Fried Tangyuan with Suancai: A Guizhou Dish Like No Other
As I sat down to make fried tangyuan with suancai, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. The first time I ever tried this dish, I took one bite and was immediately confused. These sweet black sesame tangyuan were fried together with chilis and pickled mustard greens, resulting in a cacophony of flavors that left me both perplexed and intrigued. However, the more I ate it, the more addicted I became, and now it's one of my favorite dishes.
To make fried tangyuan with suancai, you'll need to start with some store-bought frozen tangyuan. For those unfamiliar with tangyuan, they are these stuffed sticky rice balls that use a dough similar to Japanese mochi. While making them from scratch is definitely an option, we opted for convenience and used frozen tangyuan instead. This saves us time, but don't worry – the end result is just as delicious.
First, let's cook our frozen tangyuan. To do this, simply place 200 grams of frozen tangyuan in a pot of lightly boiling water. No need to thaw beforehand! We want to keep things at a simmer, so medium-low heat is perfect. Once the tangyuan start to float after about three minutes, add a splash of cool water and repeat the process two more times. After the third round, they should be floating on the surface. Take them out and toss in some ice-cold water to cool down for at least 15 minutes. This step is crucial, as we want the inside of the tangyuan to cool all the way down.
Once our tangyuan are chilled, it's time to coat them with cornstarch. We do a rough job rolling them around in some dry cornstarch, and then finish coating them with an even layer by hand. Before we deep-fry these bad boys, I want to take a quick aside about deep-frying safety. You see, stuffed tangyuan will always have a bit of air inside, and when deep-fried, pressure can build and potentially cause the tangyuan to explode. We don't want that! So, be careful, and don't push it.
Now, let's get our wok hot and ready for some serious frying action. We'll use about three cups of oil over a max flame until we reach 200 degrees centigrade. Then, gently add the tangyuan to the oil and fry them for about 45 seconds – or ideally, 60 seconds, but we won't be testing our luck today! Once they're done, take them out and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil.
While our tangyuan are frying, let's prepare the suancai. Suancai are pickled mustard greens that should be available at any Chinese supermarket. We'll start by soaking them in cool water for five minutes to get rid of some of the salinity. Then, we'll wring out the liquid and give them a mince. Next, we'll heat up a tablespoon of oil in a hot wok over medium flame and fry the suancai until they're wilted and darker green. We'll add a half teaspoon of sugar to give it that extra kick.
Now, let's get started with our stir-fry! First things first, we need to longyau – yes, you read that right, longyau! That means heating up the wok over high heat until it reaches a piping hot state. Once it's ready, shut off the heat and add about a tablespoon of oil. Give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface, then toss in some minced garlic and ginger. Fry those together for about 30 seconds until they're fragrant.
Next, we'll add half a tablespoon of laoganma chilicrisps – yes, you read that right again! Laoganma is an unconventional ingredient in this dish, but it's part of the restaurant's rendition we were aiming for. Now, add another half tablespoon of laojiu (a.k.a. Shaoxing wine) and pour it over your spatula and around the sides of the wok. Make sure there's no liquid remaining, then toss in our deep-fried tangyuan!
Now, all that's left is to season with a quarter teaspoon of salt and an eighth teaspoon of MSG, and voila! Our fried tangyuan with suancai are done. It may seem like a lot of work, but trust me when I say it's worth every minute.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enToday, we wanted to show you how to make aGuizhou dish that I’m currently obsessedwith, fried tangyuan with suancai.Now, the first time I ever ate this dish Itook one bite and was like immediately confused.These are sweet black sesame tangyuan friedtogether with chilis and pickled mustard greens…it’s basically like every single flavorall at once.It’s a cacophony.But the more I ate it the more addicted Igot, and now it’s one of my favorites andI’m really excited to share it.But right, to get started with your suancaifried tangyuan, you need, tangyuan.For the unaware tangyuan are these stuffedsticky rice balls that use a dough that couldkinda be compared to Japanese mochi, and ifyou’re interested in making them yourselfdefinitely check out our tangyuan video uphere.Today though we went with some store-boughtfrozen tangyuan, which saves us some timeand totally work well for this dish.Now we’ll end up deep-frying those but firstthey’ve gotta be cooked.So to a pot of lightly boiling water, tossin 200 grams of frozen tangyuan… no needto thaw.Now tangyuan are delicate, so toss the flameat medium low to keep things at a simmer.Once those are just starting to float, afterabout three minutes, add in a splash of coolwater.Let it get back to a heavy simmer, then poursome more water in, repeating the process.You’ll wanna do this three times in all,and after the third go around the tangyuanshould be obviously floating.Take them out, and toss in some ice cold waterand rest at least 15 minutes so that the insidescan cool all the way down.Now once those are suitably chilled, transferover to a plate then move them over to somedry cornstarch to coat.Do a rough job rolling them around, then finishcoating them with an even layer of cornstarchby hand.But before we toss these in to deep-fry, forgiveme for a quick aside about deep-frying safety.See, stuffed tangyuan’ll always have a bitof air inside, and when deep-frying pressurewill build and potentially cause your tangyuanto explode.So be careful, don’t push it…I do want a crispy tangyuan but I want a grease-firefree kitchen even more.So right, in a wok with three cups of oil,over max flame get the temperature up to about200 centigrade, and toss in the tangyuan.Let those fry for about 45 seconds…60 is ideal but we’re not gunna test ourluck.Then take them out, toss on a plate, preferablypaper towel lined… and these are good tostir-fry.So now we’ll be frying those today withten dried chilis… these are erjingtiao butyou could use arbols or really whatever, slicedinto one centimeter pieces leaving most ofthe seeds… one inch of ginger, roughly minced;two cloves of garlic, roughly minced as well;and also optionally a bit of laoganma chilicrisps in oil.Now using laoganma would be kinda be a littlestrange in this dish, and the way we’reusing it’s also unconventional… but wewere mimicking a specific restaurant’s renditionand that’s just the route we went… feelfree to skip.Then lastly, of course, you’ll also need100 grams of the titular ingredient, suancai.Suancai are pickled mustard greens that shouldbe available at like any Chinese supermarket…prep them by first soaking in cool water forfive minutes to get out some of the salinity,wring out the liquid, and give it a mince.Then in a hot wok with about a tablespoonof oil, fry the suancai over medium flamefor about four minutes til it starts to wiltand turn into a darker green, season witha half teaspoon sugar, fry that together forabout 15 seconds, and then set it aside.So now, to stir-fry.So we always do when stir-frying… firstlongyau.Get that wok piping hot, shut off the heat,add in the oil, here about a tablespoon, andgive it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface.Heat on medium-low now, toss in the garlicand the ginger.Fry until they’re fragrant, about 30 seconds,then go in with a half tablespoon of the laoganmachili crisps.Fry those together for about another 30 seconds,then up the heat to high and pour a half tablespoonliaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine over your spatula‘n around the sides of the wok.Make sure there’s no liquid remaining, thentoss in the deep fried tangyuan.Fry that for about 15 seconds, then seasonwith a quarter teaspoon salt and an eighthteaspoon MSG.Another 15 seconds, then go in with the suancaiand the dried chilis… fry that togetherfor about thirty seconds… and out. Suancai chao tangyuan, done.\n"
