At the intersection of East and West...

Up in China’s desert northwest, East mingles with West in delicious ways. Ideas seem to have taken root here centuries ago and then cross-pollinated to form fascinating hybrids that manage to showcase the best of both worlds.

This is one such dish.

Luxurious in every way, juicy bits of chicken contrast with crisp lotus root, chilies, and crunchy walnuts in a sauce seasoned mainly with sweet wheat paste (tianmianjiang). Rich and satisfying, with each of the ingredients managing to steal the show in tandem, stir-fries don’t come much better than this.

           

Walnuts are probably more popular up here than any place else in China, thanks to their introduction eons ago by traders from the Middle East. As always, though, what was once Persian or Arab has been transmogrified over the years into something distinctly Chinese. It’s that sweet wheat paste and the lotus root that tip the sensory balance into China’s sphere, ensuring you that you are not further west on the trans-Asiatic superhighway called the Silk Road.

Fresh chilies are traditionally used here, but dried ones are delicious too, as they then do not conflict with the lotus root. These dried chilies seem to sidle up especially well to the toasted walnuts, their gentle warmth echoed and amplified by these nutty flavors.

Now is the time to make this dish while fresh lotus roots are at their best in good Chinese markets.

Perfect cold weather dinner

Chicken with walnuts and lotus root

Jiàngbào táorén jīdīng 醬爆桃仁雞丁

Northwest
Serves 4 to 6

Chicken:

1 pound chicken, with or without skin, bones removed

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons rice wine (Taiwanese Mijiu)

1 large egg white

1 teaspoon cornstarch

The rest:

4 ounces shelled walnuts in large pieces

Boiling filtered water as needed

1 lotus root (around 4 to 6 ounces)

1 teaspoon pale vinegar

1 to 3 red jalapeno chilies, or 10 or so whole dried Thai chilies

¼ cup peanut or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 green onions, trimmed and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoon sweet wheat paste

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1. Cut up the chicken into ¾-inch cubes, place in a small work bowl, and toss with the salt, rice wine, egg white, and cornstarch. Allow the chicken to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Crunchy, chewy, sweet, savory

2. Pick over the walnuts to make sure there are no shells, and then place them in a small work bowl; cover them with boiling water and let them sit in there for at least 10 minutes to remove any bitterness. Drain the walnuts, rinse in a colander, and pat them dry. While the walnuts are soaking, peel the lotus root, wash it carefully inside and out, and drain. Cut the lotus root into ¾-inch cubes, place in a small work bowl, cover with water, and add the vinegar to keep the roots white. Seed the fresh chilies and coarsely chop them; or break the dried chilies in half, shake out the seeds, and cut the chilies into ¼-inch pieces.

3. Heat a wok over medium-high heat and then add the oil. Fry the walnuts in the oil, tossing the whole time, until they are toasted and smell wonderful; remove to a clean medium work bowl, but keep the oil in the wok. Fry the chilies until they are dark red, and then remove them to the work bowl with the walnuts. Drain the lotus root, rinse it under tap water, shake dry, and add them to the wok. Stir-fry the lotus root for a minute or so to barely cook them, and then remove to the work bowl. Add the chicken and marinade to the wok and stir-fry the chicken until it barely starts to brown, and then remove it to the work bowl. Drain any oil in the work bowl back into the wok.

4. Heat the wok over high heat and add the ginger, green onions, and garlic. Stir-fry these for a few seconds to release their fragrance, and then add the sweet wheat paste and about ¼ cup boiling filtered water. When the water comes to a boil again, add everything in the wok bowl back to the wok and quickly toss them over high heat until the water has evaporated. Sprinkle on the sesame oil, toss again, adjust the seasoning, and serve hot.

Top photo courtesy cqqx.cqnews.net

Lotus chips

Just like most people, I love potato chips. But now I have a bag of something much better sitting on my counter: chips made out of thinly sliced lotus roots. These are not only tasty... they are also absolutely beautiful. Plus, they have the faint flavor of the lotus in them, which makes them extra special.

Lotuses are important throughout most of China, where they grow in ponds and send forth great stalks topped with enormous, gorgeously scented flowers. Walking by a lotus pond in midsummer when the cicadas are whirring, the dragonflies are hovering like jewels, and the fragrance from the ponds wrapping me in a fragrant reverie is one of the most cherished of my memories of life in China.

Wafer thin and crispy

The Chinese are practical people, though, and adore eating, so these intensely beautiful plants are also grown also for their leaves to be used as wrappers, as well as their seeds and roots, which are actually amazing rhizomes. Interestingly enough, both the seeds and the roots are starchy, and Chinese cuisine has taken excellent advantage of that, transforming them into fascinating foods that dazzle the eye, as well as the palate.

