Healthy Szechuan Chinese Take-Out Made at Home

When craving yummy authentic Szechuan chinese food, why not make your own? This recipe is very versatile, so not much planning is needed once you have the base ingredients on hand. Just use whatever protein and vegetables you have in your kitchen at the time!

Ingredients:

Core Ingredients:

Cooked rice

A protein (tofu, chicken, beef, shrimp, eggs, etc...) - for this one I used one package of cubed Jenny's Smoked Five Spice Tofu

Vegetables (at least two) - for this one I used bamboo and lacinato kale

5 Cloves of chopped garlic

2 Inch piece of grated fresh ginger

1 - 1 1/2 Tsp of Szechuan peppercorns (depending on spice level desired)

4 Tbsp of sesame oil or other high heat cooking oil or lard

Sauce ingredients:

3 Tbsp of coconut sap vinegar

2 Tbsp of tamari

1 Tsp of arrowroot powder

1/2 Tsp of Chinese five spice powder

Key: Tsp = Teaspoon / Tbsp = Tablespoon

Steps:

You do not need a wok for this recipe. In fact, I do not even cook my Chinese on High heat, but you can if you want. Just make sure if you do to have all of your ingredients prepped ahead of time and use your kitchen tongs to constantly flip ingredients to prevent burning. I cook my stir fry on Medium - Medium High heat and find that it works just fine, and gives me more wiggle room to not accidentally burn anything.

1 - Cook your rice

2 - Take your Szechuan peppercorns and grind them using a mortar and pestle

3 - Prepare all of your other ingredients (cut meat, chop veggies and garlic, grate ginger)

4 - Prepare sauce

• Mix all sauce ingredients in a measuring cup and whisk or stir until well combined

5 - Add sesame oil to a pan (or wok)

6 - Use a mesh colander to sprinkle the ground Szechuan peppercorns in the oil. This process separates the yummy part from the tough hulls. Dispose of the hulls. Note: It is important to use a mesh colander and not one with larger holes so you can effectively separate the hulls.

7 - Heat the oil and peppercorn mixture on Medium - Medium High heat until you smell the heavenly fragrance of the peppercorns begin to release

8 - Add in grated ginger, and a minute later add in the chopped garlic, mixing both into the oil with cooking tongs

9 - Add in all other ingredients in order - from the ones that will take the longest, to the ones that will take the shortest using your intuition on how long to cook each before adding in the next (this will get easier with time). If you are cooking raw meat, it will go in first, and need to be cooked for a decent amount of time before adding in veggies as veggies in general have a significantly shorter cooking time. If you have ingredients of similar density (for example broccoli and carrots), they can go in at the same time. While cooking make sure to periodically toss and flip your ingredients using cooking tongs. If adding in tofu or eggs put them in last so as not to overcook them.

10 - Give your sauce another stir in the measuring cup before adding it in now. Coat all ingredients with the sauce using a large cooking spoon and stir every 10 to 20 seconds for five minutes to warm and cook the sauce, and coat your ingredients. Note: If you are making a large amount of stir fry you can thin out the sauce with as much water as you think is needed before adding it, or make more sauce but leaving out the tamari to reduce the risk of your stir fry coming out too salty.

11 - If using meat make sure it is cooked to a safe temperature at this time, and if not cook longer until it is

12 - Serve over rice and enjoy! Note: Top with fresh scallions, toasted sesame oil, and/or toasted sesame seeds for extra flavor!