Creamy sweet walnut soup

We don't have too many sweet soups in the States, and I never even knew they existed until I went to Taiwan. But boy, was I missing something good!

Hot sweet soups are served throughout the day during cold weather, while the cold ones refresh during summer's heat. Both can be nourishing, complete meals if done right, as with today's recipe for Creamy Sweet Walnut Soup.

This Beijing specialty is truly luscious and hides all sorts of good things under its calm, beige exterior. Walnuts are of course the main ingredient here, and rice is the thickener, but jujubes, or Chinese dates, are lurking in here, as well, to add a rich, fruity under note. Honey is my preferred sweetener, making this the perfect way to begin the day and end the evening.

This is food for the soul and the stomach.

Putting this together is a snap if you have a blender, and it only requires a bit of time to soak the ingredients before they are pureed and then cooked. So consider this whenever you are in the mood for something sweet and very Chinese.

Blender full of goodness

You can use other nuts instead of walnuts -- almonds are a traditional favorite. Just be sure to soak the nuts, especially if they are like almonds and have skins, since you can rub off most of the bitter red skins with a towel. Soaking the nuts, rice, and dates makes them grind up into soft bits that crumble rather than crack, and that gives you a silky texture without any rough edges. Also, soaking the walnuts in boiling water leaches out the bitterness in the skin and leaves you with plump, pale nuggets.

And speaking of rough edges, be very careful with the dates. Cut them open -- even if they come already pitted -- to ensure that every bit of the pit is removed. Small pieces of pits will survive even the most virile blender and make their way into your most important guest's mouth. Don't ask me how I know this; I just do. The same goes with the walnut shells. So if your nuts come already chopped, look them over carefully to fish out any shells, and avoid the dust at the bottom of the bag.

Rock sugar is what is usually used as a sweetener here, but I've found that honey goes perfectly with the walnuts; their warm and comforting aromas just seem made for each other. Another secret trick of mine is to add a bit of salt at the beginning, as well as some walnut extract at the very end. Both of these help to balance out the flavors, the salt by counteracting the sweetness and the extract by boosting the richness.

If you want to go all nouvelle chinoise here, swirl in some thick cream at the end. This, as you might surmise, is particularly yummy. Although Creamy Sweet Walnut Soup is actually part of the great Chinese pantheon of dianxin, or snacks, I like to serve it at the end of a banquet. 

Anyone who is bucking for culinary immortality should consider using this soup as the white half of the lovely Yin Yang Sweet Sesame Soup, where it complements the black sesame soup really nicely. It is hot and soothing, and it gets demolished even when guests swear they can't eat another thing. 

Just like Jello, only better.

Rich & lovely

Creamy sweet walnut soup -
Hetao lao 核桃酪  
Beijing
Serves 6 to 8 generously

2 cups broken or chopped walnuts (see Tips)
20 (or so) small jujubes (Chinese dates)
Boiling water as needed
1 cup raw white glutinous rice
Cool tap water as needed
6 cups filtered water
1 teaspoon sea salt
Honey, rock sugar, or agave nectar to taste (see Tips)
1 cup heavy cream, optional
A few tablespoons chopped walnuts for garnish, optional

1. Sort over the walnuts and pick out any bits of shell; discard the dust, too. Place the walnuts and jujubes in a heatproof boil and cover them with boiling water. Leave the bowl to cool. While the nuts and jujubes are soaking, place the rice in a bowl and cover it with cool tap water for at least an hour to soften the grains.

2. Scoop the jujubes out of the now very tan and muddy water; rinse, drain, and place them on a cutting board. Cut each jujube in half and either remove the pits or carefully inspect them for any crushed pits. Rinse the walnuts in a sieve and place them in a blender along with the halved jujubes. Drain the rice and add it to the blender along with 3 cups of the filtered water. Blend these on high speed for a couple of minutes until absolutely smooth and silky. Pour the puree into a 2 quart heavy saucepan. Add the rest of the water to the blender, rinse it around, and pour this into the saucepan, too. Add the salt, as well as the rock sugar, if you are using it. 

