A Visit to Iran Helped This Cookbook Author Find a Deeper Family Connection—and Delicious Recipes
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When cookbook author Louisa Shafia visited Persia she discovered authentic flavors, a deeper connection to family and a new perspective on her identity.
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Plus, how to use each ingredient and where to find them.
Learn how this mother and daughter created a market for essential Sichuan ingredients—and get the recipes for some of their favorite dishes.
Three different ingredients make these hot-and-sour sweet potato noodles quite spicy. One of them, the green Sichuan peppercorns, can be tough to find and there isn't an easy sub, so leave them out if you like.
This fresh and spicy salad features fava beans, which besides adding heft to this radish salad are a main ingredient in the iconic chili bean paste of Sichuan province. Look for frozen favas with Hispanic foods or in the freezer section in your supermarket. If you want an even more substantial salad, just double the sauce and add cooked sweet potato glass noodles.
Mapo tofu is a dish that has become popular outside its roots in Szechuan Province, China, perhaps because it is so adaptable. The type and amount of both tofu and meat can vary and even the spicy sauce can be tuned to the desired level of heat.
In China it's common to serve stir-fried greens with a dollop of oyster sauce often mixed with a little bit of mild vinegar. This riff doubles down on the sour by adding Zhenjiang black vinegar, which is full-bodied and pretty puckery.
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The thinly sliced potatoes (a mandoline makes slicing quicker if you have one) cook until just tender so they keep their shape, but if they do fall apart, they'll taste every bit as delicious.
"Dry pot" is a cooking method that comes from the very popular hot-pot meals where everyone selects their own ingredients to cook in a spicy communal broth. Dry-pot cooking often takes the same ingredients and spices but uses a stir-fry technique to cook them.