(bright music) (audience applauding) - Today's show is gonna be real hot with the help of one of the most popular seasoning and spices of the world, the chili pepper.

In Western region of China, like Hunan and Sichuan, you better watch out, the food is so hot, your hair actually will smoke just looking at the food.

Today I'm going to show you how to turn up the heat four different ways with fresh and dry chili, chili sauce, and, of course, chili oil.

The first thing I wanna show you is something everybody would love, wonton chips with tomato and red pepper salsa.

I'm actually starting a brand-new hot appetizer idea because everybody in this country love chips and salsa.

Here I'm gonna show you my version of these chips.

Here I have some wonton wrappers.

Normally they are square.

This is available in all supermarkets.

And then you have some small Hong Kong style, more traditional wonton wrappers, which is smaller and also, look at that, which is slightly smaller, you can tell the difference, and also thinner.

And then we have the pot sticker wrappers, which is normally round, is a little bit thicker and doughier than the wonton wrappers.

And we're gonna hold onto this and we'll show you.

We're gonna use a cookie cutter and cut up a couple of these.

You can make it in any shape, any size you want.

I have a little cutter.

In the meantime, I'm heating up my oil in this electric wok.

Electric wok is very convenient, particularly when you're doing deep frying, because when you're doing, pack this up, you can cook it, you can pack it up in San Diego, you can cook in New York, if you have a long extension cord.

Look at this, I am gonna cut this up.

Look at how beautiful this thing is.

Put this over here.

Look at that, one, two.

This is beautiful, nice.

I'm gonna set this aside and I am going to get ready to cook it.

First, make sure the oil is hot enough.

If the oil is not hot enough, it's no good 'cause the wonton never puff up, just like the same way when you deep fry the cellophane noodle.

If the oil or the shrimp-flavor chips, if the oil is not hot enough, they just sit there for three months, never puff up.

So this is how you test.

Use one pair of chopstick.

Never, never test with this pair of chopstick.

You see the bubble coming out?

I can see the bubble coming out.

I hope you can see that.

Can you see the bubble coming out right here?

If you can see it, that means the oil is hot enough.

And we set aside, we'll put this in one.

Don't slam dunk.

Slide it in like that.

All you have to do is, the great thing about wok is because the wide surface, and also the slope, you actually use less oil, and you can cook a lot more at the same time, wonderful.

Now everybody in this country love chips and salsa.

Why not give it an Asian twist?

Most of these are wonderful.

You deep fried it, in the meantime, we are gonna get ready some salsa.

This is my version of the Asian twist, look at that.

I have some minced garlic and I have some cilantro, chopped.

Pickled ginger give the spiciness.

And then also jalapeno.

Or you can use serrano or Thai chili, chop it up.

Tomato, and also some roasted sweet red pepper, chili sauce and some rice vinegar.

And I wanna show you quickly, we are gonna cut up.

Oh, this is done, I'm gonna pick this out.

You don't want to cook it until they turn dark brown.

You don't want to have caramelized wonton chips.

(audience laughing) When this is done, you'll put this over here.

Two, use your chopstick for a lot of things, not only to serve dish, but also pick up foods.

Put it right here, the extension, the chopstick is the extension of your finger and your arm.

And then show you one tomato slice, slice, slice and slice.

And then I am going to stack them all up like that.

Set this aside.

One, two, downward, forward, downward, forward.

Hold onto this firm grip.

Use this knife like that, set aside and you go (exhales) like that.

Transfer this and you don't have time to do it all together.

Stop.

It's singing.

(wok sizzling) I haven't even do the chicken singing with the fried mint.

Then we have this chili, chopped chili, pickled ginger.

This is a very unique salsa.

Cilantro, love it.

And then garlic.

Chopped minced garlic, a kind of chili sauce.

And then of course I have some rice vinegar.

Mix them all up and we are going to let it sit for a little while to let the flavor permeate into the whole thing.

