Hot And Sour Cabbage

Servings: 4
Ingredients:

5 ea Napa cabbage leaves
3 T  peanut oil
4 ea large dried chili peppers
1/2 T  Szechuan peppercorns
1/2 t  salt
1 T  thin soy sauce
1/2 T  rock sugar
1/2 T  Chinkiang vinegar
1 t  sesame oil

Preparation: Separate, wash and dry
cabbage leaves. Stack them up and cut them crosswise
into 1′ wide pieces. Finely mince or grind Szechuan
peppercorns. Crush rock sugar with cleaver handle;
mix with soy sauce; reserve.
Stir-frying: Heat wok to moderate; add oil. Wait 30
seconds. Stir-fry whole chilis until they just
blacken; quickly add peppercorns. When they exude
pungent odor, push up side of wok and raise heat to
high. Add salt and cabbage all at once. Keep tossing
cabbage until it is wilted and soft. This takes several
minutes. There should be about 2 T of water in wok
when cabbage is wilted.
Add sugar and soy mixture. When sugar has melted, toss
with cabbage, then sprinkle vinegar over all. Keep
tossing on high heat for another 20 seconds. Add
sesame oil; toss briefly; remove to serving dish. If
serving this dish cold, wait until it has cooled, then
cover and refrigerate.

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