Spicy 'Freestyle' Fries, Street Food at Home (贵阳怪噜洋芋)

Freestyle fries, i.e. Guailu Yangyu! A classic from the Guizhou province, you can find vendors frying up these fries from street corner to street corner in Guiyang.

The city of Guiyang in Guizhou is one of the last great bastions of street food in China. And while like pretty much everywhere in the world, the vendors are inevitably losing their war of attrition against the forces of Apollo, the markets that remain are still pretty first rate.

You can find everything from assorted rice rolls to fermented tomato hotpot, but if you pushed us for the one snack that's the most common of them all, the one you see again and again, from street corner to street corner – it's probably gotta be guailu yangyu (怪噜洋芋), or 'freestyle' potato fries. And why not? They're spicy, saucy, herbaceous, and just a great snack to eat on the go.

Now I adore this dish, but there is one expectation that we gotta set straight here at first. These fries are not crispy – go into this expecting something texturally alot closer to, I dunno, a baked potato. Because really? These guys aren't really even about the potato – it's really just a vehicle for the sauce, which's the true essence of the dish.

Guizhou Spicy Free Style Fries

• Yukon Gold Potatoes, ~3, 550g. Note: Russets are also ok, but can more easily make the sauce gloopy if overcooked.

• Sauce:

  Kimchi liquid, 2 tbsp or 25g.

  Water, 2 tbsp or 25g.

  Dark Chinese vinegar (陈醋/香醋), 1.5 tbsp or 15g.

  Light soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp or 10g.

  Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1 tbsp or 10g.

  Chili powder (辣椒面) or cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp or 6-8g.

  Sichuan Peppercorn oil (花椒油), 1 tsp or 4-5g.

  Sugar, 1 tsp or 4-5g.

  Salt, ½ tsp or 2g.

  MSG (味精), ½ tsp or 2g.

Note: If you do happen to lacto-ferment your own vegetables in the Guizhou or Sichuan manner, use 4 tbsp of that liquid and up the chili powder quantity to 1.5 tbsp.

• Herbs:

  Scallion (葱), 15g.

  Cilantro (香菜), 15g.

  Pickled daikon (酸萝卜) or gherkins, 40g.

  Fishwort (鱼腥草/折耳根), 25g or fishwort leaves, 15g or however much cilantro root you can get your hands on or skip this.

Note: Some Vietnamese grocers seem to carry the leaves of the fishwort plant. Don't obsess though, skip if you can't find it.

Process:

Slice ~3 Yukon Gold Potatoes (550g) into ½ inch by ½ inch sticks (about 2 inch long), using a crinkle cut knife if possible.

Rinse the potatoes, soak for at least 30 minutes.

While soaking, chop the herbs: 15g scallion, 15g cilantro, 40g pickled daikon or gherkins, 25g fishwort or 15g fishwort leaves or however much cilantro root you can get your hands on (or skip this one herb).

Mix together the sauce: 2 tbsp kimchi liquid, 2 tbsp water, 1½ tbsp dark Chinese vinegar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp chili powder or cayenne pepper, 1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorn oil, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp MSG.

Remove the fries from water, pat dry.

Pour ~½ inch of oil into a non-stick skillet (cast iron or carbon steel is also good) - if you use the largest skillet possible, you can avoid doing two batches. Heat the oil up to 120C, or until it's just barely bubbling around a pair of chopsticks, and add in the fries. Fry for ~6 minutes at 100-120C over a medium/medium high flame, or until the fries are just barely cooked through (translucent, but not falling apart).

Move to a mixing bowl. Add the sauce and herbs and mix well.