I learned something today. I love kung pao chicken. I always avoided eating the little red chilies in it thinking they would be too hot for me. Yet I like the numbing sensation. So today I learned it’s two different foods. I was researching make a spicy sauce for some bland chicken I cooked last night and that’s when I read about the difference between the Szechuan peppercorns and the dried red chilies. They said the peppercorns are not hot but they do have the mouth numbing quality. A friend said he usually grinds them and uses them in any dish he’d like to give more heat and a slightly floral flavor. They aren’t hot as much as they have a somewhat punchy and mildly fruity flavor and they give that mouth numbing effect.

The numbing sensation comes from Szechuan peppercorns and the dried red chili peppers are what give the heat. Szechuan peppercorns are first lightly toasted and then can be used whole or ground into powder (then it’s called Szechuan pepper.) The spice is one of the 5 ingredients that comprise five-spice powder. The others are star anise, fennel, clove, and cinnamon, and it’s used in many savory Szechuan dishes.

Chefs believe the numbing effect reduces the chile pepper’s heat, leaving diners free to appreciate the chile’s intense, fruity flavor. The Szechuan peppercorn by itself does not have more spicy hotness than black peppercorns, but the mouth tingle acts to enhance tastes.

THE SCIENCE: Szechuan peppercorns contain the molecule hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. Like capsaicin in chili peppers, it interacts with nerve cell receptors in your lips and mouth. (Researchers pinpointed the Meissner receptors.) It excites the touch sensors and the confusing sensation feels like numbness. The chemical triggers the receptors, causing them to fire a message to your brain that the area is being touched. With enough stimulation, it feels like the area has gone numb.

You don’t put a whole Sichuan peppercorn in your mouth and bite down. So if you see a whole Sichuan peppercorn in a dish, don’t eat it. The more appealing way to eat it is ground into tiny chunks or powder.

Article: What Is Szechuan Peppercorn? Uses, Benefits, Recipes https://www.thespruceeats.com/szechuan-peppercorn-info-694248

Video: What is the Szechuan Peppercorn? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2dKpXFsn4

Related: Hot Chili Peppers – benefits of eating hot chii and cayenne peppers https://www.thespruceeats.com/hot-chili-peppers-3217083

RELATED: My fave Kung Pao chicken recipe http://goddessgrub.com/blog/kung-pao-chicken/

This is the sauce. Use half for marinade.
1. Simmer sauce until thick
2. Brown chicken fast in wok with the ginger, scallions, garlic and red chilies.
3.  Then add a chopped red pepper, half a chopped onion and half a chopped zucchini.
4. Then add sauce and 1 small can of diced water chestnuts and a handful of unsalted dry-roasted peanuts.
5.  Before serving, drizzle with 1 tsp sesame oil (don’t cook sesame oil, add it before serving)    Continue reading →

For this recipe, you’ll use the packet of 15 bean soup mix but you will NOT use the seasoning packet. I like a highly flavored soup but I don’t care for all the sodium contained in the seasoning packets. I’ve learned it’s just as easy to make my own (link here for Homemade Cajun Spice Mix. You’ll notice the cajun spices are also the recipe for homemade chili powder.

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Mix and store in an airtight container. Prepare a day ahead of time for best flavor development. Note: this is also the recipe for homemade chili powder.

YIELD: About 3/4 cup

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons kosher or pink Himalayan sea salt. If you use table salt, use only 1 tbsp.

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
 

Crispy Okra Pie

Mmmmm, sounds yummy, right? You’d be surprised. The way I usually make okra is CRISPY LOW FAT OVEN FRIED OKRA  where I take thawed out, cut frozen okra and dip it into beaten egg then into breadcrumbs and bake in a 400 degree oven 12-15 minutes in a metal pan sprayed with olive oil Pam. I spray the tops with more Pam so they’ll brown.  This time I tried something different. Again, I had a 12 oz bag of frozen cut okra that I took out 6 oz of it to thaw. I made a

LOW FAT VEGETARIAN OKRA PIE (think cheesy bread without the heavy crust)

First, saute in olive oil one big chopped onion along with 2 chopped celery stalks, few chopped garlic cloves if you have them. Once they are golden they’ll add great flavor to this dish.

Put the sauteed onions, celery and garlic into a large mixing bowl with the thawed okra along with 1/2 tp each salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and 1/4 tsp each crushed fennel seed, basil, tarragon, curry powder along with one beaten egg.    Continue reading →

My fave way to use dashi is in miso soup, add 1 tbsp yellow miso to one cup dashi

A recipe for dashi can be as simple as water and kelp, but adding bonito makes the dashi more complex and complete. In Japanese cuisine, all roads lead back to dashi, the base stock made from dried kelp (seaweed) and dried fish. Even in a sushi class with Morimoto , he demoed the proper preparation of dashi well before he broached the topic of fish. Perusing through a Japanese cookbook, you reach the same conclusion: without dashi, most of the recipes could not be executed.   Continue reading →

As I was growing up, my mom worked at Western Union from 11am to 9pm. She’d cook dinner each morning and leave me with instructions to heat it up when I got home from school.  Sunday mornings my dad would make french toast and scramble eggs but that was the extent of his cooking.  Then we began raising rabbits and he got into the cooking of it.  It made me a little sad at first but he explained about circle of life. He said not only were the animals happy to fulfill their destiny, the onions and carrots and wheat and all plants were as well. They lived on through us as they gave their life so ours could continue.  That was the reason we prayed before eating.  Many relatives and friends passed during my childhood.  One way my dad dealt with his grief was by cooking.  He said cooking and eating reminds us we are alive even though we feel a piece of us is gone. His grandmother passed when I was in my teens, and he embarked upon a quest to duplicate Kentucky Fried Chicken‘s original recipe. We had a new version every single night for weeks, months while he experimented. That was fine with 4 hungry teenagers and boy, could my brothers scarf food down. When my youngest brother bobby passed in 1976, my dad began making sourdough rolls. By hand, no bread machine. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. By giving them away to friends and family, he was sharing his son with everyone.     Continue reading →

Spinach and Cheese Quiche

This is a modification of a cheese-less quiche that I’ve spiced up a little. Once you have the ingredients, it takes just 10 minutes to throw together. Stick in the oven for an hour. Let sit for 10 minutes to let the custardy center settle, then enjoy.  I’ve made this without the crust, I’ve made this with all sorts of different vegetables and meats. It’s a great way to fancy up leftovers.  You can make it Mexican by adding ground beef, cheddar cheese and sour cream. You can make it Italian by adding ricotta and topping with marinara and mozzarella.   Continue reading →

ANDREA’S MULTI-DIMENSIONAL 4 WAY WRAP

This is an easy, almost endless variety of sandwich ideas. Simply:

Step 1. PICK A WRAP (TORTILLA)
There are so many good wraps in the market now, I like the spinach wrap and the sun dried tomato flavors.

Step 2 PICK A SAUCE:
Recipes below
Hummus
Guacamole
Gaucamole Sauce
Tahini Sauce    Continue reading →