Recipes

Small rice fish are pan-fried until fragrant, then simmered with tender tofu cubes and cooking wine, thickened with starch and finished with egg white for a milky, delicate soup.

Star fruit cut into cheerful five-pointed slices is dusted with white sugar, releasing a tangy sweet juice that becomes a playful, refreshing treat.

Battleship sushi of seasoned rice wrapped in nori and piled high with glistening fish roe, offering a briny, popping burst in every bite.

Tiny raw green shrimp, meticulously rinsed, are awakened by a lively mixture of white liquor, soy, vinegar and aromatics, delivering a bracing, briny bite beloved in coastal regions.

A radish is carved into a swan's graceful neck to anchor a lavish platter of onion, cabbage leaves and cilantro, proof that presentation can be half the meal.

Dried doraji, the bellflower root beloved in Korea, is soaked and scrubbed until snowy white, then dressed in a chili paste thickened with glutinous rice. Its bitter-edged, earthy bite makes it a treasured side dish.

After an overnight salt bath, cabbage and radish are massaged with a punchy mixture of ground fruit, garlic, ginger and chili, then left to ferment into boldly sour heat.

Classic Sichuan brine pickling at its simplest, where radish, ginger, and chili steep in a salted, boozy brine to develop the signature sour crunch prized across the region.

This Meishan-style beef salad layers tender braised beef over carrot, celtuce and fish mint. The combination echoes the fresh, herbal flavors of rural Sichuan.

Fresh lily bulb petals marinated in passion fruit juice pair with lightly salted cucumber for a delicate, fragrant starter that tastes floral, fruity and surprisingly elegant.