liuzhou

What they sent has large leaves and yes, looks like Thai Basil I've eaten often across SE Asia. However the taste is totally different. Some perilla cultivars have similar purple stems and flowers which makes me think the store have misidentified it. It also looks different from the image on their listing. Much duller.

No cooking involved.

It's not Thai Basil. I'm very familiar with that. Also the Chinese names given are those of sweet basil.

Despite claims in ancient topics here, basil is virtually unknown in China. In 28 years the only basil I've eaten is what I've grown myself. Never in restaurant or banquet and I've been to thousands of the former and hundreds of the latter. So, I was surprised this morning to see basil listed on my local food ingredients delivery app. The listing incorporated both names it goes by in Mandarin: 九层塔 (jiǔ céng tǎ) or 罗勒叶 (luó lè yè). I ordered some. What turned up was this. I have no real idea what it is but I know what it certainly isn't - basil. I think it may be a type of perilla. Very disappointing. Can't plant my basil seeds for a couple of months yet.

What do you mean by PNG? That abbreviation is used for several fuels.

This I didn't buy. Trending here in Chinaland. Any ideas.

There is more on Yao diet in this post. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/164469-guangxi-gastronomy/?do=findComment&comment=2366802 This topic is about kitchens.

I'm not surprised. Sesame oil is prized in East Asia for its aroma and flavor, both of which are highly volatile and are rapidly destroyed by heat. It is only used as a condiment, sprinkled on finished dishes immediately before serving. So many recipes want you to cook it. You'd get the same result pouring it down the drain.

I give up. Some cretin has decided not only to make Luosifen sausages, but also turn those into Luosifen sausage rolls with 'juice'. These screen grabs are from Chinese antisocial media. The ad assures me they are chilli hot and smelly! I'll take their word for it. The Luosifen moon cakes were bad enough.

Yes. I was just about to say the same. 99% of my meals are cooked in one pot - a wok - apart from the rice which is done in the rice cooker. Even when the meal is composed of several dishes.Many of my friends and neighbours only have a wok and a rice cooker. Standard Chinese cooking method, but adaptable to other cuisines. ETA. Some meals can be prepared entirely in the rice cooker.

Multiple typos now corrected. Technical difficulties.

When it comes to preparing for the winter, the Yao kitchen gets extended outside. An extended family raises a pig (or two) over the year and then slaughters it in order to prepare it for preserving by various means to see them through the winter. There is no grocery store in the village. People eat what they grow or raise. The pig is slaughtered and butchered in the street outside the house before being air dried, salt cured, pickled, or smoked then hung up inside the kitchen. It is bled first and the blood preserved and all the offal is carefully collected. The carcass is then singed in a straw fire to get rid of as much hair as possible. Any left will be shaved off. They also have fish and frogs from the rice paddies and raise duck and chickens. They grow corn (alas) and various greens. Their diet is heavily vegetable based.

Bizarre. They say they're Cantonese (Luosifen sure isn't Cantonese) then the only non-English language on the website is Japanese! They seem more interested in Instagram than their food. I can't even open the menu (which they don't even hold on their own website)! Doesn't quite inspire confidence!

I get mine done by a man on a bicycle. He comes by every couple of months banging an old wok lid with a stick to attract customers,then sits in the communal area with his various stones, sharpening the neighborhood. Can take him two days to get through everyone. But he does a great job.

It's all the one big room. Normal. I don't need to remember. I have one. It's a rice mill, used to grind grains down to a powder for various dishes. Mine is a toy one sold as a souvenir, but works on small quantities. When I dig it out of whatever box it's hiding in I'll demonstrate. No. What you are seeing as a handle is a flue pipe behind the stove.The wok is the two looped handled type. It is set into a recess in the brick stove. No. They are mainly subsistence farmers and live in the higher elevations with little infrastructure. They wouldn't refuse modernity. They just can't afford it. They are master rice terrace builders though. Image: westchinago.com

Is that shrimp in the picture? Unheard of! The overall colour seems a bit strange, too. It's usually less brown and more red from chillies. That could be bad printing, suppose.

I'd guess water. The houses tend not to have indoor plumbing so get their water from a communal stand pipe in the centre of the village. I took these pictures about 18 months ago, so can't remember.

It's served cold. Epicurious has a recipe very similar to how I've cooked and eaten it in restaurants here. I've also bought it in markets Pre-prepared similarly. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hand-shredded-chicken

手撕鸡 🐔 (shǒu sī jī) - hand torn chicken.

Getting away from my kitchen and city apartment kitchens I general, here is a typical countryside kitchen. This one is in a Yao ethnic minority village in the north of Liuzhou Prefecture. This is in preparation for the Chinese New Year / Spring Festival, on Feb 10th this year. Year of the Dragon 龙年.

I'm glad to hear the rice was unsalted, not that I'm ever likely to buy it. In much of Asia, certainly in China, rice is served unsalted. It is intended to be a neutral background to the flavours of the accompanying dishes. Same in S.E. Asia. The first time someone saw me salting rice I was preparing for dinner, they thought I had gone mad. I've never done so since. Possibly a good test for the 'authenticity' of your local Bamboo Garden!

These arrived at my door about half an hour ago. A pair of organic Syrah wines from Australia made by French Vignerons for the Chinese market. An unexpected gift from a friend in the wine publication and events business, for me to try. I don't know anything about them other than that. We shall see.

I don't know if this will help anyone but... Asian markets may be sources of 豆腐布 (dòu fu bù) which means tofu cloth and is really cheesecloth. Took me years to find that out. Standard practice round these parts.

炒鸡肝 （独蒜、辣椒、绍兴酒）， 小意大利面，秋葵。 Chicken liver stir fried with garlic, chilli and Shaoxing wine. Orzo and okra.

Hunan fried chilli beef, Hunan pork, Hunan steamed fish and greenery with my beautiful, Hunanese, Tujia ethnic minority friend. Here in a Hunan restaurant in Guangxi.