Blend of flavour
New book blends the authors’ culinary heritage
AS IMMIGRANTS WITH Chinese heritage, Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu spent their formative years living between (at least) two cultures and wondering how they fitted in. Food was a huge part of this journey; should they cling to the traditional comfort of their parents’ varied culinary heritage, attempt to assimilate wholly by learning to love mashed potatoes, or forge a new path where flavour and the freedom to choose trumped authenticity? They went with option three.
Chinese-ish celebrates the confident blending of culture and identity through food — take what you love and reject what doesn’t work for you.
CHONGQING HOT & SOUR NOODLE
Also known as ‘suan la fen’, this Sichuan street food dish of bouncy potato noodles in a sour and numbing broth is flavourful, textural, bright, fresh and packed full of toppings. All you need are some basic Chinese pantry ingredients to build this bowl of seriously good times.
Inbgredients
200g dried sweet potato or
mung bean (cellophane) noodles (see note), soaked in cold water for 1 hour to soften and then drained
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp five spice powder
1⁄4 cup (60ml) chilli oil, or use Lao Gan Ma chilli oil
1⁄4 cup (60ml) light soy sauce
1⁄3 cup (80ml) Chinkiang black vinegar
2 cups (500ml) hot stock , or use a good-quality storebought stock
4 spring onions, sliced 1⁄3 cup (50g) ya cai
2 Tbsp roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp sesame seeds Handful of coriander (cilantro) sprigs, finely chopped
Method
Cook the softened noodles in a saucepan of boiling water until tender, 8-10 minutes. They will still be chewy, but should be fully translucent when cooked. Drain and rinse with warm water, drain again and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the ground Sichuan peppercorns, five spice powder, chilli oil and light soy sauce and stir. Remove from the heat and add the Chinkiang vinegar.
Divide this sauce between four bowls. Divide the noodles between the bowls and top each with a ladle of hot stock, and some spring onion, ya cai, peanuts, sesame seeds and coriander. Serve immediately.
— Serves 4
Note: You can find dried sweet potato or mung bean (cellophane) noodles in the Asian aisle of well-stocked supermarkets or at most Asian grocers.