The Mala Market | Inspiration & Ingredients for Sichuan Cooking Blog

How to Cook With Furu / Non-Spicy / Noodles / Pork

Chinese Sausage and Fermented Tofu Carbonara

If Carbonara Were Chinese (and Dairy-Free) This Chinese sausage and fermented tofu carbonara comes together with as little effort as the Italian original. Creamy fermented tofu (腐乳, fǔrǔ)—also known as fermented/preserved beancurd and “vegan cheese”—takes the place of Pecorino Romano to make a surprising non-dairy substitute. Furu’s tang and funk might be misplaced in such a simple dish, but the sweet, savory Kam Yen Jan pork sausage makes it a striking duo. Aged Pecorino has its own sharpness and pungency, after all. The only deviation to the original script, possibly...

Yu choy with furu sauce

How to Cook With Furu / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Plant / Vegetarian

Stir-Fried Yu Choy With Fermented Tofu (Furu Yu Choy)

The Versatility of Chinese Cheese Furu, or fermented tofu, is at first mysterious. Little cubes of noticeably fermented, yellowy beige or gray tofu come packed in shelf-stable jars with a flavorful brine. To the uninitiated, it can be scary. But those who have tried it know that furu is yet another in the vast Chinese cupboard of ultra-umami condiments. Furu is a product and flavor that Fongchong introduced me to not long after she became my daughter in 2011. In the first few months of her life in America communication...

Miscellaneous

DIY Mala Hotpot Scented Candle | Zoe Yang

For the Hotpot Lovers in Your Life I have never been a candle person. I truly don’t know who all these people are who happily pay $35, $80, $200 for something that goes up in flames (I write, happily paying $25, $80, $200 and more for oh-so ephemeral edible pleasures. Go figure). But that was before I came across the most perfect—PERFECT—item: the hotpot-scented candle. News: Contests & Events Malaysia Behold! How it looks just like 火锅底 (huǒguō dǐ)/hotpot base, with the chili oil layer on the bottom and the...

Sichuan Steamed Pork Belly With Yacai

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Douchi / How to Cook With Huajiao / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / How to Cook With Yacai / Instant Pot-Friendly / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Steamed Pork Belly ft. Yacai (Xianshaobai, 咸烧白)

Sichuan’s Ninth Great Bowl I rarely eat in my dreams. Even when I have been capable of lucid dreaming, I never recall eating. I do daydream, however—constantly—about the creamy, succulent slices of pork belly layered like so many perfect pleats across a steaming bed of Yibin yacai in traditional Sichuan 咸烧白 (xiánshāobái). Xianshaobai is a prayer sung in pork fat (too much lean meat and the magic disappears): classic, class-defying comfort food. No one is above xianshaobai. Xianshaobai is regional, like dumplings and 粽子 (zòngzi): The exact composition and style...

Chinese New Year / Fish & Seafood / How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / How to Cook With Huajiao / Plant / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Stovetop Chongqing Kaoyu (烤鱼): Wanzhou Grilled Fish

Pan-searing a Modern Chongqing Specialty I first ate Chongqing 烤鱼 (kǎoyú) in the underbelly of a Chengdu mall (real ones know it’s all about those random mall basement restaurants). That was back in 2015, and Chongqing’s explosive grilled fish scene has lingered in the back of my mind ever since. Buried between colorful layers of crunch, spice, fermented douban umami, fresh vegetables and sour paojiao, charcoal-grilled kaoyu takes the fiery flavor bomb of Sichuan hotpot and combines it with street food favorite 烧烤 (shāokǎo), Chinese barbecue. Naturally, Chongqing kaoyu is also known as 烧烤鱼...

Dongpo Pork

Chinese New Year / East (Jiangnan, Shanghai) / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics

Ode to Dongpo Pork (东坡肉) | Zoe Yang

A Poet’s Ode to Pork and Hongshaorou Dongpo pork (东坡肉, dōngpōròu): pork belly cubes braised in soy sauce with ginger, scallions and other aromatics. If this is sounding a lot like red-braised pork (红烧肉, hóngshāoròu), don’t worry, it’s not just you. The number of Baidu search results for “difference between dongporou and hongshaorou” suggests that even Chinese people aren’t clear on the nuances. Here’s how I think about it: hongshaorou is your generic, workhorse pork braise. It can accommodate different cuts of pork; it can veer sweet, savory or spicy,...

