In this week’s episode of Cooking the Books, we cross the vast foodscape of China with Instagram superstar and photographer, Michael Zee. Brought up in Liverpool, he lived in Shanghai before moving to Italy, and brings us a third generation take on China through an anthropological lens in his latest book Zao Fan, Breakfast in China.
Here, he gives us the Re Gan Mian recipe from Mr and Mrs Yuan’s shop in Wuhan, one of his food moments, and the lovely portrait he tells us about on the pod. Click here for the video (the woman in the video is not Mrs Yuan but another famous restaurant in the city.)
Re Gan Mian
Wuhan Hot Dry Noodles 武汉热干面
Serves 2
Wuhan’s hot dry noodles have a cult following among locals. The dish was
propelled to national fame during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many of
China’s youth started making re gan mian (热干面) at home and posting their
photos on social media in solidarity with the people of Wuhan.
Watching its preparation, you might think this dish is quite simple, but it
involves a complex layering of flavours that you don’t see in its assembly. The
sesame paste differs from its Middle Eastern counterpart because the seeds
are first heavily roasted before grinding. The result is a deep brown colour and
rich nutty flavour without any of the bitterness you might find in tahini. This
sesame paste is blended with an infused water called wei shui (味水 – literally
‘flavour water’) that is made with a variety of spices, with each shop using
their own secret recipe. My recipe can be used as a blueprint, but feel free to
use any other whole, warming spices you like or to increase the quantity of
spices for added intensity of flavour. The finished wei shui can be kept in an
airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.
This recipe forms one of the trinity of breakfast dishes in Wuhan, along with a
side of Mian Wo (page 86) and a plate of delicious San Dou Pi (page 166). It’s
one of the reasons why many describe the city as the breakfast capital of
China.
3–4 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1⁄2 teaspoon Chinese five spice
A pinch of salt
A pinch of granulated sugar
100g dried wheat or alkaline noodles
2 tablespoons sesame oil
30g pickled green beans, diced
30g cucumber, diced
50g pickled radishes, diced
2 spring onions, diced
2 tablespoons whole blanched peanuts,
finely chopped
Chilli Crisp (see page 282, or use shop-
bought), to serve
For the wei shui
250ml water
1 piece of cassia bark or 1 cinnamon stick 1 black cardamom pod
1 star anise
1 bay leaf
Combine all the ingredients for the wei shui in a saucepan and bring to the
boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a bowl, combine the sesame paste with the soy sauce, five spice, salt and
sugar, then slowly add the wei shui until smooth and pourable.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to
the package instructions, then drain and divide between two bowls. Add the
sesame oil and toss through.
Divide the fragrant sesame paste between the noodles and top with the
pickled green beans, cucumber, radishes, spring onions and peanuts. Finish
with the chilli crisp, then stir well and enjoy.
If your part of Sussex is not near Brighton I would highly recommend the Kemptown bookshop too. Whenever I go in I find a cookbook I had never heard of and really like
No! It’s so not done. I was thinking of you at the Kemptown Bookshop last week and browsing through a book called ‘Manju’s’ it’s a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Brighton and the 85 year old cook and author has an incredible life story so I thought ‘this woman should be on ‘Cooking the books’ she escaped from Uganda under Idi Amin, worked in a factory all her life to support her children’s education but always wanted to have a restaurant and her family finally bought her one in her eighties.
I’ve no commercial interest in this and have not been to the restaurant but it’s a fascinating story and book