Now, a lot of people don't realize, everybody love hot and spicy food, but most of the chili are grown, you know where in the hottest cooking in the world is around the equator, where the humid is hot, muggy, and very humid so you always sweat and having chili, you sweat and has a cooling effect, so that means, look at that, this is all done, and when it's done, all you have to do is sprinkle a tiny, tiny bit of salt in our chips and kind of Sichuan peppercorn mix with salt.

Sprinkle and give that extra punch or flavor.

And the great thing about chili is most of these chili, a lot of the time also act as a preservative, aside from cooling you down, so this is a wonderful fried wonton chips with Asian twist salsa.

(audience applauding) Now, next we move to my first main course, the national dish of Singapore, the Singapore chili crab.

In Singapore, there are plenty of crab.

When the Chinese and the Asian talk about fresh seafood, they're talking about live seafood.

And I have these crab in my fish tank for approximately 4 1/2 months and three days and 16 hours and 45 minute and three seconds.

(audience laughing) And I am gonna put this back in my aquarium after I finish the show.

And this is the twin of a dead crab.

And this one, I have removed the cap like this.

And don't throw this away.

There a lot of goodies, something around here, and a lot of people actually like this.

This is crab roll and all kind of stuff around here.

We set this aside and then I'm gonna put this over here because I have to cut the body.

Look at this, I have to cut the body in six pieces like this.

Look at this one, two, three, four, six pieces.

And also I have to crack all of these because when I crack that, in the meantime, I'm gonna heat up my burner, look at that.

I'm gonna heat up my burner.

I have to crack this.

(knife clanking) Set it aside.

(knife clanking) You see how functional this is?

After this is done, clean up your cutting board and you are ready to cook.

Now here, all the seasoning I have is very simple.

I have some chopped ginger, dried chili, fresh chili and garlic and some tomato paste and some soy sauce, that's all I have.

Everything I have is right here.

When this wok is hot enough, we are gonna put a tiny, tiny bit of oil.

Not much, okay?

This is a wonderful dish because in Singapore there are plenty of crab and plenty of fresh and dried chili and that's the reason why everybody in Singapore love this.

When they go out to restaurant, this is what they eat every time.

That's why it's a national dish.

When this is done, we'll transfer this, all this garlic, ginger, chili pepper, everything right here to get those flavor out because you want to get the spiciness out of this, toss them around.

Don't allow it to get burned.

That's the reason why you stir.

(spoon banging) And then you put the crab pieces already cut up and already cracked right here.

(crab pieces clunking) (wok sizzling) Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

Sometimes in some restaurant they even cut this off.

Let me show you.

They even cut this little piece off.

They don't need this piece.

They just put it right over here.

But today, we are in a rush, we don't care.

We don't have to worry about this at all.

(crab pieces clonking) And we're gonna cover this up, put a tiny bit of broth, whole mix of stuff.

(spoon banging) A tiny bit of sugar, tiny bit of chili sauce, or a lot of, and then a tiny, a whole bunch of tomato sauce.

Tiny bit of soy sauce.

Wow, this is hot.

And then we cover this up like that.

We'll cover this up and let it cook for approximately six to eight minutes over medium heat until they're nice and ready.

While we are doing this, we look at this.

I have right here done a wonderful dish.

Why I call this a twin because this is already nice and ready.

We set this aside.

Look at that.

We transfer the whole thing, chili crab.

Look at how beautiful, and we put it right over here.

Isn't that beautiful?

Marvelous.

(audience applauding) You know, chili crab it just like they make it in Singapore.

But don't take my word for it because I'm gonna show you how it looks when the master chef in Singapore make it in their own kitchen.

One of my favorite seafood dishes is black pepper crab and nobody makes it better than Chef Rig Tang at a seafood place in Singapore.

(flame hissing) (pan sizzling) First Chef Tang deep fries the crab in hot oil until it turns bright red.

(flame hissing) (flame hissing continues) Then he drains the oil and sets the crab aside.

Now the chef is ready for his famous black pepper sauce.

I have been trying to get this recipe from him for at least five years.

