Trouble is, I can only read so much of Chen’s enjoyment of fried mini-buns with minced pork stuffing, shrimp dumplings, fermented tofu
skewered on bamboo sticks, rice porridge and salted duck before wanting
to set aside the mystery and dig in to a meal of Shanghainese street
food myself.
“My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water” from cookbook author Betty Liu refers to “Old Shanghai” dishes as “ben bang
cai,” or “local cuisine.” The recipes transport me to Chen’s dining
table and introduce me to Liu’s Shanghai roots.
Liu conceived of “My Shanghai” watching her mother’s careful preparation of “zongzi” — glutinous rice dumplings in bamboo leaves.
While her mother learned recipes through careful replication of her
family’s culinary techniques, Liu felt she was missing the opportunity
to continue the traditions of her family’s home cooking.
Liu explains that the layering of flavors in Shanghai cuisine is formed through fresh aromatics, like scallions and ginger, dried spices
like white pepper and star anise, and three core seasonings: soy sauce,
cooking wine and vinegar. Nothing exemplifies the power of these simply
combined ingredients like the traditional dish of Old Shanghai —
scallion oil noodles.
Scallions are slowly fried in hot oil for the better part of an hour. Then dried shrimp, a sweetened sauce of black vinegar, soy sauce
and white pepper are married with fresh-cooked noodles. Drenched in the
aromatic scallion sauce, this dish is delicately sweet and full of
umami.A “City on the Water,” Shanghai is situated on the East China Sea
and fed by the Yangtze River. This fertile region offers a diversity of
foods throughout the seasons. Shanghai dishes are a celebration of the
season and the ingredient — thankfully at my supermarket, eggplant
season is year-round.
At our family table, only my mother likes eggplant. Eggplant’s texture, bitterness and even the sponginess of cutting into a raw
eggplant can be a little off putting. Liu describes eggplant as a
polarizing vegetable, and I would agree. Because of this, I did what I
always do when I don’t care for something: assume I’ve just not
encountered the right preparation.
The key, of course, is quality ingredients. Using slender Chinese eggplants also helped. I had cautioned my apprehensive eggplant haters
that everyone must try the dish — give it a chance to woo them. It won
all of us over — no contest. My father, a vehement eggplant loather,
even took seconds!
While Inspector Chen and his creator Qui Xiaolong may have pointed me to the back street food stalls of Shanghai — I’m currently reading “A
Loyal Character Dancer,” book two in the Inspector Chen series — it is
Liu who took me there. Her home cooking will weave its way into our
seasonal plates, and I’m excited to see what flavors await.If these
ingredients are a bit foreign to your pantry, there’s nothing to fear
here. A single trip to H-Mart or your local Asian grocery will supply
you with all you need. And, after the success of this recipe, your
courage to make more of Liu’s delicious recipes will follow. It’s easy
to dig out that seldom-used spice from the back of the cupboard, but
because delicate white pepper is key to the heat of this dish — unless
you also add chili oil — make sure your pepper is fresh and still
fragrant.
