Szechuan - Food Glorious Food

Szechuan Cuisine of western China, constitutes one of the four major cuisine in China.

In Szechuan cuisine, chili is almost indispensable. Szechuan food is famous for its hot spicy "tongue numbing and eyes tearing" dishes. Their uniquely hot, pungent flavor is created by a mixture of red hot chilies, Szechuan peppers, garlic and ginger in the ingredients. Some well-known Szechuan dishes include "Kung Pao Chicken" and "Fish in Water".

According to our tour guide, Szechuan people's glassy complexion is thought to be strongly linked with this chili diet.

I strongly agree to that, because chili promotes blood circulation, besides its many other positive attributes.

"Kung Pao Chicken" - Chili fried with chicken, spicy and delicious. Enjoyed this dish very much. But my friends found the dish a lurking bomb! They struggled with the seathing hotness, with nose running, tears and sweat rolling, lips swelling and some almost coughed their lungs out!

Although many Szechuan dishes are spicy, there are some famous dish that are not spicy at all, including recipes such as "Tea Smoked Duck".

Most tourists to China have one common complaint about food being oily.

I remember way back in the early 70s, my mum used to bring over lots of fatty pork pieces(preserved with salt) when she went visiting her relatives in China. According to her, not only food but also cooking oil were very scarce. These relatives really looked forward to my mum's visiting, especially to the food rationing time!

Combination of mushrooms, leek, corn, spring onion and frog in hot sauce. Unique and tasty. Mushrooms are abundant and varied. Real treat to mushroom lover like me.

Knowing the reason behind (pardon me if i am wrong) would certainly make us, the tourists, more accomodating to the oily food served in China. Moreover, with a better economy, most Chinese there who did not have enough to eat earlier then, might tend to make up for lost time by having sumptuous meals. With this understanding, i enjoy the oily food, and my stomach took it well too!

Cabbage soup, with colors of red from carrot dices and wolfberries to enhance its appeal.

Cabbage dish is very common in China. In the picture, the cabbage served was the inner tender part of the cabbage. This was a favorite dish of the once very famous Army General by the name of General Nean Kenn Yiau in the Ching Dynasty. He led his army to win many battle, and had the luxury of enjoying such dish.

Sweet corn with crispy prawns. Simple and yet appetising.

Another mushroom dish. Simple and non oily.

There is an unspoken rule in China for tour groups: You can request to exchange 1 bottle of soft drink like Pepsi, Coke or Sprite for 2 bottles of Chinese beer. In China, local beer is cheaper than soft drinks, I suppose this is a way to promote Chinese beer. If you want to know how good was the beer, i can tell you: Every time, we request for such exchange.

Pictures of more mouth-watering dishes of Szechuan
- 19 of them, all served at the first dinner on arrival at Chengdu

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There is an unspoken rule in China for tour groups: You can request to exchange 1 bottle of soft drink like pepse, coca cola or sprite for 2 bottles of Chinese beer. I suppose this is to promote Chinese beer. If you want to know how is the beer, i can tell you that every time, we made such exchange....