Asian

Malatang

Name: Malatang
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 50 g dried sweet potato vermicelli; 5 g dried wood ear mushrooms; 1 tbsp rapeseed oil; 1 tbsp doubanjiang; 4 dried red chillies; 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns; 2 cloves garlic; 10 g fresh ginger; 1 spring onion; 400 ml chicken stock; 2 tsp light soy sauce; 0.5 tsp caster sugar; 1 tsp Chinese sesame paste; 60 g beef sirloin; 3 fish balls; 25 g fried tofu puffs; 50 g enoki mushrooms; 70 g pak choi; 40 g lotus root; 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds; 5 g coriander

A single steaming bowl of Sichuan's numbing-hot street food: a mala broth built on doubanjiang, dried chillies and Sichuan pepper, loaded with sliced beef, fish balls, tofu puffs, mushrooms, greens and slippery sweet potato noodles.

Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein 8g+ fibre

40 min20 prep · 20 cookEasy616 kcalper serving

Method

Put 50 g of dried sweet potato vermicelli in a bowl of warm water and 5 g of dried wood ear in a separate bowl of cold water. Leave both for 20 minutes, until the noodles are pliable and the wood ear has swollen to several times its size. Drain, and trim any hard nubs from the wood ear, tearing large pieces in two.
While they soak, prepare the rest. Slice 40 g of peeled lotus root into 3 mm coins and keep them in cold water. Trim the root end from 50 g of enoki and pull the clump apart, quarter 70 g of pak choi lengthways, halve 25 g of tofu puffs, and slice 60 g of beef sirloin as thinly as you can across the grain. Separate the spring onion into whites and greens and shred both.
Heat 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil in a small saucepan or clay pot over a low heat. Add 1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorns and 4 halved dried chillies and stir for 30 seconds, just until they smell toasty — do not let them blacken. Add 1 tbsp of chopped doubanjiang, 2 cloves sliced garlic cloves, 10 g of shredded ginger and the spring onion whites, and fry gently for 2 minutes, pressing the paste against the pan, until the oil runs deep red.