Di San Xian!

[sosit]

When I was in China, I came across this dish (Di San Xian) that's basically just fried potatoes, peppers and eggplants. Sounds simple enough but I can't replicate it at home. Anyone know of someplace that specializes in Dong Bei (North Eastern) Chinese cooking? Thanks!

[xigua]

I have the same exact craving!
Only found it in a Dongbei restaurant out in queens called Waterfront International Enterprise. The other stuff ain't bad too.
FYI, am attaching a writeup in case you're interested:
http://orderinny.blogspot.com/2007/03...

[Lauren617]

I miss di san xian so much! I spent 6 months in Beijing a few years ago and I ate this dish once a week, at least (and gained 10 lbs in the meantime!). I can't find anything like it here in southern CT or in NYC. No matter how many Chinese eggplant dishes I order, nothing compares! I found a few recipes online but they seem too simple. I remember Di San Xian having a very sweet, gingery taste. This recipe doesn't call for any ginger: http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/chines...

Any suggestions out there?

[Chris Duguid]

Hi Lauren,

I also am a bit of a fan of Di San Xian. I currently live in China and after some mucking about figured out how to make it. My wife really loves it too (although she is from Wuhan).

Here is the method I use.

- Peel and chop the potatoes into half slices (maybe 1.5 inch wide/long) and boil them for a few minutes to soften them up a little bit. Be careful, you don't want them totally soggy.

- Then shallow fry the potatoes until they start to go golden. Take them out then drain them. (Don't throw out the oil. )

- The qiezi (eggplant) is the one that mucked me up every time. It goes soggy and falls apart. But it wont if you do the following.

- Peel and cut the eggplant into decent sized chunks - they will reduce as you cook them.

- pour a tonne of salt over them and make sure no part of the eggplant is unsalted. Leave them to rest for about five to ten minutes until they have have 'sweated' out a good amount of water.

- rinse them well. using your hand to wipe over them and get all the salt off.

- using the oil from the potatoes, you can shallow fry them (and turn them every now and then). Once golden brown then throw in the qing jiao (peppers), garlic (2 cloves chopped or sliced to preference).

- add a good splash/dollop of oyster sauce and a table spoon or so of light soy and fry on high heat for maybe 30 seconds if that.

- after the peppers start to go a little bit soft add the potatoes and fry for a few more seconds until everything is hot and then serve.

You could add ginger but I don't. It might take a couple of tries to get it right but as long as you get the eggplant right, you cant go wrong. Only add garlic, light soy and oyster sauce.

I am making it tonight actually.

I hope this helps. Let me know how it goes: gout_man at hotmail dot com.

[bigjeff]

I'm trying to make this right now! and indeed, that beigingmadeeasy recipe is very simple; I'm gonna give it a go!

[buttertart]

hey bigjeff, if you want to eat it out, they have it at the Golden Palace actually the Liaoning Restaurant 遼寧飯店 - 正宗東北風味 on Cherry Ave. in Flushing. One of the better things we had there.