How to fight back against anti-Asian hate crime through food

ince the start of the pandemic, there has been a sharp rise in racist hate crime against people of East and South East Asian (ESEA) heritage, due in large part to racist misinformation around Covid-19, reminding us that pandemics can lead to fear and othering.

Claire Sachiko Fourel and Lex Shu Chan – AKA Sachiko & Shu, a Third Culture Kid Asian-Londoner duo who, before lockdown, hosted music events and supper clubs – believe that through the power of food, we can overcome this discrimination. “We believe food is more than just about sustenance – it tells a story,” they write on their website. “It can be a source of comfort, a gateway of discovery beyond our own cultural identity, or a way to take us home.

“Most importantly, food can be a vehicle for social change – it can broaden world views, break down barriers and bring people together.”

That’s why they’ve put together 20 recipes from the best of London’s Asian and Asian-influenced restaurants and supper clubs – not just as a call to love Asian food, but to support Asian minorities in the fight for racial equity.

All of the proceeds from Recipes Against Racism will be donated to two UK-based not-for-profit organisations: Stop Hate UK and End the Virus of Racism. Donations will help these organisations to maintain a 24-hour hate crime reporting hotline in different languages, as well as providing mental health support and legal aid to ESEA people.

Grounded in the London food scene, a melting pot of so many different cultural identities, the book features mouthwatering recipes from the likes of Chinese Laundry, Farang, Kiln, Lucky & Joy, Poon’s, and Solip. Here’s three recipes to introduce the book, the cuisine and the cause.

Big plate chicken

By: Lucky & Joy

Makes: 4 servings to share

Ingredients

For the chicken marinade:

6 pieces bone-in chicken drumstick or thigh

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp Shaoxing wine, plus another glug for later

Everything else:

3 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 handful Chinese dried chillies

1 large handful Sichuan dried peppercorns

6 cloves of garlic, thickly sliced

10cm ginger cut into thin strips

1 green pepper in strips

1 bunch of spring onions, cut into batons

1l Chinese chicken stock

1 cinnamon stick

5 star anise

4 fresh bay leaves

2 tsp brown sugar (to taste)

Hand-pulled noodles (optional)

3 Cyprus potatoes

Rice vinegar to serve

Method

Begin by marinating the chicken in the soy sauce and Shaoxing wine for about 3 hours in the fridge.

Next, heat the oil in a large, wide frying pan. Add the dried chillies (not chopped) and toast in the oil. When they have a nice colour, strain the chillies, and keep the oil to reuse. Put the chillies in a bowl and save for later.

In the same pan, put the oil back and add the Sichuan peppercorns. Fry on a low heat until aromatic and crispy. Strain the oil again, discarding the cooked peppercorns – the oil should now be fragrant and spicy.

Put the oil back in the pan and add the marinated chicken. Try to shake off as much of the marinade as you can because it will spit on the heat – but keep the marinade for later. Fry on a high heat until nicely coloured on both sides. Transfer the chicken to a larger pot, and set aside.

In the frying pan, add to the oil the spring onions, ginger, garlic and green pepper, and fry until aromatic for about five minutes. Then tip the entire contents of the frying pan into the pot with the chicken, discarding any excess oil. Deglaze the frying pan with the remaining marinade, and tip into the pot with the chicken. Also add the chicken stock, chillies, sugar, bay leaves, cinnamon and star anise.

Put the pot on the heat and bring to boil. As soon as it comes to boil, simmer for 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Cut the potatoes into 2cm cubes and boil in very salty water until just cooked. Drain and add to the pot with the chicken and stew. I would recommend leaving everything to sit for a while – at least a few hours – so that the chicken and potatoes absorb the flavours. When you are ready, reheat the stew on a medium temperature, add a splash of vinegar and maybe some sugar and soy to taste, and add cooked hand-pulled noodles if you fancy.

Pot-sticker dumplings

By: Chen’s Table

Ingredients

For pork filling:

160g pork mince

120ml/½ cup water

30g Chinese chives

Pinch of salt and white pepper

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp Chinese rice wine

For dumpling dough:

80ml of warm water (I usually use half a cup room temperature mixed with half a cup boiling)

160g all-purpose flour

For the dipping sauce:

Chinkiang Chinese vinegar

Chilli oil

Note: If you are making this vegetarian/vegan, omit the 120ml/½ cup of water and replace the pork mince with some lightly stir-fried vegetables that are finely chopped. Things like mushrooms, carrots, pak choi, spinach, onions and cabbage all work well.

