THAT YUMMY SMELL 鹹魚雞茄子

It's a nice place, even though there's only a limited number of things for the peckish single badger. Other than three Toishanese salt-of-the-earth types, the only people there were an elderly Chinese woman and her daughter speaking English. Normally I have something else to eat, but today I ventured into old-fashioned comfort food territory.

Salt fish chicken eggplant casserole.


鹹魚雞茄子煲
['haam yü gai ke ji pou']

Classic home-town Cantonese, though I imagine it's also eaten elsewhere, where ever clay pot cookery is common. Actually, that would be mostly Cantonese territory, so that settles that. And salt fish is not nearly as appreciated in the frigid sandy north as it is in the subtropical south.

Eggplants, chicken pieces, a little bit of salt fish. Garlic, scallion, cooking wine, douban sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil.


Preheat your little clay pot. Deep fry the sliced eggplant, more or less, till crusty along the edges and dump in the pot. Gild the garlic, scallion, and salt fish in a little oil, add the sliced or chopped chicken, then the wine, sauces, and sugar. Dump this over the eggplant, sprinkle a few drops of sesame oil, lid it, and set over roaring heat for a minute or so.
Serve it sizzling.

Trust me, there is nothing quite like contemplatively savouring salt fish chicken eggplant ('haam yü gai ke ji') and rice while Toishanese are racketing in the background. It's a bit of heaven.

Great with hot sauce.


No, I haven't a clue what Northerners do with salt fish, or whether they even touch it. It's probably not high on their agenda, if at all.
Not, strictly speaking, a bucket list entry.

Such a pity for them.

Sad.




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