Tag Archives: chile crisp

A Side of Summer: Chile Crisp Tomato Dumpling Salad

Oh frozen dumplings and potstickers, where have you been all my life? I mean, I’ve seen you there in the freezer, but I never knew the slacker potential I was missing. And I never knew you could branch out beyond your comfort food role to star in a summer salad.

And yet…behold this new summer staple, which apparently “went viral” moments after I made it for the first time.

I’m calling this the side of summer vs the salad of summer because the dumplings definitely take it out of pure salad territory. We’ll leave that for things like Hero Slaw, Summer Perfection Watermelon Tomato Salad, Massaged Kale Salad and the like. This is more along the lines of THE panzanella, which has the heft to carry the meal on its own, with a little sideshow of quelque chose.  

If you are not among her 214K followers, Hetty Lui Mack is a boss with chile crisp. Exhibit A, and B. My only modification to her creation is this: look at the preparation instructions on your chosen bag of dumplings, and if it is easier than the method in the recipe, go for it. Mine were way easier, and involved less oil. Whatev. Cook those dumplings however you like.

Tomato dumpling salad, how do I love thee?

I love that you can be served room temp and assembled just before people arrive. I love that you are one more way to justify the bottomless jar of chile crisp that always resides in my fridge. I love that you are easy to scale up and down and I love that you are even good with just ok tomatoes vs peak of summer amazing tomatoes. (Don’t be offended, but when nobody is looking in winter I may even try you with diced canned tomatoes.)

One more recommendation before you go: Chile crisp comes in many forms. Make this with any variety, as long as you know you love it. I recommend this homemade slacker version but have also made it with some excellent versions in my fridge. You do you.

Tomato Dumpling Salad with Chile Crisp Vinaigrette

Cred to the NYT and Hetty Lui McKinnon.

FOR THE SALAD

Ingredients:

  • ·  2½ pounds ripe tomatoes (any variety), cut into roughly 1- to 2-inch pieces (at room temperature)
  • ·  1 garlic clove, grated
  • ·  ½ cup basil leaves, torn
  • ·  Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal brand) and black pepper
  • ·  1 pound frozen potsticker dumplings (not thawed)
  • ·  Neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable
  • ·  1 to 2 tablespoons store-bought crispy fried shallots (optional)

FOR THE CHILE CRISP VINAIGRETTE:

  • ·  3 tablespoons chile crisp (or chile oil)
  • ·  2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • ·  1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more to taste Steps

Method:

Place the tomatoes on a large serving plate or in a bowl. Add the garlic, half the basil leaves, 1 teaspoon of salt and a big pinch of black pepper. Toss to combine and set aside.

To make the vinaigrette, combine the chile crisp, rice vinegar and soy sauce and whisk to combine. Taste and if it needs more saltiness, add ½ teaspoon more soy sauce.

Heat a large (12-inch) nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium high for 1 to 2 minutes until very hot. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil and, working in batches, add the dumplings, flat-side down, and cook until the bottoms of the dumplings are lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately add about 1/4 cup of water to the pan, just enough to cover the base of the dumplings, then cover and cook until the water has evaporated, 3 to 4 minutes. (If your dumplings contain meat, cook for an extra 1 to 2 minutes, or according to packet instructions). Transfer the cooked dumplings to a plate and continue cooking the remaining dumplings.

To serve, place the warm dumplings over the tomato salad and drizzle with the chile crisp vinaigrette. Toss very gently. Top with the crispy fried shallots (if using) and the remaining basil leaves. Serve either while the dumplings are still warm or at room temperature.

Slacker Chile Crisp

I love Genevieve Ko. To be clear, I don’t know her, but when a stranger changes your life in a good way what’s not to love?

First, some background and context for this new crush. I am a huge fan of chile crisp, the reigning condiment of the year in our household. While I love the version that I first discovered, and shared here, it is a total pain in the arse to make. It involves lots of labor and time, at least one special ingredient you might not have on hand (star anise) and requires way too much focus with sharp knives. Furthermore, having undertaken the labor of love that is small-batch chile crisp production, it was always a gamble to give it to someone; if I later found out they didn’t love it, I kind of wanted to cry.

But then, I discovered Genevieve Ko’s version of chile crisp, or rather it discovered me, tenaciously popping up in my searches before the OG version. I hesitated to try it because it looked too easy to be good. Other than the Sichuan peppercorns (a bag of which will cost 2.99 and last you exactly forever) it involves no special ingredients. More importantly, it involves no chopping. And yet, it still has all the key elements of chile crisp: it’s crunchy, savory, spicy, salty and a just a tiny bit sweet.

