1/4 cup *Dou chi fermented black beans
1/3 cup Shaoxing rice wine
1/4 cup *Sichuan Gan Hai Jiao* dried Sichuanese chilies
2/3 cup *Hua Sheng Mi Cai You* peanut oil
1/2 cup *Dou Ban Jiang* Sichuanese chili bean paste
1/3 cup *Lao Zao* fermented glutinous rice wine
1 tsp *Hua Zhao* whole Sichuan pepper
6 qt *Xian Tang*everyday stock (recipe below) or Beef stock
2/3 cup Beef drippings or lard
3 inch *Sheng Jiang* piece of fresh ginger unpeeled
1Tbl Rock sugar

Feel free to add more *Sichuan Gan Hai Jiao* dried Sichuanese chilies and *Hua Zhao* whole Sichuan pepper as you like… Which I always do…

Mash black beans w/1Tblsp Shaoxing wine, with mortar and pestle until smooth.

Wash ginger and cut into slices about the thickness of a coin.

Snip all chilies into halves or 1 inch sections with scissors, discard seeds (seeds can be saved and planted for fresh chilies).

Heat 3 Tblsp of peanut oil in wok/pan over medium flame until hot but not smoking. Add all chilies and stir-fry briefly till they are crispy and fragrant, be careful not to burn the chilies as the process happens fast. Oil should sizzle gently around the chilies. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Pour oil in separate container and set aside, give the wok/pan a quick rinse and dry thoroughly.

Place the beef drippings and rest of peanut oil into wok/pan over medium-low heat. Until the drippings have melted completely. Then turn heat to medium. When oil just begins to smoke (200-300F), add all the chili bean paste and stir-fry for a minute or until the oil is a rich red and fragrant. The paste should sizzle gently take care not to burn. Remove from heat briefly if necessary so to avoid burning. When the oil has reddened, add the mashed black beans and ginger and continue to stir-fry till fragrant. Then pour 1 ½ quarts of the stock in and bring to boil. The rest out the stock will be used later to top off the Huo Guo (hotpot) as you eat.

When the liquid comes to a boil, add rock sugar and the rest of the Shaoxing rice wine, with the fermented rice wine and salt to taste.

Finally, add the prepared chilies and the Sichuan pepper according to taste and leave broth to simmer for about 15-20 minutes. This will bring all the flavors together and intensify the spiciness.

Xian Tang (*Everyday stock*) by Donte Allen

1-2lbs of pork bones
2-3lbs of chicken bones, necks, wings
2in piece of ginger peeled and crushed
2-4 spring onions
4 cloves of garlic

Add all large bones to a large stock pot. Cover with plenty of water so to submerge the bone and bring to a fast boil. Skim all scum from the top of the liquid. After the scum now longer forms reduce to low/medium heat. Then add ginger, spring onions, and garlic. Let simmer 2-3 hours… Strain liquid and allow stock to cool.

Stock maybe used immediately of refrigerated or frozen until ready to use. Refrigerated stock can be kept longer if you boil it up each day or two.

Sichuan Huo guo (Sichuan hot pot) by Donte Allen

Side dishes…You can have improvise, there is no rule to what you can have.

Here are some traditional dipping ingredients.

Meats:
Chinese wind dried sausage
Chicken breast, thinly sliced
Chicken thighs, skinless thinly sliced
Pork Tenderloin, thinly sliced
Lean beef or lamb, thinly sliced
Cooked meats of all kinds
Pork kidney, halved, cored and thinly sliced
Smoked bacon, thickly sliced
Firm bean curd, thickly sliced
Dry bean curd skin, soaked until soft
Lambs brains
Tripe
Intestines, or as my Sichuan friends directly translate it, “the sh*t pipe…”

Veggies:
Cabbage
Lotus, sliced and soaked in lightly salted water
Spinach
Bean sprouts, whole
Fresh coriander (cilantro)
Radishes, turnips
Potatoes, thickly sliced and soaked in lightly salted water

Fungus:
Shiitake
Oyster
Button
Enoki
Wood ear or cloud ear, pre-soaked in hot water for at least 30mins
Chinese dried mushrooms, pre-soaked in hot water for at least 30mins
Large flat mushrooms, cut into chunky slices

For the seasoning dips:
Sesame oil
Sea salt white or black pepper
Garlic, finely chopped, at least one head of garlic for every 4 people
Dou fu ru
Coriander( cilantro), chopped

Markets: Where to find what you need
There is nothing more frustrating that getting a new recipe(s) and then finding that your local Supermarket doesn’t have all that you need. Luckily, here in Slo-lumbus when have a menagerie of ethnic markets, if you can’t find everything you need at one then you may at a combination of 2 or 3. Also, you will find you save money shopping at ethnic groceries than your major supermarkets where prices are marked up dramatically on things you find at a specific ethnic market for a margin of the price. Also Ethnic groceries will have several options on every product giving you far more choices.

So, I made a list of market that is a great resource… for the Slo-umbus Foodie…

The North Market: meats, produce, specialty import foods, etc…

Mon: optional hours for merchants
Tues-Friday: 8am-7pm
Sat-Sun: 8am-5pm

Koyama Shoten: Japanese
5857 Sawmill Rd
Dublin, OH 43017
Get Directions
(614) 761-8118

Lotte: Korean
218 Graceland Blvd
Columbus, OH 43214
Get Directions
(614) 885-3232

Toul Bo: Korean
999 Bethel Rd
Columbus, OH 43214
Get Directions
(614) 459-8888

Mediterranean Foods Imports: Name says it all, also great to spices by the oz.
2647 N High St
Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 263-9400‎

New Asian Supermarket: Like a Warehouse
3635 W Dublin Granville Rd
Columbus, OH 43235
Get Directions
(614) 889-8899

Sunrise Asian Supermarket: Like a Warehouse, great for exotic meat.
1841 Henderson Rd
Columbus, OH 43220
Get Directions
(614) 326-1999

CAM: Columbus Asian market: Great for veggies and meats and assortment of everything else.

Olentangy Plaza
817 Bethel Road
Columbus, OH 43214
Mon-Sat: 10:00am-8:00pm
Sun: 10:00am-7:00pm

Tensuke Market: The best Japanese grocery in Slo-lumbus.
1167 Old Henderson Rd
Columbus, OH 43220-3607
(614) 451-6002