Hi -

The restaurant chain PFChangs has a dish they claim is from Yunnan's
Dali City, called Dali Chicken.

Its spicy potatoes that are first boiled then spiced and deep-fried,
then mixed with a stir-fry of chicken and leeks (I think) - but the
chili sauce it comes in is apparently had to duplicate. Has anyone tried
to replicate this? Successfully, would be good!

Thanks,

Ian

On Tue, 04 May 2010 21:58:46 -0400, Ian wrote:

> Hi -
>
> The restaurant chain PFChangs has a dish they claim is from Yunnan's
> Dali City, called Dali Chicken.
>
> Its spicy potatoes that are first boiled then spiced and deep-fried,
> then mixed with a stir-fry of chicken and leeks (I think) - but the
> chili sauce it comes in is apparently had to duplicate. Has anyone tried
> to replicate this? Successfully, would be good!

Can't say I've taste it. Is it sweet? The base for all my sweet
chili sauces is Mae Ploy Sweet Chile Garlic Sauce. Everybody I've
turned onto it loves it. If you haven't tried it...

Depending on it's use, I add sriracha, black or regular rice vinegar
and/or a little fish sauce.

-sw
-sw

Ian wrote:
> Hi -
>
> The restaurant chain PFChangs has a dish they claim is from Yunnan's
> Dali City, called Dali Chicken.
>
> Its spicy potatoes that are first boiled then spiced and deep-fried,
> then mixed with a stir-fry of chicken and leeks (I think) - but the
> chili sauce it comes in is apparently had to duplicate. Has anyone tried
> to replicate this? Successfully, would be good!

I've eaten at PFChangs once maybe twice.. I found it very Americanized and
kind of gross. They recently opened one near my office, I may give them one
more shot.. but I prefer more authentic cuisine.

--
Dan

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Tue, 04 May 2010 21:58:46 -0400, Ian wrote:
>
>> Hi -
>>
>> The restaurant chain PFChangs has a dish they claim is from Yunnan's
>> Dali City, called Dali Chicken.
>>
>> Its spicy potatoes that are first boiled then spiced and deep-fried,
>> then mixed with a stir-fry of chicken and leeks (I think) - but the
>> chili sauce it comes in is apparently had to duplicate. Has anyone tried
>> to replicate this? Successfully, would be good!
>
> Can't say I've taste it. Is it sweet? The base for all my sweet
> chili sauces is Mae Ploy Sweet Chile Garlic Sauce. Everybody I've
> turned onto it loves it. If you haven't tried it...
>
> Depending on it's use, I add sriracha, black or regular rice vinegar
> and/or a little fish sauce.
>
> -sw
> -sw

I replied to this last night, but I can't see my reply anywhere.

Anyway, what I said was that I love the Mae Ploy Chile Sauce (mine
doesn't have 'garlic' in the title, but its in the contents) too, and
have been known to force it on my friends, absolutely sure that they
will love it, as they have.

I have not yet tasted the Dali Chicken - a friend who is useless in the
kitchen asked me to see if I could recreate it, so I'm doing some
research while I wait for an opportunity to try it.

Cheers,

Ian

Dan Logcher wrote:
> Ian wrote:
>> Hi -
>>
>> The restaurant chain PFChangs has a dish they claim is from Yunnan's
>> Dali City, called Dali Chicken.
>>
>> Its spicy potatoes that are first boiled then spiced and deep-fried,
>> then mixed with a stir-fry of chicken and leeks (I think) - but the
>> chili sauce it comes in is apparently had to duplicate. Has anyone
>> tried to replicate this? Successfully, would be good!
>
> I've eaten at PFChangs once maybe twice.. I found it very Americanized and
> kind of gross. They recently opened one near my office, I may give them
> one
> more shot.. but I prefer more authentic cuisine.
>

Sure, its very Americanized Chinese, and very popular too. At
dinner-time, its always crowded, anywhere in the country I have tried to
eat there. Within that context, they have dishes I like very much -
Soothing Lettuce Wraps, Mongolian Beef, and Kung Pao Chicken (which has
General Tso-ish chicken and not really tasting like kung-pao, but tasty
anyway).

