Tag Archives: Sichuan

Shangli: an ancient Sichuan trading town

Posted on by

Roadway

At nine o’clock sharp a swoosh of sheets being pulled off tables sounded across the ancient wooden town. Then there was a communal rustling as bottoms settled into chairs. Finally a deafening click-clacking echoed through the stone streets. It was mahjong time in Shangli.

Dinner was finished and the entire town was at it. They would stay at it until the early hours. Every night. My nightmares echoed with the sound of mahjong tiles being rattled around by electric tables. Accompanied by a concentrated sucking on cigarettes, clinking of tea cups or whiskey glasses and much muttering. Continue reading →

Spicy Sichuan style partridge noodles

Posted on by

Sichuan style partridge noodles

Never one to leave well enough alone, I’ve once again been tweaking and twisting, adding and amending. Often this is through store cupboard necessity, sometimes just sheer perversity. Whatever the reason, the results are always interesting.

Sometimes they simply don’t work (one memorable attempt to modify carbonara ended up with scrambled egg pasta), but sometimes they come out better than I expect. Substituting pheasant for chicken led me into a whole world of Indian game cooking, and maybe this’ll do the same for Sichuan food. Continue reading →

A quick and spicy rice noodle salad

Posted on by

You know that feeling where you just can’t really be bothered? Don’t want to spend ages cooking, don’t want to go out, want something tasty to pick you up after a long and hard day? This is a dish for those desultory days. Those days full of meh.

It’s quick and pretty straight forward to make. It’s both soothing and peppy. It packs a flavourful punch and is also pretty damn healthy. What more do you need? You might even, after eating this, feel all refreshed and ready to cook up a storm. If you hadn’t already eaten that is… Continue reading →

Gong Bao chicken with leeks and pistachios

Posted on by

Gong Bao chicken

You just know a dish has got something going for it when it had to undergo name changes and “political rehabilitation” in Communist China. Named for a 19th century Qing dynasty governor of Sichuan, it’s one of the spicy provinces best known culinary creations.

Packed full of signature Sichuan staples like dried chillies and the eponymous lip-tingling, head-spinning peppercorns, it’s a fast, fragrant and exciting dish to make. And surprisingly not too tongue numbingly hot, considering the chillies are in the double digits. Continue reading →

Sichuan style Chinese spinach

Posted on by

Sichuan style Chinese spinach and pork

Sometimes simple is best. And the Chinese, along with the Vietnamese, Japanese and the Italians seem to have a real penchent for making simple dishes sing. A few ingredients, cooked fast, and served straight away. Ideal food for a light post-work dinner.

While eating at Sichuan specialist Chili Cool I’m always blown away by their dry fried beans with pork mince. Similarly, while travelling around Vietnam, simple bowls of stir fried greens were an eye-opener and have left me yearning for them more than any other dish (except maybe those crispy spring rolls). Continue reading →

Sichuan goose

Posted on by

Sichuan goose

The goose, the subject of a later blog, has been well and truly cooked. And eaten. And rendered down into stock and tubs of creamy fat. That all sounds a bit slaughterhousey but the end results were very good.

However, even with five hungry (and slightly tipsy) bellies to feed, serving goose usually means there are a lot of left overs. And even a goose lover such as I can get bored with yet more cold roast goose. A middle class dilemma if ever I heard one. Continue reading →

Steamed aubergine in an intense spicy and nutty sauce

Posted on by

Steamed spicy aubergines

Smooth. Slithery. Soft. The texture of well cooked aubergines is their defining characteristic. More so than the gently nutty flavour, the pendulous shape, the glorious shades of purple. The main thing aubergines really bring to a dish is their delightfully soft and fleshy texture.

Not to minimise the taste, which neatly side steps big bullying flavours to come through, between and around them, linking and accentuating as it goes. Clever things aubergines. This particular ugly duckling of a dish, a marriage to an intense, pungent and spicy sauce, highlights this rare ability to shine through. Continue reading →

Sichuan style fish flavoured pork

Posted on by

Sichuan fish flavoured pork

Let’s get the obvious bit out of the way first shall we. No, there is no fish in fish flavoured pork. It’s called that because it uses a mix of flavours and aromatics that are commonly used in seafood dishes. What it does have is a wonderful, and powerful, combo of intense flavours.

I was put in the mood for  Sichuan (not that it takes much) by this recipe over at Hollowlegs’ blog. It was kind of a last minute affair so had to improvise. After all, where can you find cloud ear mushrooms at 8pm on a cold Monday night in NE London? Continue reading →

Sichuan style cold pork belly & cucumber in a hot garlicky sauce

Posted on by

Cold pork belly in a hot garliky sauce

Nothing beats a good steak and there’s something special about the meeting of hot charcoal and lamb. But the meat I keep coming back to again and again, is that of the pig. Maybe it’s familiarity, maybe it’s that I see something of myself in the pig. Maybe I just love the taste of pork.

Whatever the reason, pork is a real comfort blanket of an ingredient. I feel kinda jumpy if i don’t have hanging around. You can do so much with pork, and I just love versatility. Cut some spicy sausage into a prawn jambalya? Magic. Pork shoulder in milk? Pure comfort food. Sizzling bacon sarnie? Hangover cure extraordinaire. Continue reading →

Chilli Cool revisited

Posted on by

Crispy fried intestines

My first brush with proper Sichuan/Szechuan cuisine was something of a sweat soaked revelation. It left me panting for more. The question is, would Chilli Cool get through that notoriously tough second visit? All that expectation and the unrepeatable joy of a new discovery is tough to beat.

I remembered the crispy flavourful intestines, the earthy and hot lamb skewers and most of all that heavenly aubergine. Oh God the aubergine. Obscenely tasty I’d elevated it onto an oil-drenched pedestal.  So it was with both trepidation and excitment that I wandered into the dining room. Continue reading →