Sounding Radish Slivers

xiang luo bu si

I seem to have gone on a bit of an unplanned hiatus here lately - although it was partly unwilling, too, as our internet kind of blew up on Sunday. Or rather, fizzled and died, and, wow, is there a word for being woefully incompetent without internet access? Measurement conversions, word translations, recipes... it's all here. (And then we went and got a new DSL modem and I got lazy.)


I had a bit of a debate with myself about posting this recipe. It's very (VERY) good, but when eating it we were struck by how well some salmon would go with it. It would probably be, hrrm, less than authentic (the recipe comes from Fuchsia Dunlop's book on Hunan cooking, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook), but then I'm already substituting daikon with black radish, so it's probably well ruined anyway.

It takes some slicing and dicing (I used the slicer on my KitchenAid and then cut the slices into strips), but otherwise it's just a breeze, especially as I seem to have finally mastered the art of seasoning the wok so stuff doesn't stick to it.


Sounding Radish Slivers
from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop

500 g (1 lb) daikon radish (black radish was fine, although probably different)
1 tsp salt
1 red chili
1 bunch scallions, green parts
1 tsp soy sauce
1 ½ tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp potato flour mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp groundnut oil for cooking

Slice the radish finely, then cut the slices into slivers. Toss with the salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Slice the chili and scallions.

Drain the radish slices and squeeze dry. Heat the wok until smoking, then pour in the groundnut oil and the chili. Let sizzle for a "a few seconds" (whatever), then add the radish slivers and soy sauce and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the spring onions and vinegar and stir to combine, then add the potato flour goo and stir until it thickens. Take off the heat and stir in the sesame oil.