liuzhou

Last night I ordered some seafood fried rice. It doesn't look like much, but it was very good. Plenty of shrimp, squid and fat juicy mussels. One to repeat.

No. There is only about a teaspooon of filling in each dumpling. The pork is ground (actually chopped) to a very fine paste and it cooks very quickly.

I saving this for the Guangxi Gastronomy topic, but it fits here, too so. A Chinese treatment - 烤鹌鹑 (kǎo ān chún) - Grilled Quail. Butterflied, generously sprinkled with cumin and chilli powders and grilled over charcoal - finished with sesame seeds. A popular late night snack sold on the streets.

7. 糯米 (nuò mǐ) As in the rest of southern China, the staple food in Guangxi is rice (Northern China tends more to wheat.) So, you will find that the majority of noodles here are rice noodles (米粉 - mǐ fěn*), although we can buy wheat noodles, too. The standard expression 你吃饭了吗 (nǐ chī fàn le ma), literally meaning ‘have you eaten rice’ is used as a greeting – it isn’t an invitation to dinner. Nor are you expected to answer with a list of what you have eaten in the last 24 hours, any more than "how are you?" is an invitation to list every disease you have ever suffered or imagined suffering. The ethnic minorities, including the Zhuang and especially the Miao, Dong, Yao, Mulam, Maonan etc favour 糯米 (nuò mǐ) which is glutinous rice, also known as ‘sticky rice’. Like all rice, glutinous rice contains two starches: amylose and amylopectin in varying proportions. Glutinous rice contains higher amounts of amylopectin which gives it its glue-like nature. NOTE: Rice, sticky or glutinous or otherwise does not contain gluten! The names are similar simply because gluten is also sticky. So is maple syrup but I don’t see people avoiding that! Celiac people can eat rice without fear! Contrary to much of the wisdom on the internet, glutinous rice comes in both long and short grain types, although the latter is much more common. As well as being a staple, eaten with every meal, glutinous rice is used in festivities and at weddings etc. The dish below, 五色糯米饭 (wǔ sè nuò mǐ fàn) – 5-colour glutinous rice - is a favourite at festivals. Some of the rice is coloured using vegetable dyes; some (purple and red) are natural. I first ate it at a wedding in a Dong village near Liuzhou city. The glutinous rice is also used to make rice wine with which to prolong the celebrations! It is also used in the manufacture of Shaoxing wine, etc. * 米粉 - mǐ fěn is often mistranslated by computer translation systems as 'rice powder'. It is true that 粉 (fěn) can mean powder, here it is refering to powdered rice (i.e. rice flour) which is used to make the noodles, so 米粉 is kind of an abbreviation.

Pork, egg and bread for breakfast. What 's wrong with that? 肉包 (ròu bāo) - Pork baozi and 蛋饺 (dàn jiǎo) - Pork dumplings with egg wrapper. The danjiao are similar to jiaozi, but the wrapper is a tiny omelette (ya boo hiss to those show-offs with their one egg omelettes. These 5 dumplings used two eggs between them and there was some leftover! Half egg omelettes!) They are made in a ladle held over the gas burner. It is filled with egg and briefly heated so that the egg in contact with the metal begins to set, then the rest of the egg is poured off to be used for the next one. When the wrapper is almost fully set, the filling is added and the wrapper folded. Flip the thing over to finish. The whole cook takes seconds. Popular as a dim sum 点心 (diǎn xin) item round here. Or served in soup.

Simply roasted. Season liberally and generously drizzle with olive oil. 8 to 10 minutes in a 200℃ oven.

I would love to know when they did their research. I'm betting 2017 -2018. They are a bit coy about that information, just saying 'in recent years'. Even Wikipedia would question that! Anyway, let's not get too off-topic.

Why do I have five oyster knives? And no oysters?

