Current Obsession: Chinese Long Beans
I live to create interesting food - to look for more in food. I often go far - perhaps too far - with the number of ingredients it takes to make me a happy girl.
But then I look at the food that I love to eat daily. The food that I subsist on and the food that I use to attend to my cravings. Surprisingly - or not at all - they are simple foods. I eat bland Chinese egg noodles. I eat white rice. I eat plain sourdough baguettes.
My current obsession is Chinese long beans, stir fried sweet and a little past crunchy. I can never pass the produce section without excitedly packing them into a bag. I tend to bike home with them bending out of the top of my backpack - there are so many. When I get home I fry a pound of beans in a bit of oil and then add a splash of Chinese shaoxing wine, an overindulgent amount of brown sugar, and a touch of soy sauce.
I pack some in a Tupperware, intending to bring it for lunch, and leave half in the wok. I greedily dive my fingers in and pull out as many beans as I can manage. I tilt my eyes upwards in hopes of further jaw expansion, as I push them into my mouth. I rub my lips together so the sauce coats my lips. I finish the beans in less than 5 minutes.
I eye the Tupperware that I have set aside and impulsively tear off the lid. I pretend for only a second that I am eating just a few, and then consign myself to buying more tomorrow.
That is my current obsession. That along with a mug of ice cold water. What is yours?
Love this bean, though my husband and my son still can't appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThese beans are a real joy. I'm up to my eyeballs in okra right now. Perhaps they would go well with some brown sugar and Chinese wine...
ReplyDeleteMy hubs love chinese long beans omelette. I used to cook one pot rice with this, chinese dried shrimps and yam..yum! my current fav ingredient is courgettes!
ReplyDeleteI love these long beans, everytime that it is possible I order them at the restaurant...yummie!
ReplyDeleteI also love chinese long beans, so sweet, so spicy, so delicious.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmm I love fried long beans too. I usually add a little garlic. I've even done it Italian style with olive oil and lemon juice.
ReplyDeleteI think my current obsession is with dessert. I'm normally not much on baking, but for some inexplicable reason, I have half a chocolate sour cherry cake, a nutella banana brioche pudding, and a summer berry pudding all sitting in my fridge right now.