He adds salt and a touch of sugar, Shaoxing wine and ginger juice and a little broth.

(kitchen staff speaking indistinctly in background) (flame hissing) Now he returns the crab to the flaming wok tossed with the sauce.

Notice his smooth, even-handed motion?

It is amazing.

The crab is still moving.

And of course he add a lot of black pepper, lots of it.

(flame hissing) Chef Tang is a real pro, as you can see from the results.

It looks marvelous.

(audience applauding) I'm glad Chef Tang in Singapore was willing to step in and show you how he make his famous spicy chili crab and black pepper crab.

I enjoy taking a little break from the heat, but out of the frying pan and into the fire.

It's time again to move on to our next four-alarm recipe, Sichuan lamb with chilies, spicy chili sauce.

A lot of people don't realize this lamb is very popular in many parts of Northern China, Mongolian lamb, a lot of these Northern Chinese dish, they use lamb to do a lot of things.

Stir fry lamb with leek and all kind of things.

This is some celery, a couple pieces of celery, some carrot.

I'm gonna show you how to julienne the celery and how to julienne the carrot.

It adds color, texture and flavor to our dish.

This is how we do it.

Cut it up towards your finger.

This takes courage.

And I practiced last night for six hours and I do this like this and I'm gonna set this aside and I put them all together into thin slices.

(knife tapping) Make sure you synchronize the movement and never lift your knife higher than this point.

It's not very funny.

And then you slice.

(knife tapping) A lot of people ask, "Martin, how come you can do it?"

Because when you have the right tool, when you have a sharp knife, then you can do a lot of things.

When this is done, let me show you, I am not kidding.

I don't know about you, I am impressed.

Ah, look at that.

When this is done, we set it aside, put it right here.

You do the same thing with carrot, one, two, three, four.

(knife clonking) Now, of course, when I get excited, I count.

Normally at home, I never count.

(knife tapping) All done, set it aside.

Use this as a spatula to move the food from here to there.

The next thing I have is to cut up some lamb.

Now you normally notice that when I do a cooking presentation, always cut the vegetable first and then I cut the meat because this way it keep everything clean.

I cut this and this is a lean piece of leg of lamb.

I cut this up, cut this up, you see how I move my knife so my knife is always clean from the meat, otherwise it stick to your knife.

You cut it up and you move it like this and you move it like this and you transfer like that.

And you cut it up, cut it up, move, cut it up, cut it up, move, cut.

(knife clunking) Like here, put it right here and then we will marinate this.

Now, marinade is very important in Chinese cooking because it gives that nice, wonderful flavor and a wonderful texture because sear to meat and seal in the juice.

First I use some soy sauce.

This is dark soy sauce.

A lot of people always think Sichuan dish is always very, very hot and spicy, like Hunan, Sichuan dish, and all they have is hot, but this is actually not necessary, so not only is occasionally hot and spicy, this is Shaoxing wine, but not only that, Sichuan cuisine is very, very famous for its complex combination of hot, sweet, sour and salty flavor.

I have a Shaoxing wine, which is a Chinese rice wine.

We have soy sauce, we also have some chopped mint.

We have some corn starch, or you can use tapioca starch.

Some minced or chopped garlic.

And then also have some Sichuan chili, Sichuan peppercorn, ground and toast, and a dish of sugar.

Sugar is not necessary.

You mix them all up, marinate it for anywhere from half an hour to two hours up to overnight.

And then you are going to get this wok hot.

Put a tiny bit of oil, one and a half teaspoon or so.

As I always do, make sure you measure everything.

And then you put the lamb, which is already marinated, for exactly two hour and 30 minutes.

Put a right here.

(wok sizzling) Oh, can you hear the sizzling sound?

That means this wok is very, very hot.

(wok sizzling) (wok banging) Toss, toss, toss.

It doesn't take too long to cook.

And I can see and I can smell the flavor from the garlic.

The wine permeate into the meat.

And corn starch help to seal in the juice more.

When it's done, transfer, put it right here and then you can saute the vegetable.

