Reality Check: Stir-fried Chicken and Beans with Sichuan Pepper

It's all well and good to spend several hours on a weekend shopping for, preparing, and making photogenic a dish to put up on a blog. But what about the rest of the week?

For those that might have an unnaturally keen interest in this blog, you might have noticed that we haven't had an SMBC for a while. We could probably blame it on The Shok who is currently back home in Malaysia, however, the truth is that we're all actually getting ridiculously busy with work (long weekends in the lab and such).

One still does need to eat though. PC's go-to food seems to be risotto and pasta. Mine is plain rice cooked in a pot with something stir-fried in a pan... because a) rice cookers are banned in college, and b) I only own one pot and one pan!

So to put up some 'normal' food as a reality check for this blog, I've decided to write up what I made a couple of days ago (and will be eating for the next few days).

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I've been craving the taste of ma-la (麻辣) for a while. Ma-la comes from the Sichuan province in China, ma being the tingly tongue-numbing sensation from Sichuan peppercorns,and la being the heat of chilli. Top it off with an excessive amount of chilli oil and you have the basis for many a Sichuan dish.

I recently bought some Sichuan peppercorns at Sainsbury of all places, plus a bottle of Lao Gan Ma (老干妈) chilli sauce at one of the asian shops on Mill Rd. I shall not explain the awesomeness that is Lao Gan Ma, but instead direct you to their website for you to appreciate their amazing Engrish. I particularly like the part about an ″aircraft carrier″ of chili processing industry. Old granny's gonna call some airstrikes if you don't finish every grain of rice in your bowl...

Everybody loves granny sauce. She must be filthy rich, so the question is, why does she look so angry?

Ingredients:
12 deboned chicken thighs 400 g green beans 2 cloves garlic Lao Gan Ma sauce (the black bean type) Dried chilli flakes	2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil handful of Sichuan peppercorns

First, cut the chicken into bite sized cubes and marinate with the soy, sesame oil, a couple of good dollops of Lao Gan Ma, and some crushed up Sichuan peppercorns.
Whilst marinating, chop the green beans into 3cm-ish lengths. Mince garlic into small pieces.

***Stir-fry tips when on a college hob***
Make sure the pan is really hot (this may take 5 minutes...). Cook the meat in small batches, otherwise all the heat will be sapped away, leading to watery steam-'fry' and tough meat.
I used a bit of canola oil for the first batch, but after that, there was plenty of oil in the marinade (thanks to Lao Gan Ma) so there was no need to add any more.

After frying the chicken and putting it aside, fry the minced garlic, more Lao Gan Ma, Sichuan peppercorns and chilli flakes (I had no fresh chilli) briefly, then add the beans. After a while, put a lid over the top to help cook it through. Add a dash of light soy if not salty enough.

Finally add back the chicken and heat through. All done! Best served with plain rice!

Om nom nom nom.

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I'm heading back to Sydney in a week's time! Going to knock down some serious food cravings, plus fill up on some home cooking =) 
Oh yeah, and stock up on Tim Tams.