Kung Fu Eats » Bell Peppers

白椒炒鸡杂 White Pepper and Chicken Bits Stir Fry

Chris — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:04:34 +0000

Pinyin: bái jiāo chǎo jī zá

Chicken gizzards and giblets are something I only rarely heard around the kitchen when i was growing up. We would buy whole frozen chickens and sometimes pieces would be stuffed inside the chicken. Typically there was a heart, a neck, a liver, and the giblet. These items would be removed from the chicken’s chest cavity and promptly thrown in the trash. Only years later did I discover that the gizzard/giblet is the second stomach found in all birds and a variety of other animals and insects.

As it turns out giblets, chicken hearts and liver can be mixed with green and red peppers, scallions and a few other things along with a selection of spices to create a very tasty dish. White pepper is used in great quantities in this dish to spice things up. At first I was a little hesitant to try such a bizarre mix of innards, but after a few cautious nibbles I found myself digging in. Sometimes it really does pay to experiment a bit.

青椒豆腐干 Green Pepper and Tofu Stir Fry

Chris — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:33:38 +0000

Pinyin: qīn jiāo dòu fǔ gān

Dried tofu is pretty amazing in it’s resemblance to meat. The drying process gives the tofu a tougher even chewy texture, very similar to rubber. Rubbery food isn’t always desired, but in the case of tofu it’s a nice change. Dried tofu is still fresh, the drying is accomplished by squeezing the water out over several hours.

This dish exceeded my expectations immensely. I’m not a fan of green peppers, causing me to assume the worst. The dried tofu isn’t very good at soaking up outside flavors which meant that the tofu was only mildly flavored by the peppers. The flavor of the tofu and the spiciness from the red peppers provided the most punch with only the subdued hint of the bell pepper seeping through. It’s a healthy choice and a nice use of tofu, but more than that it’s vegetarian as well.

尖椒香菇炒千张 Peppers and Tofu Leaves

Chris — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:34:41 +0000

Pinyin: jiān jiāo xiāng gū chǎo qiān zhāng

The bell pepper has become a common ingredient added to all sorts of traditional Chinese dishes since it was first introduced into the old world by the Spanish in 1493. Bell peppers are a mutant form of a chili pepper that doesn’t produce capsaicin. Bell peppers come in red, yellow, and orange varieties and green ones simply haven’t ripened yet.

It’s hard to go wrong with tofu and mushrooms. The addition of the bell peppers almost ruined it for me, but they didn’t overpower the dish and the chunks were big enough to avoid. The shiitake mushrooms never fail to appeal to my palette and as usual there weren’t enough to satisfy me. The pieces of very thin dry and firm tofu manage to become coated in the thin cornstarch based salty sauce forming a mild yet desirable reaction on the taste buds.

This vegetarian dish is another one of those foods that isn’t likely to be winning culinary awards, but instead can be found on many dining room tables in homes around China. I’m hoping to hunt this one down soon to add to my arsenal of dishes I can cook.