Recipes · China · Vegetive

White yeasted buns pleated by hand around a cabbage and mushroom filling, then cooked in a steamer basket.

Flat cabbage torn by hand and seared over high heat with dried chillies, Sichuan pepper and Zhenjiang black vinegar.

Rice simmered for an hour into silk, scented with shiitake and ginger, peppery with white pepper and spring onion.

Meltingly soft aubergine seared in the wok and lacquered in a sweet, vinegared garlic sauce with chilli bean paste.

Silken tofu in a fiery red sauce of doubanjiang, fermented black beans and tingling Sichuan pepper, with mushrooms in place of meat.

A monastery-style braise of tofu, shiitake, wood ear, water chestnuts and glass noodles in a fragrant, glossy brown sauce.

Chow mein with crunchy vegetables, tofu or plant-based strips, coated in a soy and coconut sauce and topped with sesame and coriander.

The aubergine, one vegetable and ten kitchens
How the aubergine travelled from India to the Mediterranean, what each kitchen made of it, and the techniques that decide the result.

China