“Rising up, I ate a wide range of meals, however principally Asian tinged with Portuguese. My mum would make beef full of enoki mushrooms in teriyaki sauce; basic steamed fish with spring onion and ginger; boiled bacalhau (salt cod) with potatoes and greens drizzled with olive oil – very Portuguese; possibly serradura as a pudding, a layered dessert with cream and crumbled Marie biscuits (just like wealthy tea) – one other very Portuguese dish.
“We ate collectively each night time for dinner. However the spotlight was at all times Sunday brunch in a teahouse, generally with prolonged household – numerous gossip, every kind of dim sum (siu mai, har gau, char siu bao, custard tarts). That’s a part of the motivation behind Journey to the West.
“My mum by no means allowed me within the kitchen, she was very territorial. So I could not do rather more than fry an egg. I solely discovered to cook dinner after I got here to the UK.
“As a result of Britain wasn’t well-known for its delicacies on the time, particularly within the Kent city the place I lived, after I began to cook dinner, I naturally gravitated in the direction of eager to make the meals I missed from residence. However I additionally discovered to make basic roast dinners, which in some ways are the equal of the dim sum brunches.
“The dish I’m hankering after proper now could be Laghman from north west China, though I imagine it may need originated within the Laghman province of Afghanistan. The noodles are hand-pulled wheat noodles, shiny, bouncy and fats, a bit chewy with a agency chunk, served with a cumin braised lamb, purple pepper and tomato-based sauce. (Generally it’s made with beef, additionally good.) It’s easy and hearty however particular to me as a result of it’s the one dish I might end myself when travelling solo by north-west China. I must be bored with it by now, however no. I’ve had sorts of it within the Gobi desert, within the Altai mountains, and Turpan, which is the actual residence of the dish.
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“After I’m lazy, I’ll use passata as an alternative of tomatoes and that truly releases a extra intense flavour. The locals like to carry a clove of uncooked garlic to chunk into between mouthfuls of the noodles. I by no means actually appreciated that – it’s an excessive amount of even for me – however you’ll be able to add some garlic to the stir-fry to get one thing extra appetising.”
Make Sandy’s laghman recipe.