Given a choice between Hong Kong Palace (our local Sechuan place) and
PFC, and its no contest, HKP wins every time. But if I have visitors who
don't like the real thing, I'll eat American Chinese before Italian,
American, or anything else, really.

Each to their own, I say!

Ian

On Thu, 06 May 2010 20:58:03 -0400, Ian wrote:

> Anyway, what I said was that I love the Mae Ploy Chile Sauce (mine
> doesn't have 'garlic' in the title, but its in the contents) too, and
> have been known to force it on my friends, absolutely sure that they
> will love it, as they have.

I just went downstairs to check on the label but I made a sandwich
instead (Garlic Bologna, Columbus Salami, Helmans, horseradish, and
romaine lettuce, in case anybody was wondering ;-)\

Anyway, it's *not* the one labeled "Spring Roll Dipping Sauce" or
"For Spring Rolls" which is a thinner sauce. Buy the full strength
and thin it down yourself - with the ingredients I suggested
earlier.

Mae Ploy has a much greater depth of flavor than any other sweet
chili sauce out there (Carnaval brand being the another
widely-distributed one here in the US, but very inferior).

> I have not yet tasted the Dali Chicken - a friend who is useless in the
> kitchen asked me to see if I could recreate it, so I'm doing some
> research while I wait for an opportunity to try it.

I've never eaten at PF Changs but I'm betting it's based on sweet
chili sauce.

On second thought, I just read a couple reviews of it and I take
that back. It doesn't sound sweet (I would have figured most
everything at PFC's was sweet).

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Thu, 06 May 2010 20:58:03 -0400, Ian wrote:
>
>> Anyway, what I said was that I love the Mae Ploy Chile Sauce (mine
>> doesn't have 'garlic' in the title, but its in the contents) too, and
>> have been known to force it on my friends, absolutely sure that they
>> will love it, as they have.
>
> I just went downstairs to check on the label but I made a sandwich
> instead (Garlic Bologna, Columbus Salami, Helmans, horseradish, and
> romaine lettuce, in case anybody was wondering ;-)\
>
> Anyway, it's *not* the one labeled "Spring Roll Dipping Sauce" or
> "For Spring Rolls" which is a thinner sauce. Buy the full strength
> and thin it down yourself - with the ingredients I suggested
> earlier.
>
> Mae Ploy has a much greater depth of flavor than any other sweet
> chili sauce out there (Carnaval brand being the another
> widely-distributed one here in the US, but very inferior).
>
>> I have not yet tasted the Dali Chicken - a friend who is useless in the
>> kitchen asked me to see if I could recreate it, so I'm doing some
>> research while I wait for an opportunity to try it.
>
> I've never eaten at PF Changs but I'm betting it's based on sweet
> chili sauce.
>
> On second thought, I just read a couple reviews of it and I take
> that back. It doesn't sound sweet (I would have figured most
> everything at PFC's was sweet).
>
> -sw

PFChang's junior spin-off, Pei Wei, uses sugar in just about everything,
but its hard to put too much sugar for the public in a product in the
US, it seems.

My friend who liked the Dali Chicken loves extremely hot Indian food,
and eats Thai often, so I tend to trust his judgment that Dali Chicken
is worth a look.

My bottles of the Mae Ploy sauce are not the thin spring-roll versions,
I just checked.

Ian

On Sat, 08 May 2010 12:11:15 -0400, Ian wrote:

> PFChang's junior spin-off, Pei Wei, uses sugar in just about everything,
> but its hard to put too much sugar for the public in a product in the
> US, it seems.

I've never eaten at both because of their "Americanization". I've
never eaten at either, but it's kinda ironic that you mention
they're the company because I've always considered them the same
restaurant with just a shrug of my shoulders, without knowing they
really *are* the same people.

> My bottles of the Mae Ploy sauce are not the thin spring-roll versions,
> I just checked.


Good. Then I don't need to give you the Mae Ploy speech again.

Except for their curry pastes... I just used some Massaman tonight
in some cured pork butt tacos (with onions and piquillo peppers all
fried in lamb fat and topped with chipotle cream sauce(*). I always
have 2-3 varieties of this on hand in any given month. They only
cost $2/14oz at my store and they last a year when you have 3 types
on hand.

