Crunchy, thin strips flavoured with tangy spices, Chinese potato stir-fry shows you an exciting way to prepare potatoes.
While I was living in Beijing, over a decade ago, I invited two Irish friends, who were touring around China for the first time, to an authentic Chinese meal. When the waitress served a plate of Chinese potato stir-fry, they had no idea what those thin strips were.
After tasting they still couldn’t relate this dish to potato, the ingredient they ate almost every day in their home country. “I would never dream of cooking potato this way!” one of them said. Luckily, it was a happy discovery as both of them liked this “strange” dish.
A classic way to serve potato
Unlike as staple food in Western cuisine, potato is treated differently on Chinese dinning tables. It’s generally cooked as a savoury vegetable dish and served with plain rice. Among all the potato based dishes, Chinese hot and sour potato stir-fry (酸辣土豆丝) is a classic example. Understated yet delicious, it’s extremely popular in Chinese households.
Julienne potatoes by a knife
Like the tomato and egg stir-fry which I wrote about earlier, hot and sour potato stir-fry is very simple and quick to prepare. The only intimidating feature of this dish, I assume, is the particular way of cutting the potatoes. They need to be julienned by a knife.
In fact, Chinese home cooks love to impress others by showing off how fast and thinly they can cut the strips. I personally don’t consider it a culinary skill. As we say, practice makes perfect. If you do think it’s a bother, please feel free to use alternative methods: cut the potato in a food processor or with a julienne peeler.
Potato strips in this dish should have a crunchy texture after cooking. In order to achieve this, you need to:
- Rinse the potato strips very well as excessive starch will make the finished dish gluey.
- Cook on a high heat and stir fry for a short period of time.
However, some people prefer softer texture (I used to like it this way when I was a child). If you do, fry the potato a bit longer (you might need to add a few drops of water to avoid burning).
Season the dish pungent flavours
Potatoes taste rather plain on its own. In hot and sour potato stir-fry, dried chilli, Sichuan pepper and black rice vinegar are used for flavour.
- I like adding some fresh chilli too, for the colour and extra hotness.
- My recipe calls for whole Sichuan peppercorns. You might wish to remove them from the finished dish (good opportunity to practise your chopstick skill) as they are not really pleasant to chew.
- One last tip: make sure you add vinegar at the very end to maximum the tangy flavour of the dish.
Chinese potato stir-fry (酸辣土豆丝)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 450 g potato - about 2 medium-sized potatoes
- 3 dried chilli - deseeded
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 fresh chilli - sliced
- 3 cloves garlic - sliced
- 1 teaspoon black rice vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt - or to taste
Instructions
- Peel the potato then cut it into julienne strips. You may use a food processor or a julienne peeler to achieve similar results (regular grater is not recommended).
- Rinse the potato strips under tap water to remove excess starch. Drain them very well.
- Heat up a wok on a high heat. Pour in the oil, then add dried chilli and Sichuan peppercorn. Leave to sizzle until fragrant (do not burn them).
- Put fresh chilli, garlic and potato strips into the wok. Stir fry constantly until the potato is cooked (should be still a bit crunchy).
- Add black rice vinegar and salt . Give everything a quick stir then dish out.
- Serve it warm with rice, along with other meat/vegetable savoury dishes.
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
While I was reading about this recipe, I couldn’t stop nodding my head and smiling as it’s one of my favourite dishes! I was in China for close to 5 years and I loved this simple, understated yet delicious dish. I cook it from time to time. It’s unpretentious and like a warm hug.
Thanks a ton for sharing this and other dishes, Wei. I am so happy to have discovered Red House Spice.
You’re right Sharmishta! This dish is delicious but understated. Glad you enjoy my recipes!
Hi! I was wondering what kind of potato I should use for Chinese dishes like this — is a russet potato good, or should I use yellow waxy potatoes, or red skin potatoes? It looks so good and I want to make it right!
Practically, you can use any types of medium/large sized potatoes. Their finished taste and texture vary a little, e.g. some are more starchy (sticky) while others are more crunchy. It depends on your own preference. I’d suggest you try making it with different types then decide what works best for you.
Love seeing this simple recipe on your site! A lot of Chinese home cooking recipes out thereon the internet are too oily for me 🙂 This one is just perfect! Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure to share! In most cases, you don’t need a lot of oil to make a tasty dish.
In the sixties I used to go to a Chinese restaurant in Ilford, Essex which served black, crispy nests of food which I craved for. What was it and where is it now?
Sorry, I don’t think I’m able to help you based on the information you provide. Could you please describe the dish more? Which ingredients does it consist of? Is it deep-fried? etc.
Thank you for this recipe – it’s delicious – and absolutely love getting these potatoes when I eat out.
I had a question though, I remember them tasting more ‘sour’/vinegary in-restaurant. The version I made turned out to have more ‘heat’ than ‘sour’, even after I added a bit more black vinegar to them. Any tips on how to amp up the ‘sour’/’tangy’ profile outside of just adding more black vinegar?
Thank you for your awesome blog!
Very happy to know you’ve enjoyed the dish! For a more sour taste, you can add a little Chinese white rice vinegar which has a sharper tone. Hope this helps!
I regard something genuinely interesting about your web site so I saved to favorites.
Thank you Lonny!
Very nice photos with the deep-black background. Really makes the potatoes pop!
I make a similar dish quite often for my family, mainly due to my love for vinegar!
Thanks! I’m a big fan of Chinese black vinegar too.
I am not a fan of black vinegar but I guess any sort of vinegar adds zing.
I don’t know if it would work for this, but when we have potato cut like that, after washing it we put it in a clean cloth and make a ball and twist it hard so that water gets squeezed out of the potato.
We use potato cut like this to make things called rosti, fried potato cakes. I can see chilli and garlic would go very well in them.
Very delicious! I bought a bottle of dark rice vinegar since I keep seeing your recipes using this ingredient. Thanks for uploading this one!
That’s great news. Black rice vinegar is so versatile. Can’t live without it!
I made potato stir-fry for my children. It taste so good! Thank you for the simple and wonderful recipe.
You are welcome! Happy to know you enjoyed it.