June 20, 2010 – mmm-yoso

Call me strange….. flavored:

No, those aren't some turds laid on our dining room table by some strange insect…… it's my tri-weekly ration of Guai Wei Can Dou – strange flavored broad beans (or horse beans, or fava beans). For me this stuff is addicting…. the Missus has to lock these away.

On our first day in Nanjing, the Missus rushed to a snack vendor when She saw this……

I had a taste, and it was love at first bite! Guai Wei (strange flavor), is a flavoring unique to Sichuan province. This "strange flavor" is a combination of sweet-spicy-salty, and most of all, courtesy of a good amount of Sichuan Peppercorns; numbing. This version isn't like the package versions we had, it's also a bit chewy and sticky. I think the Missus bought a kilo (or two), and we had these during the rest of our trip.

So naturally, when we hit Chengdu, we went snack shopping. The Missus bought several varieties, two of each, one for us, and one for Her Dad.

So far, we've opened the first and third packages….. I prefer this one.

Of course, we've yet to open this package. While sharing a sample with friends of my MIL, I was asked what made this taste so good…… my reply, "I think it's the crack they add in at the end."

Even though I've seen some pseudo versions of these at the market, they don't look particularly enticing, so I think it'll be a sad day when this is gone. On the bright side, Fuchsia Dunlop has a recipe for Strange Flavor Peanuts in her book Land of Plenty. We may just have to try it out.

Ground Cumin from Sichuan:

To say this package of ground cumin is very fragrant is to say…. well…. let's put it this way: even when wrapped in plastic wrap, given its own ziploc bag, and riding solo in its own pocket…. at no time did I ever say to myself "hmmm, I wonder where that package of ground cumin is???" So naturally one of the first things I made when we got home was my Cumin Lamb (Zi Ran Yang Rou). Man, it came out so good that I've made it three times since.

So the Missus and I were having a light lunch at Cale Baguette Express, and while looking at my Banh Mi…..

And you know I always say "everything tastes better in a Banh Mi", right? So if it's good enough for Uni and Eggs, it'll be good enough for Cumin Lamb…..

So I went back in and bought one of their Baguettes ($1.25). I sauteed some red bell peppers and onions with minced garlic, cumin, soy sauce, and salt, which added sweetness and a mild crunch. I topped it off with cilantro leaves and sriracha. I gotta say, this was pretty darn good. Next up, cumin lamb tacos anyone????

More fun to come:

Along with all the wonderful tea, we brought back quite a few "gifts", like these wonderful dried mushrooms. A post on the dish I made with these is coming up.