This chile crisp is a slightly different animal than the classic—especially with the added twist of sesame seeds– but I think I like it even better. It’s hard to say because the ease of preparation makes me want to like it better. For sure it is on a different planet than Lao Gan Ma, the supposed King Daddy of commercially produced chili crisp. Sadly, I trusted the googleverse and bought a huge vat, which is still taking up space in the fridge. Trader Joe’s chile crisp is similar in texture but can’t hold a candle in taste. 

Make yourself up a batch, or better yet a double batch, because you’ll want this on eggs, pizza, sandwiches, quesadillas, fresh bread, etc. You may find yourself creating chile crisp “fry sauce” by stirring it into ketchup and mayo, and then stumble upon Ms. Ko’s chile crisp fettucine which will make you realize a double batch really doesn’t last all that long.

As with any recipe from the NYT, people have a LOT to say in the comments, and there are plenty of suggestions for how to tweak this to your tastes.

I hope you enjoy this chile crisp as much as my people do!

Slacker Chile Crisp

From Genevieve Ko via the New York Times

Ingredients

Yield: About 1¼ cups

  • ½ cup vegetable oil (or a bit more…there’s not a lot to spare here)
  • ¼ cup dried minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1½teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
  • ⅓ cup finely crushed dried small red chiles or red-pepper flakes
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coarsely ground Sichuan peppercorns (optional…but Edie says not optional)

Method

Combine the oil, onion, ½ teaspoon sugar and ½ teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes evenly golden brown (careful not to overcook), 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the chiles, sesame seeds and Sichuan peppercorns, if using, and sizzle, stirring, for 1 minute, then stir in the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Spoon over everything. I mean everything. Maybe not chocolate cake but then again…

 

Chile Crisp, Condiment of the Year

And now, in time for your Labor Day entertaining, I present the third of three condiments, and by far the best. I discovered this recipe way back in early summer, nestled in the margin of “The Simple Issue”  of Bon Appetit. Within a week the page was permanently folded back, stained and a little greasy, and since then my fridge has never NOT had a jar of chile crisp in residence.

The catch on this spicy, sassy, savory creation is that it takes some effort to make. You can cut yourself some slack by buying pre-peeled garlic cloves. Even with those, you’re still going to have to do a lot of thin slicing. Soooo, dig deep! It’s the last weekend of summer, people. Get yourself a sharp knife and a good playlist and get going. There’s still time to make yourself the MVP by bringing this to the party, or spicing up your own patio fare.

But first, a couple of things: I’ve now made this several times , and each time I’ve overdone it on the volume of shallots. Only once did they really crisp up—which was tremendous and worth cranking up the heat a bit and then babysitting the pot until they were evenly brown. That said, it was pretty tremendous all the other times too. Just make sure you brown the shallots and garlic without burning them. I now use a bigger pot than seems necessary, which allows the shallots to really relax in their hot oil bath.

It’s worth going to the original Bon Appetit recipe and reading the comments. I think “off the hook” is the best reader description. We’ve put it on burgers, quesadillas, sandwiches, pizza, baked sweet potatoes and eggs; into salads and on bruschetta and burratta and toast. It’s so going to get stirred into soups this fall. I may draw the line at using it as an ice cream topper, but…no promises.

Finally, there is apparently an excellent version of this at Trader Joe’s called chile onion crunch. Add that to the pain of not having a TJ’s near me. For now, I chop.

PS This one goes out to Sister B, who hates bread and butter pickles and cilantro (see quick, easy, cheap salsa), but hung in there for this. Three’s the charm, baby.

Chile Crisp

Ingredients

  • 4 small shallots, thinly sliced (I end up with 1 1/2 cups or so, which is probably wayyyy too much, but I’m greedy and my shallots are apparently jumbo)
  • 2 heads of garlic (HEADS, not cloves), separated into cloves, sliced. (Google says that’s about 24 cloves)
  • 1½ cups vegetable oil
  • 2 3″ cinnamon sticks
  • 6 star anise pods
  • 1 2″ piece ginger, peeled, very finely chopped
  • ¼ cup crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 2 tsp. sugar

Method:

  • Bring shallots, garlic, oil, cinnamon, and star anise to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, reducing heat as needed to maintain a gentle simmer and swirling pot occasionally, until garlic and shallots are browned and crisp, 20–25 minutes.

    Shallots prepping for the spa

    (Take your time—you want to drive all the moisture out before they brown.)

  • Mix ginger, red pepper, soy sauce, and sugar in a medium bowl. Strain shallot mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over ginger mixture. Let garlic and shallot cool in sieve (this will allow them to crisp further) before stirring back into chile oil. This is the time to take out the cinnamon and star anise too.
  • Do Ahead: Crisp can be made 1 month ahead. Cover and chill.

Bringing It:

Divide the goods into one big jar or smaller jars that you can fit a spoon into. Put the lids on tight and prepare to make a lot of friends. If you pour off a bunch of the oil you can then use it to make a sassy version of aquafaba mayo.

A shortcut worth every penny