I am aware of another study published in 2005 in which researchers looked into how the introduced species had an impact on the native population on Daishan Island in the east of China. I've only read the abstract which I quote (with due citation). This is something I'm more interested in. Citation: Zhengjun Wu, Yiming Li, Yanping Wang, and Michael J. Adams "Diet of Introduced Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana😞 Predation on and Diet Overlap with Native Frogs on Daishan Island, China," Journal of Herpetology 39(4), 668-674, (1 December 2005). https://doi.org/10.1670/78-05N.1 Accepted: 1 August 2005; Published: 1 December 2005

That the frogs were introduced is exactly what I suspected.The study seems to be addressing the issues I mentioned, many of which have since been addressed. Thanks.

6. 牛蛙 (niú wā) Yet another benefit of the rice paddies are of course frogs and there are plenty round here. I often meet them as I walk around the city. 25 years ago, I lived in Hunan on the edge of a rice paddy and every evening I was treated to a chorus that would have made McCartney realise the futility of writing that dreadful song of his. At that time, the frogs were mainly wild yellow frogs, but in recent years bullfrogs* have all but taken over. Yellow Frogs in My Local Supermarket In 2017, a craze for bullfrog consumption hit Shanghai’s restaurant scene and spread out from there. Previously, they were mainly only eaten in the countryside where they were found. They are now incredibly popular and are being extensively farmed to meet the demand. There was a dip in the market a few years ago, when a number of less scrupulous individuals were raising the frogs in unsanitary conditions and there were a number of food poisoning incidents. To this day, my dear friend J won’t touch frogs, despite the cute branding of the restaurant. However, the government cracked down and the industry has revived. My local shopping mall has three frog restaurants all doing good business. There are also about twenty peddling their wares on the delivery service I use. Also, the supermarkets and markets all serve live frogs. My place of choice has a number of sharing dishes on offer - the Chinese love to share food. As I remember from the top of my head they offer Mala** Bullfrog, Hot and Sour Bullfrog, Pickled Pepper Bullfrog and Garlic Bullfrog, Cumin Bullfrog. There are others. As you can probably guess from this, these frogs are often served Sichuan style as it is considered that they benefit from a bit (a lot) of spice – I can’t agree more. Sichuan restaurants across China are now offering the likes of 宫保牛蛙 (gōng bǎo niú wā), which America would call Kung Po Frog, and other travesties. ** Mala is the flavour of Sichuan Peppercorns (ma) and Chilli (la). So, here is my dinner tonight, 麻辣味牛蛙 (má là wèi niú wā) Mala* Bullfrog as advertised on the delivery app. Now I should address the question I always get asked. "Do you only eat the legs or ...? The frogs are dispatched by being beheaded (a swift swipe of the cleaver) and the head discarded . They are gutted and then everything else is chopped up, skin, bones and all. This is the food. These are not creatures for the bone haters. We suck every bit of meat off those bones. Perceived wisdom is that, sort of like the shrimps's head having the most flavour, with frogs it's the toes! * I've been trying to find out if the bullfrogs are native to China or are American bullfrogs which have been introduced. Unfortunately, this information has been hidden by the communist party so that they can have their meetings in peace. Google is inaccessible at the moment, as are most websites. I'll get back to this later. I suspect they have been introduced, though. See also here, for something I forgot to add.

5. 发糕 (fà gāo) A quick one today and one I'm not that interested in but for the sake of completeness, I bring you 发糕 (fà gāo), a kind of steamed sponge cake. These are made in huge flat pans then cut into squares or cubes for sale. The Chinese version of Tik-Tok is full of videos of people slicing them. Why? The only flavour (and colour) comes from the red sugar used. It is way too sweet for me, but I suppose it's good that in a country which usually overdecorates cakes in garish colours, something plain is a clear winner.

