i start the day seeing pandas as they feed early in the morning which is the best time to see them. this is a "panda research centre" just outside of Chengdu. the camp is pretty big. there are signs everywhere saying things such as 'wild life is not food!' in English. i think they could try writing that in Chinese first! anyway, the pandas are huge! they're bored to death. the babies are cute. they make my day


duck noodle soup for lunch. no greens and is very bland. Dutchie doesn't mind so he eats the rest of my bowl too, after i've had like 3 bites.

i order freshly made dumplings instead which are a bit better than the soup. the chili oil is always something decent to fall back on the dumpling skin is very thick.


some street food on the way to dinner


Kung Pao chicken. more salted peanuts than chicken but it's very good. the other thing i don't know the translated English name. damn good cabbage! maybe DC could tell me.

the other thing i don't know the translated English name. damn good cabbage! maybe DC could tell me.

In your photo it says "Yu Xiang Rou Si" but it doesn't look like the traditional "Yu Xiang Rou Si" dish to me, it's got cabbage in it & a lot! There is a Sichuan dish called sweet & sour cabbage Tang Cu Pai Chai but that doesn't look like it either. Maybe the long vege strips are aubergines? see below.

Yu Xiang describes a method or style of cooking, just like sweet & sour. When translated literally, "Yu" means fish & "Xiang" means fragrant/fragrance. Sometimes the cooking uses a bit of dried seafood (a large dollop of dried scallops or shrimp XO sauce) but traditionally it's mostly with garlic, ginger, hot bean sauce, sugar, vinegar & chilli or Sichuan pepper. The final dish tastes slightly salty, sour & spicy. The most popular dish in the Yu Xiang menu is the one with aubergines & minced pork "Yu Xiang Qie Zi" in Mandarin or "Yu Hiong Keh Zi" in Cantonese. Go see your F.Dunlop book, there should be a few Yu Xiang recipes in there. "Rou" means meat & "Si" means shreds but it's mostly served as pork shreds. Therefore "Yu Xiang Rou Si" means fish fragrance pork shreds. I don't know why there's so much cabbage in your dish when the original recipe doesn't call for it. Maybe it's just a local variation or they decided to add cabbage as it's cabbage season btw.. funny looking cabbage, aren't they suppose to be leafy? all i see is a pile of tagliatelle

Yu Xiang Rou Si
marinate pork or beef shreds with soy sauce & salt & rub in some cornflour. Slice/mince garlic, ginger, spring onions & have 1 tbsp of hot bean sauce on the side. In a bowl pour in rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil & cornflour & set aside for the sauce.

Heat up your wok till smoking, add in oil & wait until it starts to smoke again, add in the pork shreds & fry till cooked then remove from wok. Next add more oil & heat till smoking again, add slice/mince garlic, ginger, spring onions & 1 tbsp of hot bean sauce & fry for a minute before adding back the cooked pork shreds. Next add the sauce mixture & reduce until thick. Serve.

it's not aubergine. it's pork. a female employee at the guesthouse kindly wrote down on a piece of paper names of some local dishes and at the restaurant i showed that to the waitress. i remember asking her which one it was on the list and she said 'yu xiang rou si'. it's possible that i got it wrong.

most likely excess seasonal cabbage that replaces some other veg?

yeah i have had another look at FD yu xiang recipes, and 2 other Chinese cookery books brought back from China. none is exactly like this dish in my picture. now we never know what it was that i ate lots of chilies and was very saucy.

thanks for the recipe! i'll print it out and slip it between the pages of one of my Chinese cookery books. and ooh how i love "Yu Xiang Qie Zi"!