Cook until thick and creamy

3. Use a wire whisk to continually stir the soup as you bring it to a boil over medium heat. When it comes to a boil, it will have thickened considerably and should have the texture of sour cream. Lower the heat and continue to cook it for a total of about 10 minutes. Taste the soup; it should have no raw rice taste. Sweeten to taste with honey or some other sweetener if you haven't used the rock sugar, and add a bit more salt if you think it needs it.  (The soup may be made ahead of time up to this point and reheated right before serving.)

4. If you are adding cream to this, pour it into the soup and heat the soup thoroughly again. Serve in individual bowls, if you wish, and garnish with a couple dots of the cream and/or a swirl of honey and/or some chopped nuts. (Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and heated up later.)

Tips

Fresh nuts are absolutely essential here. Find a store with a fast turnover where they have the most likelihood of being a new crop. They should smell sweet and feel oily when you crush them between your fingers. Taste one, if you can, to make sure they are perfect. Store in a cool place in a closed container and use as quickly as possible, or freeze.

Use whatever you like to sweeten this. We have great local honey, and I like to show it off here. But add whatever you like. Do be forewarned that regular white sugar sometimes leaves a sour aftertaste, while rock sugar doesn't. Chinese cooks swear by this.

Be sure and stir the soup as it heats, since it will form lumps if left unattended and may even burn. If that happens, immediately remove the pan from the heat. Taste the soup, and if it has a burned flavor, toss it out. If there is only a slight toastiness, you might be able to save it. Just pour the soup through a coarse strainer into another pan and continue cooking, this time stirring very carefully the entire time.

Anhui's spicy walnut pork

Every single one of my Anhui girlfriends has a great appetite - and since all of my buddies have hollow legs, no matter where they come from, that is nothing special in and of itself - but what has continually amazed me has been that each one of them is a certified chili queen. 

Looking at Anhui on the map, this doesn't seem like Chili Central... this province is way up there in the northern area of China, safely distant from the spicy foods of such fiery hotbeds as Sichuan, Guizhou, and Hunan.  

Since I had never tried Anhui cuisine until relatively recently, I always found this puzzling.

But they do love their chili peppers, and following my induction into their inner circles as an honorary lameizi (literally "spicy sister", the Chinese name for that nineties female band called the Spice Girls), I have tried to reciprocate with offerings of chili oil liberally sprinkled over dishes, chopped chilies tossed into stir-fries, and dried chilies browned in oil before the rest of the ingredients have been added.  All have been met with a smile and the eternal challenge suggested by a devilish smile, "Is that as hot as you can get it?"

Walnut-filled pork nuggets

Now that I have tasted Anhui cuisine, I understand. While chili isn't the overriding flavoring for the greatest dishes that Anhui is justly famous for, their home-style foods are often as hot as hell, but with just enough sugar and vinegar and nuts to slap the taste buds awake and leave the lips numb, ready for the next assault.

Case in point is today's dish, Spicy Walnut Pork Anhui Style. At first I figured that this would be a ho-hum stir-fry of pork cubes scattered with walnuts, sort of a variation on the theme of cashew chicken. Wrong. This is one creative dish that looks difficult and clever, but is something that is easily put together. If time is going to be a problem, you can prepare everything up to the last step ahead of time so that only a few minutes are needed to whip up this dish. However, it is at its absolute best if the dish is sauced right after the meat is fried, because that way the walnuts are superbly crispy and offer a tantalizing contrast to the tender, juicy meat.

The Chinese name for this is Liu hetao rou.  The character "liu" is often used in the names of eastern Chinese dishes to let you know that it was given a gentle sweet and sour sauce at the end; hetao is the Chinese name for "walnuts," and rou means "meat," which in this province is almost always an indication that pork is on the menu. I've made this with pork loin, fresh bacon, and turkey breast, and they are all good. But if you are not afraid of pork fat, I have to strongly suggest that you try the fresh bacon, which fries up like crispy bacon should and imparts a heavenly texture to these morsels. Whatever meat you use, it is wrapped around blanched walnut halves, coated in a batter, and deep fried.

