Across China, shaokao, or
barbecue, is a nighttime food, a
quick dinner for families, a
cheap meal for students, and a
post-karaoke snack for drink-
ers heading home in the wee
hours of the morning. Vendors
fire up their grills at dusk and
put out an array of meat and
vegetable skewers. Once
grilled, they are dusted gener-
ously with a heady mix of chiles
and spices.
My favorite version of this
spice mix comes from the
Yunnan province in southwest-
ern China. Yunnan sits at China’s
borders with Tibet, Myanmar,
Laos, and Vietnam, and for
centuries it was the heart of the
trade routes that linked China
to India and Southeast Asia.
Yunnan’s spice mix combines
the flavors of these routes and
includes chile powder, cumin,
Szechuan peppercorns, and
black cardamom.
When I make it at home, I
usually skip the skewers and
use the spice mix on another
dish I learned from local
vendors: a grilled eggplant
stuffed with stir-fried pork. It’s
easy to make under the broiler,
too, and the mild flesh of the
eggplant and sweet pork are
the perfect vehicle for the
fragrant spices. (Get the recipe
for Yunnan-Style Spicy Pork–
Stuffed Eggplant on p. 116.)
—Georgia Freedman, author of
Cooking South of the Clouds:
Recipes and Stories from
China’s Yunnan ProvinceYUNNAN, CHINA
GRILLING ON
THE SILK ROAD
A SWEET THAT NOURISHES
PADANG, INDONESIA
MY INTRODUCTION to this richest of dishes occurred in the late 1990s when I
was living in Padang, in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It took place by way of an
event that is nearly synonymous with fasting. Ramadan, the Islamic religious
observance, is a rigorous program of physical strictures and moral inventory. It’s
a potent combination, and nobody craves comfort food like a person concluding
their annual fast. My friend Hasanudin was no exception. Hasanudin’s sister
Ari had invited us both to celebrate Lebaran, the holiday that marks the end
of Ramadan. She greeted us—I will never forget—with bowls of ripe plantains
that had been braised in coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar. It’s a classic
Indonesian dish that immediately nourishes the body, soothes the spirit, and
brings the appetite back to life, and we ate it together with pleasure and gratitude.
Whenever I cook this dish today, the taste of it still calls forth the communal joy
of that moment. (See p. 116 for the recipe for Simmered Plantains with Coconut
Milk and Palm Sugar.) —James Oseland, former judge on Top Chef Masters and
author of Jimmy Neurosis and Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice
Islands of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia