sugar for sweetness, and extra salt or chili oil for savoriness. This dish should be zingy and sharp, with a nice warm glow of spiciness.

• Enjoy immediately or chill before serving. The leftovers are delicious cold, and you can keep this dish in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

How to make Homemade Chili Oil

📖 Recipe

Chinese Slivered Potato Salad 凉拌土豆丝

A Chinese cold dish made with blanched al dente potato ‘threads’, seasoned with sharp, zingy vinaigrette and richly aromatic chili oil. Slightly spicy, refreshing, and crisp-crunchy to the bite.

• Author: Hannah
• Prep Time: 25
• Cook Time: 5
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4
• Category: Cold Dishes
• Method: Blanch
• Cuisine: Chinese
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 pound (450 grams) Yukon gold or other yellow-fleshed potatoes*, about 3 small
• 1 bundle (7 ounces / 200 grams) enoki mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce or gluten-free tamari
• 1 ½ tablespoons pale rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon MSG, or ½ teaspoon mushroom bouillon powder
• 2 tablespoons red chili oil with sediment (or oil from a jar of Laoganma Chili Crisp)
• 1 teaspoon scallion oil
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¾ cup roughly chopped cilantro, stems and leaves

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes. Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice the potatoes into thin ⅛-inch rounds. Stack and cut into thin, 1/16-inch slivers or julienne. You can also use a food processor with the grater blade. Rinse the threads under cold water to wash off the starch.
2. Trim off the root end of the enoki mushroom bunch. Tear it into smaller clusters, each about two or three mushrooms thick. Place in a separate bowl.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the potatoes until they are softened but still crunchy, about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of cold water.
4. Bring the water back to a boil and blanch the mushrooms until you can smell their earthy fragrance and the water’s surface starts to foam, about 2 minutes. Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, refresh them under cold water, and squeeze as dry as possible. Place in a large bowl. Squeeze out the water from the blanched potato slivers and place in the bowl with the mushrooms.
5. Add the salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, MSG, chili oil, scallion oil, and sesame oil. Add the minced garlic and cilantro and mix thoroughly to incorporate. Taste and adjust as necessary, adding more vinegar for brightness, sugar for sweetness, and extra salt or chili oil for savoriness. This dish should be zingy and sharp, with a nice warm glow of spiciness. 
6. Enjoy immediately or chill before serving. The leftovers are delicious cold, and you can keep this dish in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes

• *You can also use regular (Russet) white-fleshed potatoes or red potatoes, but I prefer yellow potatoes for their waxy texture and gold-hued color. 
• This dish is all about aroma, so a good, flavorful chili oil is crucial. It’s very easy to make your own chili oil and you can keep the jar indefinitely in the fridge. For a good store-bought alternative, use Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp. 

Keywords: potato, potato slivers, chinese potato salad, enoki mushrooms

Blanching is a common Chinese preparation to cook tender greens and vegetables like broccoli/gailan, asparagus, choy sum, or green beans. You dip the ingredient in boiling water for a brief period (sometimes just 30 seconds) until cooked al dente, drain or shock in ice water, then serve with a simple sauce of soy sauce and oil.

Sometimes, you’ll see aromatics like thinly slivered ginger, scallions, or chiles laid as a garnish on the ingredients. Right before serving, a ladleful of smoking hot oil is poured on top, releasing all the delicious aromas in one vigorous sizzle— this is a method called jiao you (浇油), “dashing oil.”

For this dish, I add the ginger directly to a sauce pan and let it frizzle for a while so that you get all those flavors in the sauce itself.

Chef tips for Chinese blanched dishes or liang cai:

1. Use the most tender and delicate vegetables at their peak flavor and freshness.
2. When blanching, be careful not to overcook the vegetable. Submerge it quickly in cold water to halt the cooking process and capture the vivid color in the pot. The cooking time should be just long enough to bring out the vegetable’s most vibrant color and optimal texture.
3. Mix the seasonings in a separate bowl and taste it to adjust the flavors until just right. Consider the various ways to add it, either drizzling over the ingredients (淋味 lin wei), tossing to coat (拌味 ban wei), or serving on the side as a dip (沾味 zhan wei).
4. Don’t make blanched dishes too far in advance, as they will lose their vibrancy and flavor— you want to serve it immediately after it’s dressed.
5. Chinese cooks usually add a bit of oil to the boiling water so that the ingredient gets coated with some of it when you scoop it out— adds to the flavor and gives it a beautiful gleam and shine.

