Green | Sybaritica

I have noticed that many people who go to the bother of using fresh rather than frozen broccoli only use the florets and then throw the rest of the stem away. This is a bit of a shame really as this part of the plant is not only quite versatile, it is also tender and delicious as well. Indeed, I think I would have to say that I actually prefer it to the florets…  Read more

The actual purpose of this recipe is to showcase some Brine-Packed Bamboo Shoots I featured in a recent post. However, the recipe itself is a modification of a very popular Sichuan dish called ‘Dry-Fried Four Season Beans’, the beans being a variety of the common green runner bean that is usually cooked to a nasty tasteless greyness in western kitchens. In this Sichuan specialty, the beans are generally deep-fried first in order to make them deliciously crisp-tender, and are then pan-fried with other ingredients. Typically, the additions will be garlic, ginger and chili, but non-vegetarian versions can include ground pork, dried shrimp, or even both… Read more

Pickled Mustard Greens are a fairly common Asian cuisine and are especially popular in China where they are often simply called ‘suan cai’ (酸菜), or ‘sour vegetable’. Homemade versions are often pickled in brine only, and thus tend to be very sour from the lactic acid alone, but commercial varieties often include vinegar and sugar and can thus be quite sweet. The brand you see pictured above is a product of Thailand rather than China and is one I have bought many times. It does list sugar as an ingredient but it is still really quite sour (and also pretty salty), at the same time… Read more