Look at that, I have some carrot, julienne, celery and green onion.

We just toasts everything right here.

If you want to shorten the cooking time, all you have to do is put a kind of a soup stock and you can actually cover this and cook it for a few seconds, but you don't want to cook it too long, otherwise it loss that texture, the color, and some of the nutrient, the intrinsic quality is lost.

This is nice and ready.

We put the lamb back.

Look at that, it doesn't take too long to cook.

Look at that, toss, toss, it's a marvelous dish.

And then we're gonna do the final seasoning, a tiny bit of chili.

Oh, chili sauce.

This is hot.

And then a kind of sesame oil.

Sichuan dish use a lot of sesame seed oil.

Do a tiny bit of rice vinegar, and also kind of a soy sauce.

And of course, hoisin sauce.

This is marvelous, H-O-I-S-I-N.

It's made from fermented soybean, sugar and garlic.

When it's done, this is gonna be so good.

We're going to transfer this dish right over here.

All we have to do is one portion we can serve with rice.

Look at how beautiful, how wonderful this Sichuan spicy lamb with chili sauce.

(audience applauding) Do you ever have to sing for your supper?

This next recipe is so wonderful, flavorful and spicy, it practically sings for you.

It is the famous Vietnamese dish called singing chicken with fried mint.

This is wonderful.

I wanna show you how fast and how easy to do it.

We're gonna use not only fresh chili, but also chili oil in this particular dish.

Not only it will smoke your hair, it will give you a perm for years.

(audience laughing) We'll set this aside and I put it right here.

And in the meantime, we are gonna cut up some chicken at the same time, also heat up my wok, cut up some chicken.

You notice that when I do, I always cut out my vegetable first and everything else first before I cut the chicken so this way we don't have to worry about cross contamination, and right after I cut this, I clean up my towel, my cutting board and my knife and wash it at the same time.

When this is nice and done, we're gonna use a tiny bit of oil.

Always use a teeny tiny.

If you don't want to use oil, don't use oil.

Use the non-stick spray oil so this way you do not have to worry about it.

And then put the chicken.

And of course, don't forget all this wonderful chili.

I have chili pepper, garlic and fresh chili.

Put garlic, some red chili, and then fresh chili, and then crushed chili, all kind of chili, four different kind of chili.

It's call singing chicken with chili, chili, chili and chili.

(audience laughing) And then put this right over here.

It is so hot.

We don't need that, that's enough.

(audience laughing) We said four and a half ounces.

While I'm stir frying this, (wok sizzling) I'm gonna also use a kind of a chopped mint, touch of sugar, white wine.

Wow, look at that.

(wok sizzling) And then a tiny of fish sauce, fish sauce.

And also a tiny, tiny bit of soy sauce.

And also black pepper, crushed.

(wok sizzling) And then in the meantime when I'm tossing and stir frying, this actually chicken is singing, you can hear that, I'm gonna do the fried mint, fresh mint in this hot electric wok.

This electric wok, I put it right here to heat it up so you have total control and it doesn't take too long to cook.

And all you have to do is deep fry until they are translucent.

(oil bubbling) Can you hear the singing?

That's why I call it singing.

Everything I do, it is singing.

When this is done, you take it out and you scoop it out and they become translucent.

And in the meantime, the chicken is also done.

And then I'll put this all right over here and we are gonna get ready to serve.

Look at that singing chicken with fried mint.

We put the mint right around here, right around here, and this way it looks wonderful.

On one side is enough.

And all you have is this Vietnamese style singing chicken with fried mint.

(audience applauding) Okay, there is my hot tip for experimenting with spicy food.

Chili should sensitize the palate, allowing the other flavor to come through.

They shouldn't make the food so hot that your mouth burns and your hair smokes.

You cannot stand, if you cannot stand all this heat and hotness, don't get out of the kitchen, just turn down your thermostat a little bit until you find the level of hotness and spiciness that suits your taste.

Stay warm and remember, if "Yan Can Cook," so can you.

Zaijian.

(audience applauding)