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Shredded Potato Stir Fry (炝炒土豆丝)

5 from 5 votes
This recipe is a super fast way to cook and enjoy potatoes, with a new texture that will blow your mind. {vegan, gluten-free}
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Course: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Servings: 2 to 4
Author: Maggie Zhu

Ingredients

  • 1 pound (450 g) russet potatoes (*Footnote 1)
  • 1 large green bell pepper (*Footnote 2)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or homemade scallion oil) (*Footnote 3)
  • 4 dried red chiles such as chile de arbol, stems discarded (*Footnote 4)
  • 4 teaspoons Chinkiang vinegar (or rice vinegar) (*Footnote 5)
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (*Footnote 6)
  • 1 teaspoon coarse sea (or kosher salt)

Instructions

  • Fill a medium-size bowl with cold water. Peel the potatoes and give them a quick rinse under running water. Shred them with a mandoline or a julienne peeler along the length of the potato. You want the shreds to be like long, thin matchsticks. Submerge them immediately in the bowl of water to rinse off excess surface starch. Usually 30 minutes is a good amount of time to soak them, but I have been known to soak them overnight in the refrigerator.
  • Cut the bell pepper in half lengthwise and discard the stem, seeds, and ribs. Thinly cut the pepper halves lengthwise into matchstick-like shreds. Ideally they should be the same thickness as the potato shreds.
  • Lay out a clean cotton kitchen towel or several layers of paper towels on the counter, for drying the potatoes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and give them a quick rinse under cold running water. Give the colander a few shakes to rid the shreds of excess water. Spread the shreds out on the towel and pat them completely dry.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil appears to shimmer, drop in 2 of the chiles and stir them around until they blacken and smell smoky, 5 to 10 seconds. Add half of the potatoes and half of the bell pepper to the smoky oil. Stir-fry them vigorously, without stopping, to briefly cook the shreds but still make sure they maintain their toothsome quality (*Footnote 7), 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape everything into a serving bowl. Wipe out the pan with paper towels before you repeat with the remaining oil, chiles, potatoes, and bell pepper. (*Footnote 8)
  • Add them to the batch in the bowl, stir in the vinegar, sesame oil, and salt, and serve immediately. (*Footnote 9)

Notes

  1. It is about 1 large russet potato.
  2. You can leave out this ingredient or you can replace it with other peppers such as Jalapeno, for a spicier dish.
  3. You can cook this dish by using homemade scallion oil or adding a bit of chopped garlic or green onion at the beginning of the stir fry. This will make the dish extra fragrant.
  4. When you use whole dried peppers to infuse the oil, it only adds smokiness but not spiciness. Tear the dried peppers into 3 to 4 small pieces to add spiciness to the dish. Also, it will make the dish extra fragrant if you add 1 teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns before adding the dried peppers. When their color turns dark, fish them out by using a fine mesh. You can leave them in the dish as well, but you need to pick them out while eating.
  5. I highly recommend using Chinkiang vinegar if you have any.
  6. You can skip the sesame oil if you added herbs or used scallion oil in the stir fry.
  7. This is very important. If the potato starts to turn tender, it’s overcooked.
  8. If you have a wok or a large pan and heat it up properly, you can make the dish in one big batch. I cooked it in one batch and did not have any problems.
  9. I prefer to season the dish during the stir fry, which give the potatoes a bit more flavor. Sprinkle with salt when you stir fry the potato for a minute. Once the stir fry is finished, turn off the heat and add vinegar. Stir to mix well before transferring everything into a serving dish.