liuzhou

This has been around on the internet for years, but the recent egCookOff on asparagus seems like a good reason to revive it.

Stir fried fresh ramen noodles with chicken, shiitake, garlic, ginger, chilli, Sichuan peppercorns, Shaoxing wine, a trickle of soy sauce. Finished with yellow, hothouse garlic chives and coriander leaf/cilantro.

For some reason, I've never even thought of putting an omelet in a sandwich. Must go out to buy some eggs. Oh! And bake some bread!

Beautifully written article, How to Close a Restaurant I remember reading the reviews and mentally adding this to my list should I return to England.

Picket myself up an eggplant this morning. I had a plan. This is one of two types I saw. The other was the more common long thin Asian aubergine (茄子 qié zi), where this more bulbous one is called 墨茄 mò qié, literally dark or black eggplant. It is nearer to black than the bright purple of the former. What I had in mind was 肉末茄子 (ròu mò qié zi), or minced pork with eggplant. Not the prettiest dish in the Chinese canon, but a very tasty one. Served with rice. I made it more or less to this recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop, although I reduced the quantities. It's only for me. I do also make a Sichuanese version of it, but having paralysed myself last night with Sichuan peppercorns, decided to go with the eastern China version. I very much enjoy both.

There is a better, more rational article on this nonsense here in the Guardian.

This afternoon, I bought some super fresh Sichuan peppercorns from my local store. They sell these in bags of as little as 2 or 3 grams to ensure freshness. I also picked up a duck leg. Duck is the cheapest animal protein here and, in my opinion, the tastiest. De-boned said leg and marinated the meat in Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, chilli and just a few of the peppercorns, which I lightly toasted, then crushed. Stir fried that, made a simple salad and served it with couscous because I was that's what I fancied.. The citrus flavoured, numbing sensation of the peppercorns rendered me speechless (literally - my mouth wouldn't work) and went so well with the duck. I'll be doing that again.

I had to Google "KP duty", but yes! I like durian, but not on pizzas.

I know it's only about a week since I posted something very similar, but I quite enjoyed it then and tonight attempted to improve it. Think I succeeded. Took a large boneless, skinless chicken breast and cubed it into 2-3 cm cubes and marinated them for an hour in 2 Tbs Sriracha sauce with lemon juice, chopped shallots, garlic and salt. Stir fried it. Made a lettuce, cucumber, coriander leaf and tomato salad. Stuffed the lot into pita bread smuggled back from Vietnam. Added sea salt and white pepper. Ate four. Sorry, you can't see the chicken this time. It is there under the salad. I found these wonderfully flavoured tomatoes in the market this morning.

Another thing I noticed around HCMC was a surprisingly (to me) high number of vegan and vegetarian restaurants. This one seems to be one of a chain. I can't say much about them as I didn't partake, although this next one confused me for a second. A vegan restaurant called Beefsteak? Well of course not. Adjacent restaurants.

I can afford it. My sense of dignity and my taste buds can't.

KFC Breakfast, China Shrimp and Scallop Congee

Just in case anyone thought I was joking about durian pizza in my last post. Here's the evidence. Their slogan is a blatant lie.

More (con)fusion food. Pork kidney marinated in Shaoxing wine with garlic, ginger and Sichuan pepper oil. Quickly stir fried, a splash of soy sauce. Served with Dijon mustard and Mat Kimchi (막김치).

Liquan Beer (离泉啤酒 ) is brewed in Guilin not far from here and is the main beer sold throughout the province. I spotted this a couple of days ago. It is a premium version to commemorate then US President Bill Clinton's visit to the city in 1998. Here is a closer look at the label. I am somewhat baffled by the "Clinton" quote featured on both the front and rear labels. The Chinese makes sense, but did Clinton really say or write "With thanks for acting a good example"? (My emphasis). It makes no sense. And is that really his handwriting? Whatever, the beer is a slightly more deeply flavoured one than most of Liquan's product. The regular stuff is fine, though as a refreshing draught in the sweltering heat of summers here.

Here is the son of another friend rolling his first rice noodle roll (肠粉 Mandarin: cháng fěn; Cantonese: chéungfán). He needs to work on it a bit, but is clearly pleased with himself.

Many years ago, I ate a wonderful asparagus starter in this restaurant in London. Stacks of beautiful local English asparagus were rolled with phyllo/ filo pastry then baked. The pencils of asparagus in the crisp pastry were served with a spicy mayonnaise. Over the next few years, I replicated the dish many times, but haven't had it in twenty years. No phyllo/ filo pastry available here in China. Asparagus is very common here in my part of China. Every market and supermarket has it. In Chinese it is 芦笋 (lú sǔn) which literally means 'reed bamboo shoot' and most people here do believe it's a type of bamboo. I also saw it in Vietnam when I was there two weeks ago and have eaten it in Thailand.

I didn't investigate too closely, but I think it's probably stability over flavor. I'm not sure a bunch of herbs rammed into the animal's rear orifice would make much difference. It certainly doesn't look very dignified.

I've eaten all sorts of pizzas over the years. Pepperoni, Supreme, Marguerita, and many more. Even Durian Pizza! But this is a new one on me! From the local Pizza Hut. Air? Pizza Air? It makes no sense. The Chinese doesn't help either. It reads: Thin Crust - Deep Flavour Thick topping. Delicious long lasting About 3mm thin crispy crust / super rich thick top / 4 flavor configuration / Extra- large satisfying size I'd try one if I could pay with air money!

Yes, that was one of the things I picked up on first. And the insistence on "oriental" sesame oil, but then using tahini! I like tahini a lot, but it ain't Asian style sesame paste. I can just about forgive the spaghetti! I'm not a stickler for so-called "authenticity", but...

One thing the Vietnamese do enjoy of an evening is a bit of grilled/BBQ'd meat with a few beers. I do too, but didn't partake as it is very much a communal activity and I was there alone most of the time. But every day as I left the hotel to attend to business, I had to pass this large grill place and negotiate my way around the sidewalk to get past where, each morning, they started roasting a whole pig in preparation for the evening trade. They did a second in the afternoon. The head and feet have been removed to be used in another manner.

Yes, there are all sorts of international food places. Both restaurants and markets/stores. I saw Indian, Syrian, Singaporean etc. There is a large Russian market and of course, a huge Chinatown, which I didn't visit. I live in China!

Squid and snow peas with garlic, ginger and chilli. With squid ink noodles.

The signs were in both Vietnamese and English. Why English? Because the vast majority of non-Vietnamese customers speak at least some English. It is the international language! And many younger Vietnamese speak English I have one good friend in Hanoi who speaks, Vietnamese, Chinese, English and French, all fluently.

I didn't taste it, but vegetable shortening would be an improvement on their usual - lard!