Notes

*I add an optional amount of sand ginger (沙姜 sha jiang) to the soy sauce. Sand ginger is a kind of rhizome that looks like galangal, used in the southern coastal provinces of China and southeast Asia. In China, we often grated the fresh root for juice, but most Asian supermarkets in the U.S. sell sand ginger as a powder. It is paler in color than ground ginger, and just a pinch in steamed dishes and appetizers adds intriguing flavor—best described as a musky, peppery savoriness with a slightly piney aroma.

Variation

In the spring, I recommend using young asparagus instead of green beans; Cantonese chefs eagerly await the arrival of the first asparagus after the cold, with its delicate, pencil-thin stalks and crisp, sweet flavor. Blanch them for 30-40 seconds until vibrant green, then prepare as below.

Find recipes like this one and more in my new cookbook, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen.

📖 Recipe

Blanched purple beans with aromatic ginger soy sauce 姜蓉豆角

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Tender, delicate green beans seasoned with a simple and aromatic Cantonese soy sauce with ginger and sesame oil. A beautifully understated Chinese dish that works best as a cold appetizer or starter.

• Author: Hannah
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 5
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: Blanch
• Cuisine: Chinese
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 10 ounces (280 grams) slender purple beans, yellow wax beans, or green beans, ends trimmed
• 1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine, or water
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon MSG, or ½ teaspoon mushroom bouillon powder
• ½ teaspoon ground sand ginger (optional)*
• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

• Fresh red chile, thinly sliced, for garnish

Instructions

1. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add a generous amount of salt and drizzle in ½ tablespoon of the oil. Blanch the green beans for 50 to 60 seconds, until they turn a vivid color and are crisp-tender. Transfer immediately to the ice water to stop the cooking process and preserve color and crispness. Drain the beans well and pat dry with a clean towel. Arrange the beans in a neat stack on a serving dish. Trim with a sharp knife so that they’re the same length, and discard or eat the ends.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering. Add the minced ginger and fry until fragrant and just beginning to brown, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce to low heat and add the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine or water, sugar, MSG, ground sand ginger powder, white pepper, and sesame oil. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 1 minute until the sugar is fully dissolved.
3. Pour the sauce on top of the green beans, so that the ginger stays on top and the sauce pools to the bottom. Garnish with a few threads of red chile before serving.

Young soybeans (毛豆 máodòu), also called edamame, are soybeans that are harvested while still pale green and immature. In China, they’re usually boiled whole in their pods in salted water, which lightly seasons them.

When I was growing up, my parents would buy big bags of frozen soybean pods from the Asian supermarket and toss them in a large pot, simmering them with a few spices until they were tender and infused with flavor. They were a lot of fun to eat: we used our teeth to tease out the tasty beans, scraping the shell clean of its fuzzy, salty skin before discarding the pod.

You can serve these on the table as an appetite-whetting starter dish, like in Chinese restaurants, or simply keep the boiled soybeans in the fridge and enjoy a handful any time of the day as a snack. Just 1 cup of edamame (shelled) provides 15 grams of protein and a considerable amount of fiber, calcium, and iron. Since they’re best cold, I especially enjoy eating these in the summer for a light and satiating snack.

Where can I buy soybeans with pods?

You can find big bags of frozen soybean pods at your Asian supermarket. I try to look for an organic variety; they’re usually very cheap, costing just a few dollars a pound.

Fresh soybean pods are difficult to find in the United States, unless you grow them yourselves. I prefer frozen anyways because they’re pre-cooked and can be boiled straight from the package.

Tips and Tricks

There are two ways of cooking the pods:

1. start the pods in cold water and gradually bring to a boil
2. boil the water first, then add the pods

After testing, I found you get the best flavor and texture by boiling the water first. The pods are vivid green in color, not dull or brownish, since you’re essentially blanching them in the salted water, and the beans are perfectly cooked, tender but still with a nice bite.