Well, I have finished my exhaustive study into the uses my friends and neighbours put dried figs to and can report. I’m reliably informed that the vast majority are simply rehydrated and eaten as a table fruit. However some are made into a sort of tisane or fruit ‘tea’. However the suggestion I got most, apart from just eating the thing was to make a 煲汤 (bāo tāng). 煲汤 (bāo tāng) is the Mandarin verb ‘to simmer’ but is also used as a noun to describe a type of restorative soup given to invalids or hypochondriacs. As the name suggests it is a long simmered soup, usually rather simple, consisting of a bone stock (pork or chicken) with a few added ingredients matched to the ailment in traditional Chinese medicine. Most of these symptoms are stunningly vague, so pretty much anything goes, including dried figs. I have no intention of simmering bones for hours and throwing in some figs, just for your amusement, so here’s a picture of a totally different 煲汤 (bāo tāng). This one is a pork bone stock (the bones have been simmered so long they are crumbling away). In the stock is 海带 (hǎi dài) - Kelp – the seaweed. No doubt as a cure for drowning. There was also some ginger and a few yellow soy beans. No one was willing to give an opinion on what the figs might be good for.

My oven back in London is a 1970s model conventional / convection oven. Still working, I'm told. Never had an air fryer, but it's just a little convection oven, isn't it?

I woke this morning absolutely starving. I'm not sure why. So I ordered breakfast. I ordered two! 1. 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pí dàn shòu ròu zhōu) - Pidan (Century Egg) Lean Pork Congee. Doesn't look like much, but it was tasty and filled most of the void. This, I'm told, is the most popular of all the congees locally. 2. 上海汤包 (shàng hǎi tāng bāo ) - Shanghai Soup Dumplings. These had suffered in the journey and a couple had burst spilling their soupy contents. Came with my dip of choice. You can have no dip, vinegar, chilli oil or vinegar and chilli oil. I chose the latter. It comes in these little catering packs. I should have said no dip - I have better vinegar and chilli oil at home, anyway! It also came with an unadvertised pack of Chillied Dried Daikon Radish - the Chinese pickle Korea likes to claim to have invented. Yes, It's basically what they call 'kimchi' but has been known in China much longer as 泡菜 (pào cài). So having had two breakfasts and started a war, I'll go off and think about lunch.

Another serious problem with western food in China is the almost ever-constant lack of seasoning. I have the idea that Chinese chefs and cooks are so used to seasoning with soy sauce etc that they never think to reach out for the salt. I've lost count of how many times I've been served fries without a trace of salt; same with salads. At one time, I used to carry a bunch of those little salt packets you get in western fast food places (they don't have here - I'd load up in airports etc) . Later I gave up doing that; I just gave up western food, After all, it was seldom worth seasoning!

While we wait to find out how Chinese people use figs, an interesting / amusing aside. The Chinese name for figs is 无花果 (wú huā guǒ) which literally means 'no flower fruit'; something of a misnomer. In fact, figs are more likely to be no fruit flowers. The first 'fruit' of figs and the one most eaten is, in fact, tiny flowers encased in a shell. Only the second 'fruiting' bears true fruit, but many figs never get that far. Not many people know dat!

Yes. Nothing like fondant potatoes. Except they are potatoes.

I know I haven’t duly recovered from my recent spell in hospital – I keep making uncharacteristic errors of judgement. Today I fancied a salad and, like an idiot, decided to search my delivery app. The alarms screaming “China doesn’t do salads!” went unheeded. I searched high and low through the western-type salads they had on offer, trying to find just one that didn’t include c@rn. I was just about to give up, when I spotted one. I ordered it. The salad consisted of (in order I found the ingredients as I dug through) some rather nice roast chicken surprisingly free of bones, skin and gristle; a boiled egg (halved); shredded carrot, kidney beans, wood ear fungus, raw broccoli, rice noodles and C@RN! This was not shown in the image or listed in the ingredients. I should have known some donkey in the kitchen would ‘improve' destroy the salad. Everything was unseasoned and undressed (if you pardon the expression!) However, when ordering, I was given my choice of dressing – 1000 island, ‘salad dressing’, zephyr vinaigrette, baked tahini, Caesar salad dressing, Korean hot sauce, mustard salad dressing, millet chutney, Low calorie orange tahini sauce or low calorie yoghurt blueberry sauce. I had no idea what zephyr vinaigrette was so I ordered that – seems ‘zephyr’ is a Chinese synonym for ‘sickly sweet’. Apparently this sauce is a thing, but the only reference I can find is of a Chinese company pretending claiming it’s Japanese. It's in the bottom left of my image I dressed it instead with some Sriracha I happen to have and ate around the dreaded yellow pellets from purgatory. I also added some 'sea grass' which I also ordered and they threw in for 1 元 （i.e. free). It's top left. Best part of the meal. Never again. Get well soon my poor me!

