Buttery mash with charred (ish) chinese chive and homemade chilli oil drizzle

Anecdote

I went to a Chinese Laundry pop-up and ordered this dish because I was intrigued. Mash with chinese chive and chilli oil?! "You what mate" was my initial reaction upon reading the menu.

But alas, it works.

And as my household has a constant jar of homemade chilli oil (i'll write about this in another post, it deserves its own glory) in the fridge, it had to be done. Also, I always end up making too much mash so there's plenty of that too.

Ingredients

• Potato (maris piper is my go-to)

• Unsalted butter - you can add salt to your taste later

• Chinese chive (can get this in a chinese supermarket but I find that spring onions work equally well and are less stringy)

• Good old chilli oil of your choice, one with more of a bit of drizzle (e.g. lao gan ma／老干妈 - you can find this shit in Western supermarkets now)

Recipe

• Make some buttery mash (obvs - I am quite liberal with butter, up to you. A tip for the mash, always put potatoes in cold water and let it come to a boil, it makes for more evenly cooked fluffffy mash)

• Char/fry your spring onion or chinese chive (just only chop the ends off before) - make sure the oil is hot before you place them in. You can season with a bit of salt, though depending on what chilli oil you use, there will probably be some salt in that already

• Plate the mash in the middle, and the veg around the side. Drizzle in oil

• Pat yourself on the back (and eat)

References:

Chinese laundry - credit to the clever ladies there