Tu Dou Si (Chinese Style Potatoes) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
5 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
2 hot peppers, julienned or 1 small green pepper
3 -4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
4 -5 cups water
1/2 - 1 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
salt

Preparation

Prepare potatoes then put in a bowl to soak. Fill bowl 3/4 way full until you can see the water coming up and fill the remainder with vinegar. Soak for at least 20 minutes. Turn the potatoes once or twice so that liquid gets on all of them.
Drain potatoes. Heat oil on highest heat possible on your stove. Once it's VERY hot (either oil smokes a bit or sizzles when a drop of water touches it), then drop in potatoes.
Immediately start to toss potatoes and get them coated. Toss in peppers and garlic. Sprinkle with extra tablespoon of vinegar and salt and keep tossing a few seconds. Take a piece and taste it - adjust salt or splash in a tad bit more vinegar, but I don't recommend too much more of either of these.
Toss on high heat no longer than 2-3 minutes. If the potatoes start to feel soft or start to glue together - take off heat immediately, they are overcooking.
Result should be a tender potato dish with a delicious buttery texture and faintly spicy kick to it. The potatoes will be tender yet not soft and mushy, a result of soaking them in vinegar. If they are crispy or crunchy at all, they either were not cut thinly enough or were not soaked long enough or with enough vinegar.