Chinese New Year / Dessert / How to Cook With Sesame / Non-Spicy

Miso Caramel Ice Cream w/ Maple Sesame Swirl

Headfirst With Sesame Paste Dessert Rivers of salted, maple syrup-infused sesame paste sing throughout this miso caramel ice cream base. Molten sugar bronzes the quick-simmered milk and cream first; then, the same cornstarch that coats stir-fries in glossy velvet suspension turns this yolkless ice cream thick and creamy and ready-to-sling, straight from the freezer. The result: A perfect multitasking ice cream for this holiday season. It is as versatile as vanilla but a hundred times more glamorous. Spin a quart the night before a potluck and save yourself the mayhem...

Spicy cumin beef on knife-cut noodles

Beef, Lamb & Game / Braises / How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Instant Pot-Friendly / Noodles / Northwest (Xinjiang, Shaanxi) / Restaurant Classics

Spicy Cumin Beef on Knife-Cut Noodles (Ft. Dried Daoxiaomian)

Handmade Noodle Nirvana, aka Northwest China This is another in our series about making famous Chinese restaurant noodle dishes not with the usual freshly made noodles but with premium dried noodles. If you have the time and skill to make hand-pulled, hand-ripped or knife-cut noodles on the regular, then you can stop here. But if you haven’t mastered Chinese noodle making and still want a damn good homemade version of spicy, tingly cumin beef on wide, ruffly noodles, then all you need is some high-quality dried mian in your pantry....

tossed reganmian in ceramic bowl

How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Sesame / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Noodles / Plant / Restaurant Classics / South (Guangdong) / Vegetarian

Wuhan Reganmian Hot Dry Noodles (热干面) ft. Dried Jianshui Alkaline Noodles

Guozao With Wuhan’s Famous À La Minute Sesame Noodles In South-Central China’s landlocked Hubei province, the capital city Wuhan is beloved for its breakfast staples and snacks—chief among them 热干面 (règānmiàn) “hot dry noodles.”  Served steaming and soup-less in to-go bowls with a barely-saucy coat of ground sesame paste and simmered house stock, reganmian was invented and popularized around 1930 by two local noodle shop owners, Li Bao and his apprentice Cai Mingwei. Now, reganmian is regarded alongside Sichuan 担担面 (dàndànmiàn), Shanxi 刀削面 (dāoxiāomiàn) knife-cut noodles, and Beijing 炸酱面 (zhájiàngmiàn)—not to be...

How to Cook With Sesame / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Plant / Poultry / Vegetarian

Classic Chinese Steamed Egg (Zhengdan, 蒸蛋)

Universal Chinese Comfort Food It doesn’t matter how far removed you are from the mainland in the Chinese diaspora: At some point, a relative made you this Chinese steamed egg dish, and now it reappears in your thoughts and dreams every time you’re sick or ailing. Flu? Steamed egg. Broken toe? Steamed egg. Strep throat in June the week before graduation? Steamed egg. Heck, I got a cavity filled at home last year and what did Ma make when I came back hungry and numb? Steamed egg. I grew up calling...

How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / Non-Spicy / Plant / Poultry / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Vinegar Chicken (Culiuji, 醋溜鸡)

A Fully Stocked Pantry, So You Can Make Left-Behind Dishes Newly added to our blog trove of under-appreciated mainland dishes is this recipe for 醋溜鸡 (cùliūjī), Sichuan vinegar chicken. Not red, not hot, not numbing nor loud, Sichuan vinegar chicken speaks to the range of regional cooking often left behind in the diasporic new world.  No one is at fault for this. If you only eat Sichuan a couple times a year, I’m sure you want your favorites—the quintessentially, exaggeratedly, unmistakably Sichuan flavors everyone associates with the province. And if you’re...

Shaoxing Drunken Chicken

Chinese New Year / Cold Dishes / East (Jiangnan, Shanghai) / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / Non-Spicy / Poultry / Restaurant Classics

Shaoxing Drunken Chicken (Zuiji, 醉鸡) | Zoe Yang

A Classic Jiangnan Cold Dish It’s a rare occasion that I get to write a Jiangnan recipe with zero familial baggage. Blame the Methodists who converted my family into teetotalers sometime in the late 1800s, but when I called my mother to ask about Drunken Chicken, she asked, “Is it made with 酒糟 (jiǔzāo)?” Close, but no. Drunken Chicken (醉鸡, zuìjī), a stalwart of the Chinese poached chicken oeuvre, is made by marinating cooked chicken in 黄酒 (huángjiǔ), yellow wine—most famously the huangjiu from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Jiuzao refers to...