Walking past many hole-in-the-wall places on the streets in China, the scene above starts becoming familiar. Homely in nature, people chopping, preparing, forming and cooking. Going in to one person’s shop is totally different to the next. The furniture maybe different, they might have seating out the front. What comes with appearance is the question, what is on the menu? Each little shop has something to offer. We walked into this place and grabbed a seat, because of the dumplings. That was there specialty.
Not all the dumplings were ready to go when we ordered. So the ladies quickly made up the right amount and the meals were on the way. The Moult crew all went with dumpling soup, however I just went with a mix of dumplings. I had the market in sight.
A tray of dumplings ready to get cooked. With the dumpling soup below, in a chicken/pork stock and morning-glory (river weed) as they call it in the soup. You can then add more soy sauce or chili. I was so excited when my plate of dumplings came out I forgot to take a photo. At least I captured the soup.
The market was just around the corner. It was a supermarket, with rice, spices, fruit and veg, meat, people selling tinned things. All on the street, and if you were hungry while you did your daily shop, then you could stop at any number of street vendors for food. We tried this pancake style thing, It cooks up almost like a chapatis crossed between puff pastry. Ok, it had loads of oil and was really flaky and delicious. It came with mixed herbs in it, the most dominant being the chive. Cooked over a 44 gallon drum them chopped to size, and shoved in a bag, for us to munch on. They also had other flavours too.
If any one knows what there called I would love to know.
As we continued for our walk through the market, we saw some rice and ducks for sale. Makes you want to eat Peking duck, at least we found some in Chengdu.
The meat section of the market, above the bits that terrify most people, the tongue, heart and lungs.
The next little dish I got to try was a Szechuan specialty. Noodles dumped in a bowl with all different flavours added, which then you have to stir through yourself. A giant bowl of this spicy noodle goodness is a whole dollar.
As you stirred it through, it changes colour. It almost looks like spaghetti bolognese. Well it’s not. What looks like meat actually is flavouring, I watched the lady pour in soy sauce, fish sauce, msg, sugar, vinegar, Szechuan pepper (lots of), chives, dried onions and I am sure there was more. Just don’t remember. By the end my eyes were watering, and my mouth needed cooling down.
Lastly we bought an ice block, to cool our mouths down from eating so much Szechuan pepper. This fruit ice block had yogurt on the top, pineapple flavour with a surprise of sultanas in the middle. Interesting combo, but it works.
2 Responses
Loving your China posts. Takes me back my trip there in 2004. The food was amazing.
I was staying at a university in Shanghai and there were little market stalls that set up each day outside the gates. One of my favourite snacks was what I referred to as a Chinese sloppy-joe. It was a lovely soft freshly made roll cooked on top of a 44 gallon drum, filled with a chicken/pork mince and and lots of fresh coriander. I had one every day that I stayed at the uni. Did you have anything like this?
No, we didn’t, it sounds great though. The food varies region by region so much, obviously we did not stay in Shanghai long enough.