Stir-fried kale with Sichuan Pepper Leaves
I remember the day I first tried Sichuan peppercorns…. It was in South-west China (appropriately) at a day-long Sichuanese cooking class. For me, this previously unknown spice added a whole new dimension to cooking!
Sichuan pepper is spicy and hot in a totally different way. It’s not hot like black pepper, not spicy like chillies, not even warming like ginger. These peppercorns are hot in a lingering, numbing way!
In large quantities in a dish they can be too much for my mouth to cope with. However, in moderation, it’s a flavour that does magical things in a dish.
I was lucky enough to grab a handful of Sichuan peppercorns from tree growing in an edible forest in Devon (I was attending an forest gardening course with Martin Crawford). Martin was happy for us to take some peppercorns as he had already harvested 13kg of pepper from his tree that season!
I then set about growing Sichuan pepper for these seeds. It takes a while - they need to be stored in the freezer for months to recreate the very cold Sichuanese winter weather. To cut a long story short, a few peppercorns germinated and a couple have made it into small trees - now 6 years old. Last year, we had the first peppercorns (eighteen to be exact) and this year we’ve counted 31!
One day, I hope to add handfuls of these delicious peppercorns to our veg boxes but for now we’re handing out Sichuan pepper leaves. They are very, very fragrant. And I think they are easier to cook with than the peppercorns as it’s harder to over do them in the recipe.
Serves 2
A bunch of kale (about 300g)
One clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil or peanut oil
2-4 fresh Sichuan pepper leaves
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Wash the kale and strip the greens off the stalks. Put the stalks into the compost and slice the kale thinly. I like it chopped nice and fine for this recipe (but you can chop roughly if you’d prefer).
Peel and finely slice the clove of garlic
Put the sunflower oil into pan over a medium heat (I just use a sauce pan, but a wok or frying pan would be fine)
Add the Sichuan pepper leaves to the oil. They will sizzle away. Once they start to release their aroma add the garlic slices.
Make sure you don’t burn the garlic. Once it’s just starting to brown, carefully remove the Sichuan pepper leaves and discard
Add the kale and stir well. It might spit a bit as there will be some water on it. You want to stir it to avoid the garlic sitting at the bottom of the pan and burning.
If you like your kale a bit softer, add a tablespoon of water and put a lid on to steam the kale for a few minutes.
Once cooked to your liking, add a teaspoon of soy sauce and taste. Add more soy sauce if it needs it.
Serve with jasmine rice and a fried egg for a simple and delicious lunch.