A few months ago I introduced Jiangsu's Sweet Stuffed Lotus Roots, which takes one ingenious approach to cooking with these lacy rhizomes and filling just the holes. Other areas, like Hubei province, slice the roots into discs that are then sandwiched with a meaty filling before being fried. Totally delicious, and we will be certain to do that one of these days.

But the dish we are going to look at today is really unusual. It might be considered nouvelle Chinese, as I've never seen it in a traditional meal other than, say, a few little chips garnishing something meaty. 

What I did was to treat the lotus roots just like potatoes: peeling and frying them into ethereally light chips that go well with things like fried chicken or fish (think Chinese fish and chips), and can easily be served along side some cold beer as a bar snack.

Fry til golden

These are super simple to make and can be prepared days ahead of a party. Just fry them, cool on paper towels to absorb any extra oil, and then store in a resealable plastic bag. As long as they have no contact with moisture (including air), they will stay fresh for up to a week.

A mandoline is extremely handy here for cutting the roots up into wafer-thin slices. What I do is trim of the end of one root and leave the other end on as a handle; then, I just shave the root into as many slices as possible until I reach the other end. Since the ends are nice and hard, they make very practical handles! Of course, as with all sharp blades, use care when slicing things on a mandoline, as they can cut up fingers in a flash.

The oil does not have to be fresh from the bottle for this; as long as it has no smells (such as from fish) and doesn't have a stale aroma, used oil should work fine. Use whatever kind of salt you like, plus a sprinkle of spices, if you wish.

One odd thing about lotus roots that you should be aware of is that they produce a hairlike juice. I mean, really, they look like very fine hairs and will stay that way even when the slices are fried. So don't be alarmed if you see what looks like blond hairs weaving in and out of the chips; totally harmless.

Perfect with cold Chinese beer

Fried lotus chips 
Zha oupian 炸藕片 
Vegetarian cuisine

Fresh lotus roots (see Tips)
Peanut or vegetable oil
Sea salt, fleur de sel, or kosher salt

1. Peel the lotus roots with a potato peeler, and remove any soft or brown spots. Rinse off any mud that might have worked its way into the roots (see Tips). Shave the roots into thin slices using a mandoline or a very sharp knife.

2. Prepare a plate covered with a paper towel next to the stove. Heat a few inches of oil in a wok over medium-high heat until a wooden chopstick inserted in the oil bubbles all over. Add a handful of the lotus root slices to the hot oil and stir them around with the chopsticks so that they don't stick to each other. Stir and fry them until they are a light golden brown all over. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil and place them on the paper towel to drain. Sprinkle the hot chips with the salt to taste. Repeat with the rest of the lotus root slices until done.

3. Cool to room temperature and either serve immediately or store in a resealable plastic bag, preferably with a paper towel to absorb any moisture or extra oil.

Tips

Sliced fresh lotus root

Choose firm, white lotus roots that have no bruises and are heavy for their size, which means that they are fresh and juicy.

Try to avoid any roots that have holes in them where mud could have worked its way in. Once in, it is hard to clean it thoroughly off the inside of the roots and will stain the lacy structure.

Store the fresh roots in the refrigerator in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel; use them as soon as possible.

Jiangsu's sweet stuffed lotus roots

October is the best time of the year for lotus roots, or so I was told by a lotus farmer in Modesto many years ago. He scoffed at the tubers that were for sale the rest of the year and told me they had been in storage for too long or weren't ripe enough. Surrounded as he was by ponds full of insanely beautiful lotus blossoms of every imaginable color, I figured he knew what he was talking about.

Scroll forward to today. It is now October and indeed the lotus roots are the best I've seen them in ages. Plump and white, they practically beg to be taken home.

Lotus roots are actually long tubers that grow horizontally under the plants, the real roots being the hairs that bristle out from between the white segments. Cut into slices, these tubers are one of the most beautiful of all vegetables, lacy and perfectly patterned. And as for taste and texture, well, they are exquisite on every count. Blanch them and toss the thin slices in a Chinese vinaigrette for a delectable appetizer, deep fry them into chips that will blow people away, or stew them whole or in large chunks for yet another level of deliciousness... it's hard to go wrong with lotus roots.

A plump, fresh tuber

Do note that the fresh tubers will often exude long threads when they are cooked; if you don't know what's going on, you might think that there are hairs in the dish! But these are perfectly edible and just part of the sticky quality of these quintessentially Chinese vegetables.

When you buy fresh lotus roots, again, get them in autumn, as they are at their freshest then. Look for smooth, round, hard tubers that don't have any bruises marring their perfect exteriors. They should feel heavy because they are full of juice when very fresh. Also, try to find ones that have both ends sealed with at least part of the joint, as this keeps the mud and air out, and you'll end up with a clean root.

