Photo by Katharina Pinczolits
It’s the first CookbookCorner of the New Year — and I have a lovely one for you! It comes from the stable of Hardie Grant, and I mention that only because, as I survey the titles from last year and the ones to come in 2024, it strikes me how many come from this publishing house, so I feel it’s only right to offer congratulation on a great cook book list.
As for our first book of the year, it’s Vegan Chinese Food by Yang Liu. Many of you, I know, will be doing Veganuary, and greet this news with interest. For those who are not vegan-curious, I know it might not sound like an inspiring title, but any groans from hard-core carnivores would be based on an erroneous assumption, for this is a book full of ideas, full of flavour and full of irresistible and vibrant deliciousness. I began putting post-it notes on the recipes I wanted to make and then gave up as, frankly, I found it hard to find any recipe I didn’t want to make! But I shall list a few of the examples that reeled me in. Let us start with the Home-Made Laoganma Sauce, then the Golden and Silver Garlic Sauce — so named, the author explains, “because 30 per cent of the garlic is fried until golden on the outside, 50 per cent is fried until very fragrant but not coloured, and the other 20 per cent is added raw”. Next stop: Sweet and Sour Eggplant (Aubergine); Spring Onion Potato Pancake; Dry-Fried Oyster Mushrooms with Cumin; Biang Biang Noodles; Hot Dry Noodles; Soy Sauce Fried Rice; Wontons in Chilli Oil; and Spicy Sour Soup Dumplings. And it’s making me unbearably hungry just typing the names out!
But the recipe I just had to share with you today is for Wolf Tooth Potato — think crinkle-cut chips with chilli, soy and big-time spice. I’m in!
Vegan Chinese Food by Yang Liu (Quadrille, £24).
Photographs by Katharina Pinczolits.