Method

Place flour into a bowl and slowly pour in warm water.

Use your hands and knead the dough until you can get it into a smooth ball and then cover and rest for 10 minutes. Uncover and knead the dough again for 5 minutes or so then cover and rest for 30 minutes (you can leave this for longer if you are making the dough ahead of time; just be sure to give it another good knead before using).

Break up the pork mince in a bowl and add the 120ml/½ cup of water. Stir vigorously until it has absorbed all of the water.

Mix the Chinese rice wine, salt and pepper, light soy sauce, sesame oil and oil into the pork mixture. Continue to mix thoroughly for a few minutes.

Get your dough and roll into a 1cm thick cylinder. Cut into 16 equal pieces.

Flatten the ball with the palm of your hand. Roll it out until it’s about 10-12cm in circumference.

Add a ball of the mixture onto the dumpling skin but leave 5mm space around the edges. Fold in half and pinch the top. Pull the outer edge of the skin towards the middle and pinch. Do this three times on each side, making sure that each pleat sits behind the one in front.

Cooking the dumplings

Pan frying them: Add a tablespoon of oil into a cold pan. While the pan is heating up, add the dumplings (don’t worry if they’re touching each other). Once the dumplings start sizzling in the pan, check the bottoms to see if they’re golden. Once golden, add 120ml/½ cup of water and cover. Once the water evaporates, which takes about 8 minutes (13 minutes if you are cooking from frozen), they’ll be ready to serve. These are called Guōtiē (pot-sticker dumplings).

Boiling the dumplings: Boil a pot of water and place the dumplings inside. Once they reach the surface, take them out and serve with Chinese vinegar mixed with some chilli oil as a dipping sauce.

Steaming the dumplings: Boil a pot of water. Place steaming liners inside the steamers (these look like circular sheets of greaseproof paper with holes cut out). Place the dumplings into the pot and put the lid on. Let them steam for 15 minutes and serve with the dipping sauce.

Agedashi aubergine soba salad

By: Tombo

This is our take on a Japanese classic. Agedashi is the method of frying then soaking vegetables in a dashi sauce. In this recipe we use aubergine, seasonal vegetables and tofu served on a bed of soba noodles. I have always adored aubergine cooked this way, as it acts like a sponge absorbing all that umami rich sauce.

Makes: 2 servings

Ingredients

½ an aubergine (cut lengthways)

50g french beans

½ a red pepper

250g firm tofu

15g cornflour

300ml (approx) vegetable oil for frying (oil to be 3cm deep in a pan)

180g soba buckwheat noodle

For the garnish:

3g grated ginger

5g spring onions, finely chopped

1 pinch shichimi chilli powder (optional)

For the dashi sauce:

200ml dashi stock (kombu if you are vegan). Alternatively use vegetable stock.

40ml soy sauce

30ml mirin

10g sugar

Method

On a plate, place the tofu between sheets of kitchen paper. Place another plate on top of the tofu and add some sort of weight (e.g. a bowl of water) – this helps to draw out the moisture from the tofu. Leave for 30 minutes, then drain and pat the tofu dry and cut into 3cm blocks. Set aside.

Get ½ an aubergine and cut in half horizontally, then slice into 12 wedges. Make shallow slits length ways into the flesh of each wedge (this will help to absorb the dashi sauce later on). Soak the wedges in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Trim the french beans and slice the red pepper into 5mm thick slices. Dry with kitchen paper.

In a saucepan, combine the dashi, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. Simmer on a low heat for 3 minutes. Then pour the sauce into a shallow dish large enough to hold the vegetables and tofu.

In a frying pan, heat the vegetable oil to 170C and fry the aubergines. Place them skin-side down first and fry for 3 minutes, turning occasionally. Then transfer to the dashi sauce.

Fry the french beans and red pepper for 2 minutes. Transfer to the dashi sauce.

Lightly coat the tofu cubes with cornflour and fry for 3 minutes until pale golden. Turn occasionally then transfer to the dashi sauce.

Cook the soba noodles according to packet instructions. Drain well and rinse with cold water to cool.

Assemble in a bowl, starting with the soba noodles followed by the vegetables and tofu. Pour the dashi sauce over and garnish with chopped spring onions, grated ginger and a sprinkle of shichimi chilli powder.

Get your copy of ‘Recipes Against Racism’ and learn more about the campaign here