4. 黄豆酸笋闷鱼仔 Another gift from the rice paddies is this anonymous species. I’ve only ever seen them referred to as 小鱼 (xiǎo yú) meaning ‘small fish’ or 鱼仔 (yú zǐ) meaning ‘baby fish’. I guess the subsistence farmers' pescatarian Latin terminology isn't up to par! Very occasionally, these names may be prefixed by 田 (tián), an abbreviation of 水田 (shuǐ tián). literally 'water field', meaning rice paddy. I tend to survive by calling the fish ‘minnows’, another non-specific species which forms shoals in fresh water. Despite their individual limited size, these Chinese fish are an important economic and gastronomic asset to the rice growers. This dish I am about to describe is common among the Zhuang and other ethnic minority peasantry throughout Guangxi. I’ve eaten it in Miao villages as well as in Dong stockades. I’ve eaten it at home. As recently as last night! As a dish 黄豆酸笋闷鱼仔 (huáng dòu suān sǔn mēn yú zǐ), Yellow Bean Pickled Bamboo Braised Fish is a true reflection of the local food culture, using only what can be found to hand. The fish from the paddies is braised with yellow soy beans grown by the same farmers and bamboo shoots pickled by the same farmers. Add some garlic, ginger, chilli and a little tomato grown by the same farmers and you are good to go. What fish you can't immediately eat can be dried. Dried or fresh, the fish are consumed whole - guts, bones and all. The dried fish are also sold in the local supermarkets, farmers' markets and by itinerant street vendors. One of my favourite top three local dishes. But this is not the only treatment for these fish. Here is another dish I ate in a Miao village north of Liuzhou city. The same rice paddy fish, deep fried in camellia tree seed oil with wild mountain herbs. These fish seemed to be slightly more mature specimens. But we always return to the favourite. Here is a Dong version, eaten on a tea plantation in the heart of Dong territory.

The former.

Yes, I know figs are delicate, but the supermarkets stock other fruits which are equally delicate and perishable. I think the main problem is that the supply is extremely low and no one can satisfy the supermarkets' requirements. I see this with other produce, too. I know dried figs are OK. What I meant was that I don't know how the locals use them. That, I will try to find out.

Yes. Indeed. The last meal I cooked before being hospitalised included such potatoes. This, I hasten to add, had no bearing on WHY I was hospitalised. My siblings and I fought over spuds. I was the eldest (still am) so usually won!

Given that some of the paddies are hundreds of years old, it is difficult to be certain what happened originally. The famous Dragon's Backbone paddies near Guilin were built between the 13th and early 17th centuries, for example. I'd suggest that the antiquity also rules out any serious aquaculture. The paddies were, in all probability, irrigated by diverting streams, rivers, ponds etc all of which would have been rich sources of life. The rice raising peasants of course weren't complaining. The fish (some of them at least) help control insects as well as providing protein. Frogs found their way to the paddies,too again helping with insects Today, a certain amount of aquaculture goes on, but given that most paddies are worked by near-subsistence farmers, most are still naturally stocked.

Seems like the standard British method to me. See Delia Smith's almost identical method. I didn't know there was another way. Even my French mother used that method. I may sub dripping or duck fat for the vegetable oil though.