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damn right...the stuff on the list brings back so many memories...many things i saw there and forgot....i must find the recipies....especialy the ones i already mentioned- the flat bread with meat and the starch noodles. btw, i tried today to cook up 1 part potato starch in 10 parts water. after a while it sure did turn pretty clear and thick. i took it off the fire when i thought it would burn. 5 hours in the fridge later...not hard enought....so, either it needs alot more cooking..or....i need to add something else....in the cook book by fuchia she says the process is done with the flour/starch, water and some kind of coagulent....any ideas? gelatin mabye?

that list is exelent! were did you find it? and more important were can i get recipes for the above.....?

well i have some corn starch and potato starch at home....so ill give them both a try later on....;)

not tapioca flour, tapioca starch. how about potato or corn starch?

yes, no.4 looks right. but like i sayed there are many collors and types of "noodles". when they say green beans they probably mean mung beans (they have a green shell). what is the name of the recipe you translated? is it liang fen? and does it say if they want just plain powderd beans or, the starch from the beans/rice? i can buy at a local health food shop tapioca starch, would that work?

Yes, ive had grass jelly and it looks very similar. its that black stuff right? well come on....is some one gona be my savior?

Jo-mel: your description of the guo kuei sounds right but i still cant find a recipe... ...so any one with ideas is welcome.... regarding the noodles, in almost every place i stoped in Yunnan and Sichuan they had stalls selling cold noodles. most places had the regular wheat noodles, but in adition almost all had a big block of "jelly" that they cut/scrapped noodles off. every place had its own special type. In Kunming and Dali they were mostly of a yellow kind (mabye mung bean flour/starch?), in Lijang they were a dark grey, almost black (black bean?). also in Lijang the "noodles" were cut into squares and fried before being dished up. In Sichuan (Leshan, Emeishan and Chengdu) they were mostly white (rice i guess). The last place i saw them was in Xian further north east, there they were translucent (Vermicceli?). But always the same idea. a big block that looked like a mixture off water and some kind of flour/starch that was set in a big tub and then turned out. cut up or shredded and served with a mix of black vinager, soya sauce, garlic, ginger water, chilli, suger, spring onions and some times a kind of "penutbutter". From what i have found on the net and in books this style of noodle is called Liang Fen. but.....no were have i found a recipe..... For my first contribution: A very simple little street food i had there, especialy in the area that borders Yunnan and Sichuan near Tibet was small potatos that were put on skewers and grilled. No sauce was added, but...before they went on they were brushed with some oil and rolled in a mixture of salt, flaked chilli (lots and lots of chilli) and some ground sichuan pepercorn. its a big rough on the toungue the first few times but sure was good on those arctic cold nights we walked around Litang (4500 meters high).

hi, a year and a half ago i spent 3 months in china. one of the best expiriences of life. but thats for another time... most of my time was spent in Yunnan and Sichuan. Amd one of the best things there was the steet food. so much variety.... only thing is i eat kosher so i couldent eat any thing with meat there, so all i had was the veggi stuff. but i tried to learn as much as i could about the stuff there so that i could recreate it all back at home. one of the great little things i had there was cold noodles with a vinager and chilli dressing. the dressing varied from Yunnan to sichuan and from stall to stall... some times wheat noodles and some times some thing called Liang Fen. these are a kind of starch noodle made from all kinds of starches. rice, bean, pea and some other roots. it comes in a kind of big block and they shave or cut of pieces. i have been searching and searching to no avail for a recipe.....i understand its some kind of starch+water cooked up thing....but my odd experiment failed....how do i do it? any one know? the second thing that i dideny try but that looked really good was something called Guo Kuei. its a kind of flat bread that looks a bit likes a fried pita. and they put in it/ on it some kind of 5 spice smelling minced meat mix......again...no recipes....any ideas? any other street foods from the region are more than welcome. ill type up latter a few recipes i have made. btw, there is a great book i got recently called "Sichuan Cookery" by Fuchsia Dunlop. tons of great stuff, but unforteonatly the street food section is very vague and without proper details...

i havent laughed so much in ages.... well i am proud to say that i had trouble of thinking of something stupid i did in the kitchen.....and i cook alot.... but one of hte stories did remind me a slightly traumatic expirience i once had.... sink full of dishes after dinner.....lots of soap.....plates, cutelry and....cheap glasses my mom bought.....hand goes rushing into the sink to do the dishes quikly....AHHHHH the shock!....the sheer pain!!!! i pulled my hand out with a big peice of glass stuck into the soft skin between to fingures.....(i still have the scar)....i was afraid to do dishes for a few weeks after that....(and told mum to spend the extra bucks on proper glasses...) something my mom did: 1) sow up chicken and forget the needle......(dad got the....gift..) oh, and when i was 4 or 5 years old me AND my brother (im not sure who did it first...) decided it was a good idea to put our mouth on a tray mum just took out of the oven.... (no damage done...)

ok....i made on batch in the morning that went as folows: about 20-30 grams of licorice powder cooked in 6 cups of water till i had about 2 cups left. took that and added to it 3/4 cup molasses, a little salt and 1/4 cup of oil. let it boil for a few mins. then added in 1 Tbs of pectin and let it boil for a couple more mins. then stirred in 1.5 cups of plain flour and mixed it till i got a stiff paste. let it cool and made little balls that i put on a tray to dry. texture: perfect. nice and soft. (i figure that in a day or so they will dry out properly). taste: very very weak..... so...i did a second batch....same as first but this time cooked up 2 Tbs of anise seeds with the licorice root. then at the cooking stage i added some more suger and salt. texture: very similar, a little softer. taste: better, a bit stronger....but not quite what i want..... any ideas? mabye some star anise??.....

thanx alot! i plan on trying to make some later this week..... (i probably wont be able to wait and ill make'm tomrow...;)

any one?? i dident think it would be that hard a challenge.....

Hi, Any one out there ever try to make liqurice? i have been looking around the net for some info...but to no avail.... i figure the ingredients are suger....molases?...liqurice root?.... any ideas? i just made marshmellows with a recipe i found here (strawberry ones...just i used raspberrys)...they came out great!