First, a word on water chestnuts and blanching walnuts:

Please please please use fresh water chestnuts. If they are not available, use sliced jicama. If you don't have that, use a crisp pear or apple. My feeling is that canned water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and baby corn taste terrible, have lousy texture, and just add tinny smells to the sauce. Fresh water chestnuts are plain delicious, and the next post will show how to select, trim, and store them. 

Plumped up walnut on the right

Walnuts should almost always be blanched for Chinese dishes, and the reasons are twofold: this plumps up the nuts so that there is a pillowy center surrounded by crunchiness, and the bitterness in the brown skin gets flushed away in a hot water bath. If you don't think there's much difference between a blanched and an unblanched walnut, do a taste test. Simply put, blanched walnuts have absolutely no bitter edge to them, they have a silky mouth feel, and even if you plan to fry or roast them, blanching them first puts them miles ahead of their unbathed brethren.

As for the chilies in this recipe, you can adjust the heat to whatever level you want, from zero to blistering, by using different peppers. Red bell peppers are completely mild, and if you use them, even children will be able to enjoy this dish without crying. But if you have chili heads stopping by, consider using at least some nice, red jalapenos or yellow Anaheims (if not the hotter varieties) to give this dish a good kick in the pants. It will turn this sauce from sweet-and-sour into pure wow.

Spicy walnut pork Anhui style
Liu hetao rou  溜核桃肉 

Tenderize with cleaver back

Anhui

Serves 4 to 6 as part of a multicourse meal

Walnuts:

A large handful fresh walnut halves (about 20)
Boiling water
Peanut oil

Pork:

4 ounces thinly-sliced pork loin
1 teaspoon sea salt
Toothpicks (about 20)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Veggies and sauce:

4 ounces fresh water chestnuts (see note above), trimmed and sliced
3 red jalapeno peppers, or 1 small red bell pepper, or any other kind of pepper (see note above), seeded and sliced
4 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 tablespoons good dark vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
3 tablespoons rice wine (Taiwanese Mijiu)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Ready to roll up

1. Place the walnut halves in a heatproof bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave them in the water for at least 10 minutes, then drain and rinse. Pat the walnuts as dry as you can, since you will be frying them. 

2. Heat about 1 cup of oil in a wok over medium-high heat until a wooden or bamboo chopstick inserted in the hot oil is immediately covered with bubbles. Place a dry bowl next to the stove for the fried walnuts and have a slotted spoon handy. Add the walnuts to the oil in small handfuls and gently stir them in the oil until they are a golden brown. Remove them with the slotted spoon to the dry bowl, heat the oil up again, and repeat with the rest of the walnuts until they are all fried, and leave the oil in the wok.

Next step: batter

3. Slice the pork into pieces a little over 2 inches long and about an inch wide, and lightly salt the meat. (If the meat is too thick, lightly pound it until it is about a eighth of an inch thick.) Place one fried walnut half at the end of a strip of pork, roll up the meat around the nut, and then secure it with a toothpick. Repeat with the rest of the meat and walnuts until you are done. 

4. Beat the egg in a medium bowl and add the cornstarch to form a batter, adding a bit of water if it is too thick. Heat up the oil in the wok again using the chopstick test to get the right temperature. Coat each pork roll in the batter, shake off any excess batter, and fry the roll in the hot oil until a toasty brown. Remove to a plate and repeat with the rest of the pork rolls, being sure to fry only a few at a time so that they don't stick together. Take the toothpicks out of the rolls and discard them. The dish can be prepared ahead of time up to this point; remember, the walnuts won't be crispy if they are reheated.

5. If you made the pork rolls ahead of time, heat them in a single layer in a 325-degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot; otherwise, just proceed to fry the vegetables and make the sauce.

6. Drain all but about 2 tablespoons oil from the wok and heat it over high until it starts to smoke. Toss in the water chestnuts, peppers, and green onions, and quickly stir-fry them for a few minutes until they are no longer raw, but still crisp. Add the fried pork rolls and then the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and rice wine; toss them all together over high heat until most of the sauce evaporates. Taste the sauce and quickly adjust it with more soy sauce, vinegar, or sugar as needed. Sprinkle on the sesame oil, toss again, and serve.