Christmas Eve rainy-day mala cravings!
A rainy Christmas Eve craving for mala xiang guo: a dry-wok Sichuan stir-fry with tofu, lotus root, carrot, potato and pork ribs in mala sauce.
Rainy Christmas Eve, and the cravings called for mala xiang guo rather than anything festive. πΆοΈπ
What we had:
- Mala xiang guo: a pick-your-own dry-wok Sichuan stir-fry with tofu, lotus root, carrot, potato, pork ribs and dried chillies in mala sauce
Mala xiang guo (ιΊ»θΎ£ι¦ι ) is the dry version of mala, where your chosen ingredients are stir-fried in a wok with the mala sauce rather than simmered in a broth, so you get a deeply flavoured, oily-spicy plateful rather than a soup. The fun is in the choosing: you walk up, pick from the trays of meats, vegetables, tofu and noodles, set your spice level, and the cook tosses it all together.
Our pick came piled high: slabs of soft tofu on top, crunchy lotus root, carrot, potato and tender pork ribs, all tangled with a scatter of dried chillies and coated in that dark red-brown mala oil. The sauce is the dish, chilli oil for the heat, Sichuan peppercorns for that numbing tingle, fermented bean paste for the salty depth and sesame oil for fragrance.
Choosing Sichuan mala over turkey on Christmas Eve is very us, and the hot, fiery, numbing plate was exactly right for a cold, wet evening, the warmth from the chilli making the rain outside feel a world away.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. πππΌ A fiery, numbing mala plate loaded with tofu, lotus root and tender ribs, perfect rainy-day comfort. Would re-order.