To prepare them, snap the tubers apart and rinse them carefully to remove any mud. Trim off the joints flush with the tubers so that you only see very tiny holes at the ends. Remove the thin skin with a vegetable peeler to end up with smooth, white flesh all over. Then, if you are planning on stuffing them like in the recipe here, cut off between half an inch to one inch from one end; this will be the cap, so reserve it. If you are going to either slice it or cut it into chunks or cook it whole, trim off both ends of the tuber.

Wash out the insides

Clean the inside of the tuber by running water through the holes and lightly scraping the interiors with a chopstick. (See the photo on the right.) Tip the roots upside-down to drain. Prepare the rest of the recipe right away so that they don't oxidize.

In this recipe, the tuber is stuffed with raw rice, poached for a few hours, and then chilled. It sounds so simple, so prosaic, but it's one of the most treasured sweets of China's answer to French cuisine: Jiangsu. If I keep writing love letters to the lush foods of this region, it's because I am helpless whenever I come face to face with its rich and yet oh-so-delicate creations.

But that doesn't mean that I don't fool around with the tried and true!

Traditionally, round sweet rice fills the holes in the tuber, but I am infatuated with Thai black rice. It smells divine as it cooks and turns everything a luscious shade of purple, so when I picked up some fresh lotus roots at the market and realized when I got home that I had used up all of the regular sweet rice to make lots of fermented rice, my trusty bag of Thai black rice suggested that it be used instead.

Lavender lace and polka dots

As I rinsed off the grains, though, I noticed how much larger they are than round white rice. They would be hard to stuff into the roots that way, so I slightly ground them in a mini-processor (about eight pulses did the trick), just to knock them down in size a bit without turning them into powder. It was a perfect fit, and they ended up making a terrific dish nothing short of superb.

You will find that this recipe is a whole lot less sweet than most versions. I prefer to let the distinct aroma of the lotus root and rice shine through, with the osmanthus syrup popping through with bursts of perfume and a slightly salty edge. If you like it sweeter, by all means add more rock sugar toward the end. As with all chilled desserts, it will taste less sweet when it is cold than when it is hot.

Most directions for these stuffed roots tell you to watch them carefully during the last hour of cooking, as the sugar can easily cause the tubers to scorch. But, I found that placing a trivet in the bottom of the pot keeps the lotus roots out of harm's way and saves me from worrying that I'm going to ruin my dessert.

Crystalline air bubbles

Lotus roots stuffed with sweet rice 

Jiangmi lian'ou  江米蓮藕  
Jiangsu

Serves 6 to 8 as a dessert

2 fresh lotus root tubers (each about 6 inches long)
½ cup sweet (glutinous or nuomi) rice, or sweet black Thai rice
Filtered boiling water as needed
3½ ounces rock sugar (bingtang), about the size of 2 large eggs
½ cup osmanthus syrup (guihuajiang), or grated peel of a Meyer lemon plus another small handful of rock sugar chips and ½ teaspoon sea salt

1. Prepare the lotus root tubers as directed above. Cut off the caps, reserve, clean the insides, and drain.

2. Place the rice in a strainer and rinse under running water; shake dry. If using the black Thai rice, grind it very coarsely in a mini-processor or mortar so that the grains are chopped more or less in half.

Stuff the roots using a chopstick

3. Use one hand as a funnel to hold the top of one tuber and use the other hand to stuff the rice into the holes; a chopstick is useful in working the rice down. Pat the outside of the tuber to help shake the grains down, but don't pack the rice too tightly, as it will need to expand as it cooks. Use three chopsticks to pin the cap back onto the tuber. Repeat this step with the other tuber. Discard any leftover rice.

4. Place a small trivet upside-down in a pot that will easily hold the tubers in one layer. (Something that is about 7 inches in diameter is about right.) Lay the stuffed lotus roots on top of the trivet and cover with boiling water by about 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil again over high heat and then reduce the heat so that the water just simmers. Cook the lotus roots over gentle heat for 2 hours and then add the sugar. 

Pin the caps on with chopsticks

5. Continue to cook the lotus roots for another hour, adding more water only if the sauce cooks down too quickly. After the roots have been cooked for a total of three hours, remove them to a container to cool off. Add the osmanthus syrup (or the lemon peel plus extra sugar and the salt) to the pan and rapidly boil the sauce down until it has the consistency of maple syrup. Cool it to room temperature and pour it over the lotus roots. Refrigerate them at least overnight. 

6. To serve, remove the caps, cut off the other ends, and enjoy them yourself. Slice the roots into pieces about ½ an inch thick. Arrange them on a rimmed serving plate in an overlapping pattern. Pour the sauce over the slices and serve with hot green tea.