-sw

(*) This is not a specialty of the house. I just started pulling
stuff out of the fridge and that's what it became. And it was very
good. Enough left to do another lunch of it tomorrow. Using the
red or yellow paste this time.

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Sat, 08 May 2010 12:11:15 -0400, Ian wrote:
>
>> PFChang's junior spin-off, Pei Wei, uses sugar in just about everything,
>> but its hard to put too much sugar for the public in a product in the
>> US, it seems.
>
> I've never eaten at both because of their "Americanization". I've
> never eaten at either, but it's kinda ironic that you mention
> they're the company because I've always considered them the same
> restaurant with just a shrug of my shoulders, without knowing they
> really *are* the same people.
>
>> My bottles of the Mae Ploy sauce are not the thin spring-roll versions,
>> I just checked.
>
>
> Good. Then I don't need to give you the Mae Ploy speech again.
>
> Except for their curry pastes... I just used some Massaman tonight
> in some cured pork butt tacos (with onions and piquillo peppers all
> fried in lamb fat and topped with chipotle cream sauce(*). I always
> have 2-3 varieties of this on hand in any given month. They only
> cost $2/14oz at my store and they last a year when you have 3 types
> on hand.
>
> -sw
>
> (*) This is not a specialty of the house. I just started pulling
> stuff out of the fridge and that's what it became. And it was very
> good. Enough left to do another lunch of it tomorrow. Using the
> red or yellow paste this time.

Thanks for the no-repeat of the speech! I think we are on the same page
there :-)

My Thai grocery lady tells me that Mae Ploy coconut milk is richer than
other products, and so best for Massaman curry especially.

I have just begun waking up to the use of the curry pastes in regular
stir fries, and they are great for quick meals.

The other product I want to use much more is Chili Bean paste (aka Toban
Djian), which can make a stir fry taste great almost without any other
seasoning.

Cheers,

Ian

On Sun, 09 May 2010 12:18:32 -0400, Ian wrote:

> The other product I want to use much more is Chili Bean paste (aka Toban
> Djian), which can make a stir fry taste great almost without any other
> seasoning.

The other product would be [a good] oyster sauce. That little
chicken stock to thin it down make a great instant stir fry without
any other ingredients.

Look for Lee Kum Kee brand, the one with the colorful label with a
picture of a gondola type boat on it. The main ingredient should be
oyster extract. Amoy also makes a few good ones, one with dried
scallop. Other than that, LKK's Panda Brand is OK in a pinch.

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Sun, 09 May 2010 12:18:32 -0400, Ian wrote:
>
>> The other product I want to use much more is Chili Bean paste (aka Toban
>> Djian), which can make a stir fry taste great almost without any other
>> seasoning.
>
> The other product would be [a good] oyster sauce. That little
> chicken stock to thin it down make a great instant stir fry without
> any other ingredients.
>
> Look for Lee Kum Kee brand, the one with the colorful label with a
> picture of a gondola type boat on it. The main ingredient should be
> oyster extract. Amoy also makes a few good ones, one with dried
> scallop. Other than that, LKK's Panda Brand is OK in a pinch.
>
> -sw

I don't know what goes on with my ng posts. I have to repeat the same
info I posted yesterday again, cos its disappeared.

I use the gondola type because of a previous discussion here that said
it was the best.

Here's a recipe for Sweet Chili Sauce I happened across on Monday:

Sweet chilli sauce
250g caster (superfine) sugar
10 cloves garlic, peeled
4 red chillies
½ of a large piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
8 lime leaves
3 lemongrass stems, roughly chopped
Big bunch coriander
100ml cider vinegar
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce

Put 200ml of water in a heavy-based saucepan and add the sugar. Don’t
stir, just heat until the sugar dissolves and then gently simmer until
the sugar turns a nice caramel colour. Meanwhile, whizz all the other
ingredients together until they form a slightly chunky paste. You don’t
want it as smooth as soup, but you do need to make light work of the
hunks of ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Take the caramel off the heat
and carefully add the paste (getting splattered with hot caramel is not
nice) and whisk gently. Putting it back on the heat for a few minutes
will help all those flavours to open up. Cool and drizzle over the
scallops – or whatever you like.

From
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...269637856.html

Cheers,

Ian

This thread is making me hungry. Gotta try these at home. Thanks guys