The problem with this brief cooking time is getting the flavor infused in the beans— it’s really hard to do this with only 5-6 minutes of cooking. I found two solutions:

1. Trim off the ends of the soybean pods so that the flavorful liquid enters the hard shells easily.
2. Soak the boiled beans in the cooled broth overnight. As they marinate, they will continue taking on salt and flavor without the danger of overcooking. This was the key step that made the biggest difference in flavor.

I also like to add a handful of Chinese five-spices usually used for braised dishes, and ginger and scallions for extra aroma.

Instructions

1. Take the bag of frozen soybeans out of the freezer. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, toast the dried chiles, peppercorns, star anise, and bay leaves over medium-low heat, stirring them around the base of the pot. When the chiles are slightly darkened and the spices smell very fragrant, pour in 8 cups (1920 mL) water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the salt and reduce to a gentle simmer. Cover the lid but keep it slightly ajar, and allow the broth to continue building in flavor while you prepare the soybeans.

2. Using a pair of sharp scissors, snip about ¼ inch off the ends of each soybean pod. You can skip this step if you’re short on time, but this allows the liquid to penetrate each pod so that the beans have more flavor. 

3. Uncover the pot and bring the simmering broth back to a rolling boil. Toss in the soybeans and boil on high heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. To check doneness, crack one open and taste a bean— it should be tender but still have a bite to it, not mushy, and the pods should still be a vibrant green color.
4. Remove from heat and let the soybeans continue soaking in the pot— they are essentially marinating as they sit in the cooling broth. You can serve these at room temperature after 2 hours, but for the tastiest results, transfer to the refrigerator and continue soaking overnight, and enjoy chilled. 

How to Store

Refrigerate the remaining soybeans in their liquid in a covered container for up to five days.

📖 Recipe

Chinese five-spice boiled green soybeans (edamame) 五香煮毛豆

A guide to making Chinese boiled soybeans, also called edamame. Simmered in a savory broth with aromatics like chiles, ginger, scallions, peppercorns, and star anise, these protein-rich soybeans are salty, full of flavor and delicious served chilled as a snack or an appetizer.

• Author: Hannah
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4
• Category: Snacks and Appetizers
• Method: Cook
• Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (900 grams) frozen green soybeans in their pods
• 2 tablespoons whole Sichuan peppercorns
• 4–5 dried red chiles
• 2 star anise pods
• 1 Chinese cinnamon stick (cassia), optional
• 3 bay leaves
• 4-inch piece ginger, cut into thin slices (doesn’t need to be peeled)
• 3 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 ½-inch sections, both green and white parts
• 2 ½ tablespoons kosher salt*

Instructions

1. Take the bag of frozen soybeans out of the freezer. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, toast the dried chiles, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves over medium-low heat, stirring them around the base of the pot. When the chiles are slightly darkened and the spices smell very fragrant, pour in 8 cups (1920 mL) water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the scallions, ginger, and salt and reduce to a gentle simmer. Cover the lid but keep it slightly ajar, and allow the broth to continue building in flavor while you prepare the soybeans.
2. Using a pair of sharp scissors, snip about ¼ inch off the ends of each soybean pod. You can skip this step if you’re short on time, but this allows the liquid to penetrate each pod so that the beans have more flavor. 
3. Uncover the pot and bring the simmering broth back to a rolling boil. Toss in the soybeans and boil on high heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. To check doneness, crack one open and taste a bean— it should be tender but still have a bite to it, not mushy, and the pods should still be a vibrant green color.
4. Remove from heat and let the soybeans continue soaking in the pot— they are essentially marinating as they sit in the cooling broth. 
5. You can serve these at room temperature after 2 hours, but for the tastiest results, transfer to the refrigerator and continue soaking overnight, and enjoy chilled. 
6. Store remaining soybeans in their liquid in the fridge for up to five days.

Notes

• *You want the liquid to be quite salty, since the flavor has to penetrate through the shells to the beans. Taste and adjust the recipe as needed; I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, so if you’re using Morton kosher salt or sea salt, I would decrease this amount to 2 tablespoons.
• You do not need to fully thaw the frozen soybeans prior to cooking. Thawing them slightly will just make the ends easier to trim.
• To preserve the color of the soybeans, remove them from the liquid immediately after cooking and spread out on a baking sheet. Wait until the hot broth has fully cooled before you return the pods to the liquid. This is an extra step but it prevents the green from dulling.

Keywords: edamame, soybeans, Chinese boiled soybeans, boiled edamame