China Food Road - Sichuan

Our next stop in the "China Food Road" project is Sichuan.

Sichuan, the land of plenty, is a region of fertile plains fed by the Yangtze River and its tributaries. It is famous for its hot cuisine and the great variety of cooking styles. As the old saying goes: “One hundred dishes and one hundred flavours”. The main ingredients in Sichuanese cuisine are: whole chilli peppers (gan lajiao), which provide the spicy flavour (la); and Sichuan peppercorns (huajiao), a type of citrus berries that provide the ‘numbing’ flavour (ma). The presence of chillies and peppers awakens and stimulates the palate to enjoy other tastes.

Sichuan peppercorns in the wild

About Chillies, Peppers and different tastes

The further South you go in China, the spicier the food gets – according to traditional Chinese medicine, spicy food helps release the humidity in your body, it is particularly good in winter, when humidity is bad for the bones. Chillies, with their blood-red, vibrant colour and hot spiciness, are not indigenous to China. They were brought to Asia from South America by the Portuguese. The dusky-pink Sichuan pepper is the dried berry of a prickly ash tree. It has a fresh, citrus scent and it is the dominant spice in many dishes of this region. The Sichuan peppercorn is not related to the Western black and white pepper - it is hot and pungent, leaving a numbing sensation in the mouth. The combination of whole chilli, Sichuan peppers and ginger adds additional layers of heat. 

“Sichuan pepper makes your lips dance and tingle”. 

Fuchsia Dunlop

Other ingredients characteristic of this cuisine include: red oil (chilli oil), sesame oil, various bean pastes (very salty paste made from fermented broad beans) and vinegars; as well as nuts and sesame seeds. The Sichuanese have different classifications of tastes: hot and spicy, hot and sour (cuan la) such as in the fish soup, and a hot and numb (ma la), such as in the tofu dish ma po dofu, with its fiery sauce.

We visited Chuan Ban Restaurant, in the Sichuan Province government office in Beijing, reputedly the best Sichuanese restaurant in town. It was hard to find, the main entrance does not face the road and I can't read Chinese characters, but after asking many people, and with the help of Feian’s GPS/google map apps we managed. When we got there we met up with the rest of the group: Zara, Tony, Katherine and our expert, Grace, who was wonderful at ordering the food. She had done her research and deserved also a merit point for ordering in her home dialect.

The Menu

Bean curd sliced á la Julienne 豆腐丝  dou fu si - with a balanced sour, nutty dressing

Celery and lilly 西芹百合  xi qin bai he – celery stalks in a fresh sauce with beautiful, delicate, dainty lilly flowers (not pictured)

Pork’s lungs 夫妻肺片 fu qi fei pian, also known as ‘husband and wife’

Mushrooms in a pot干锅双菌 gan guo shuang jun a wide array of different types of mushrooms, served in a hot wok with a burner

Spicy Toufu 麻婆豆腐 ma po dou fu - one of Sichuan's most famous dishes

Spicy fish in red oil 水煮鱼  shui zhu yu - dead or alive? our chosen fish cooked to perfection, white meat, tender, boneless and tasty.

beancurd sliced á la Julienne with vinegar and sesame seeds

Husband and Wife - sliced pork's lungs (or was it tongue?)

sliced pork's lungs - a closer look

scrumptious pot with mushrooms

Dead or alive? Fish in oil with chillies

At one point, the waiter came round with a big bucket full of water so we could choose the fresh fish. Fresh indeed, still leaping in the water!

The ‘Husband and Wife’ dish: Legend has it that in the city of Chengdu during the 1920s and 1930s, a couple opened a small restaurant serving sliced ox lungs. The cold dish was so delicious and balanced in flavour and spices that it soon became famously known as ‘husband and wife’. The dish has now been adapted and it includes other cuts as well as lungs – in my opinion the meat they served us was sliced tongue and it was very delicious indeed.

Excellent food and service, I am not surprised this restaurant is considered the best venue for Sichuan food in Beijing.

