13. 酸辣海带丝 (suān là hǎi dài sī) - Spicy Pickled Kelp Strips
Another quick ‘food to help the rice go down’ (下饭菜 -xià fàn cài). This time seaweed. This is a commercial, factory processed product, made in Sichuan. Where they get the kelp from, I don't know - Sichuan is a landlocked province.
Ingredients are, unusually, provided in a sort of English.
Note: Rap oil (sic) should be Rapeseed Oil; Chinese prickly ash is Sichuan peppercorns and the white wine is actually 白酒 (bái jiǔ), a strong spirit usually distilled from sorghum or maize.
Should you prefer to pickle your own without the added chemicals, just pop into the local market where the kelp is easily available in several forms. This one is simply pickled in vinegar.
Or if you prefer, you can buy it dried, either in sheets
or cut into strips and tied in knots
Finally, here is a homemade version made from home-cured fresh seaweed.
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