Comments on: Chinese Street Food Starts With Spicy ‘Cold Food’ Dishes

By: Manuela

Manuela — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 03:16:15 +0000

So glad everyone enjoyed this piece! It’s been so fun hanging out with Mr. Fan and getting to know this “class” of cuisine. My article focuses on Beijing style “liang cai”, and it is hard to find in the US (most of the restaurants in the U.S. are Cantonese and cooked by Fujianese, as Bookseller points out). But there have been a spate of regional Chinese restaurants in NYC – Yunnan, Shaanxi and Hunan – and the former do some nice chilled dishes and salads.

I recently used the same seasoning as Mr. Fan uses – sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, some dried red peppers chopped up – to make a “liang cai” salad of sliced cucumbers, and then the same thing with chopped up chunks of red Chinese radish (aka daikon). I threw in some leftover cilantro and a bit of soy sauce and sugar to add depth and complexity. After chilling them in the fridge for a couple hours, I had a crunchy, refreshing, flavorful dish to chomp on.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts/questions – happy to respond from Beijing

Til then: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

By: Pearlowa

Pearlowa — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:19:36 +0000

I have read alot about chinese cuisine , but never did I discover this cold food salad liang cai !
loved the article about liang cai!

By: AggieMom

AggieMom — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:29:25 +0000

This concept really intrigues me although my Asian travl experiences are limited to Singapore. Are there enough recipes from enough countries or regions to merit a cookbook? If so, count me “IN” to buy one!

By: Bookseller

Bookseller — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:02:03 +0000

The reason few places offer that pickled cabbage dish — and I love it, too — is that it’s Szechuan (Sichuan), while most of the restaurants in the U.S. are sort of quasi-Cantonese, though often staffed by Fujianese cooks. But in any case, not Szechuan. Good news? The cabbage is super-easy to make. I recommend Fuschia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty cookbook; she has a swell recipe.

By: Roz Cummins

Roz Cummins — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:13:13 +0000

Thanks for this great article. The only cold vegetable dish I can find to order here in the US from generic Chinese restaurants is cold pickled cabbage. It’s delicious, but few places offer it.