Inside the restaurant, a busy kitchen and polite staff

The Adventurous Ones

Sichuan Provincial Government Office Restaurant - Chuanban

5 Gongyuan Toutiao, Jianguomennei Dajie,

Chaoyang District, Tel 6512 2277 ext. 6101

If you would like to read more about my adventures in Sichuan, go to:

Fifty Shades of Sichuan (here)

Panda love (here)

Children of Chengdu (here)

Chongqing, megacity of contrasts (here)

The Food of China - Real Chinese Food

On a recent visit to England with my family, we were craving Asian food, so we decided to buy some ready-made Thai and Chinese meals at Tesco's. I was horrified when I tried celebrity chef, Ken Hom’s supermarket version of Kung Pao chicken because although I was not expecting it to be haute cuisine, the dish did not resemble the original a bit. Although the dish was flavoursome, the chicken was tender and cubed in uniform-sized pieces and it had a good, colourful appearance, it tasted more like a thick massaman curry than Sichuanese Kung Pao – I suppose this was due to the addition of some kind of peanut paste for flavour rather than real, crunchy peanuts. I was disappointed, and although I have followed Ken Hom since the 90s (I've even had a wok from the KH brand since then that I still use!) I realised that it will be difficult to find ‘the real thing, real Chinese food’ when I move out of Beijing. I know I will miss it so I have made a point of learning some traditional recipes. In the process, I have become fascinated with the Art of Chinese Cuisine.

China is a huge country, with an ever-growing population to feed and a diverse climate and geography. Even within China you will find different variations of your favourite dish. China also has many neighbours that bring their own culinary influence (Vietnam and Myanmar to the South; Nepal, India, and the ‘Stans to the West; Russia and Mongolia to the North; Japan North and South Korea to the East). It is a country that covers all kinds of landscapes and climates: from tropical monsoons, to arid deserts, luscious, bamboo covered jungles, and the highest mountain ranges on earth. With such diversity, China’s cuisine is bound to be extremely varied, too. China has one of the great food traditions of the world and eating plays an important role in daily life, rituals and festivities.

In Western countries, when we think of Chinese food, images of egg fried rice, spring rolls and chow mian come to mind, because we have been mainly exposed to Cantonese food, which is but one of the many regional cuisines. Generally speaking, and not to overcomplicate the classification, there are eight major regions in Chinese cooking: Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong (Hong Kong, Cantonese), Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian and Jiangsu. Food regions can also be divided into cardinal points: the food of the North, East, South and West. 

One of the main perceived divisions within the country is between north and south, which runs roughly along the Yangtse river. This imaginary boundary is supported by the idea that culturally (and not just culinary), the two regions have two different identities. The staple food of the south is rice - white and polished grains, usually steamed. But rice doesn’t grow well in the harsh climate of the north, where wheat, maize and millet are grown as staple and made into breads, buns and noodles. 

I wrote some impressions on 'the man of the north' on a recent post in my blog about life in China (see here)

The real Kung Pao chicken, cooked at "Black Sesame Kitchen"

I have a new project in mind: I will be exploring the different regional cuisines of China and reporting back on my findings and impressions, but for the time being, I will share a recipe for 'the real' kung pao chicken, adapted from a cooking lesson that I took at Black Sesame Kitchen, a cooking school in Beijing (see link here).

Kungpao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

300g chicken thighs, deboned (or chicken breast) cut into cubes

1 tsp salt

100ml water

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp oil

oil for stir-frying

1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

a handful of dried chilies (to taste)

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp each, leeks (cut into 1 cm squares), ginger and garlic (chopped)

1 red bell pepper, cut into cubes of a similar size to the chicken

Sauce:

1 tsp cooking rice wine

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice vinegar

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

salt, white pepper, to taste

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp water

2 tsp cornstarch

5 tbsp cooked peanuts (deep or stir fried in advance)

To tenderise the chicken, cut into cubes, season with salt and add to a bowl with water, making sure the liquid is absorbed. Add cornstarch and coat well.

Heat some oil in the wok until hot enough deep fry the chicken, making sure it doesn’t stick together. Cook for about 1 minute. Remove the chicken from the wok and set aside.

To infuse the oil with spices, heat the wok and add a little oil. Add Sichuan peppercorns and allow them to infuse in the oil taking care not to burn. Once the fragrance is released (approximately 15 seconds) remove the peppercorns from the oil. Then add dried chilies and toss for 5 seconds.

Add chili flakes and stir for 2 seconds and then add leek, ginger, garlic and bell peppers and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the chicken back into the wok and toss for another minute.

Spoon the sauce mixture over the chicken, mix thoroughly and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Add the peanuts, toss and serve.