Reddit reviews Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil, 7.41 oz (210g)

This is a favorite weeknight dinner for us, especially when ground beef goes on sale! It’s just a stir fry but my husband loves it. This makes 6 portions, so you can save leftovers for meal prep.

Total Active Time: 10min-15min

Passive Time: Cook rice if there’s no leftover rice

Portions: 6 meals

Macros: With 90% lean beef, it's ~375cals, 25 carb/16 fat/23 protein

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Ingredients:

• Cooked rice
  
• 1lb ground beef
  
• 1 large bunch hearty veggie, like broccoli rabe or chard or collard
  
• 2-3 tbsp your favorite hot sauce, I use Lao Gan Ma, which is like 3$ at your local asian grocery store (sriracha/tapatio also works)
  
• Egg (optional)
  
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  Instructions:
  
  
• Dump ground beef in a large pan and let it start cooking. Give it a stir every so often.
  
• Meanwhile, rinse veggie and chop to 1-2 inch pieces.
  
• Add hot sauce to cooking ground beef, stir it all so that ground beef is broken up.
  
• Add veggie and let it wilt, around 2min
  
• OPTIONAL: While veggie is wilting, make a sunny side up egg on the side
  
• Serve with rice. I’m a heathen so I also eat it with shredded cheddar, but my husband judges me :(

I make this with these ingredients and approximate ratios based on how much I feel like makings r how spicy or numbing I want it to be. I even like the subtle variations, sometimes I make it more numbing, sometimes it's more spicy, sometimes different flavors come through more and it makes the dish really interesting. It's relatively easy to make even though you kind of have to have all these parts ready to go. If you've never had Sichuan peppercorn, it's sometimes labeled as prickly ash spice but make sure you buy it whole. It's really fragrant and has what Chinese people call "Ma" making it give your tongue a slightly tingly sensation even a little bit numbing, but I promise you will still be able to feel your face.

To make you need:
A wok would be nice, Dutch oven would work fine.
Sichuan Peppercorn (Sansho peppercorns will work also but lend a very different flavor)
Dried red chiles
Whole Anise seed
Whole coriander
Paprika
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cumin
Black Peppercorn
Ginger
Scallion
Splash of shaoxin cooking wine, or broth for deglazing the pan.

Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil check your Asian grocer (you can probably get it for like 2 bucks)
http://www.amazon.com/Lao-Gan-Chili-7-41-210g/dp/B0051D86MA

You can literally put whatever you want in it as far as vegetables and meat or whatever goes. In this picture, I have
wood ear mushroom
Blue claw crab
Fried tofu
Fish cubes (like fish ball but a different shape)

Some possible combinations:
Sliced beef, Napa cabbage, fish ball, mushroom, bamboo shoots
Chicken wings, cauliflower, mushrooms, shredded Brussels sprout
Calamari, bok Choy, sliced swai/basa filets, baby corn, eggplant
Tofu, cabbage, eggplant, mushrooms, bamboo shoots
Or any combination of the above, or even all of the aboveboard a great one pot dish and it scales really well.

To put it together it's easy, stir fry your meat and vegetables separately to about 75% you don't want to cook it all the way yet. I.e. Cabbage, put aside, chicken, put aside etc. Start with the meats because you can, deglaze the wok/Dutch oven for some extra flavor. Very lightly season your meats and veggies with salt and pepper, don't go overboard because you have an opportunity at the end to season to taste. This is a good time to deglaze the pan if there's a lot of fond left behind, you can just pour it right into your veg/protein mixture.

Once all your proteins and vegetables are off to the side, lower the heat to low, and use a neutral high heat oil, i like to use grape seed oil, canola or avocado. Warm up a few tablespoons of oil and immediately put your dry and whole spices in as well as a few slices of ginger and a few cloves of smashed garlic (just use the side of your knife to crush the glove a bit) Removing seeds from the chiles if you don't want it too crazy hot (I usually do this). You want about an even ratio for all the spices except for the cinnamon, which you only need maybe a third of your normal quantity of to balance out the flavors and nutmeg, which will never need more than about a quarter teaspoon or so.

Once the spices are fragrant about a minute or so, add in a few tablespoons of Lao Gan Ma the heat to high and just fry it up a little bit to heat it through, a few turns or so is usually enough in a wok, maybe a little bit longer in a dutch oven. Go ahead and add your vegetables and proteins and stir fry it all together until fully cooked, adjust salt, pepper, chili flakes to taste.

Edited for completeness.

TLDR mix spices above with whatever you want by stirfrying to 75% then stir fry with fried spices.

Tofu with (spicy condiment) is my all too often goto snack. Sweet chili is good but you should check out [Lgm chili oil] (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0051D86MA). I'm seriously addicted. I've never smoked crack cocaine but I assume it's very similar