Hoisin: A Forgotten Treat

One aspect of writing a food column is having numerous leftover spices and condiments that were used once or twice in a recipe and set aside in the cupboard or the refrigerator. Such was the fate of hoisin sauce, a bitter, brownish red bean paste, which had been pushed to the back of my refrigerator after I cooked a series of Chinese recipes.

One night, when there was nothing in the house for dinner, this sauce proved to be a very good choice for a plate of spaghetti. The sauce is also delicious on pasta salad that includes chicken. Once pasta and chicken are cooked, assembling the salad is a snap and the food processor naturally speeds up the chopping of vegetables, which add color and crunch.

Process With Gentle Pressure

Salad ingredients such as cucumber, celery and green onions can be processor-sliced by inserting them upright in the food chute. Because each of these foods has a soft or watery texture, they must be processed with gentle pressure.

Combining two or more foods in the chute is a good way to process vegetables quickly and fill the chute completely so that vegetables stay put, rather than turn or twist during processing.

This version of the salad is rather mild but it could be spiced up by the judicious addition of red hot oil to the hoisin sauce mixture. Both the basic hoisin sauce and the hot oil are available in Oriental food stores and the Oriental section of many supermarkets.

HOISIN CHICKEN AND PASTA SALAD

1 pound penne or fusilli

4 quarts boiling water

1/2 cup oil

1 medium clove garlic

2 whole skinned, boned chicken breasts, split

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup Hoisin Mixture

2 celery stalks, trimmed and halved crosswise

2 medium green, trimmed and halved crosswise

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and quartered lengthwise

1/2 small sweet red pepper, cored and seeded

Salt, pepper, optional

2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

Cook pasta in boiling water until just tender, about 9 to 12 minutes. Drain, then return pasta to pot with 3 tablespoons oil and toss over very low heat until excess water is evaporated. Set pasta aside to cool in large serving bowl.

Crush garlic and place with remaining oil in large skillet. Toss garlic over medium heat until fragrant. Rinse and pat chicken pieces dry, then saute each side in garlic oil until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Set chicken aside to cool.

Add chicken broth to hot pan, stirring well to clean bottom of pan. Simmer until liquid measures 1/3 cup. Discard garlic. Transfer contents of skillet to small bowl. Stir in Hoisin Mixture, then add mixture to pasta and toss well.

Insert medium (4-millimeter) slicing disc in food processor. Insert celery pieces upright in food chute, wedge in green onions and slice with gentle push. Slice cucumber and red pepper upright with gentle pressure.

Transfer vegetables to bowl with pasta and toss thoroughly. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch cubes and add to bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle salad with sesame seeds and serve at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.

Hoisin Mixture

1 cup bottled hoisin sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Shaohsing wine or pale dry Sherry

2 tablespoons Oriental sesame oil

1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar

Combine hoisin sauce, sugar, wine, oil and vinegar, mixing until smooth. Store in plastic container or jar. Sauce keeps indefinitely in refrigerator. Makes 1 1/4 cups.