LATE NIGHT NOODLES

Through quite explicable circumstance I ended up reading about Southwestern Mandarin, Commissioner Lin (林則徐 lam jak cheui), and life in small inland cities, during the middle of the night. I had woken up for the usual old man reason (bathroom), and before going back to sleep had gone onto the internet. A humid subtropical monsoon climate (not here), and a military and vivilian prefectoral administrative office beckoned.
As, naturally, they do. At two in the night.

No, there were no indications of malarial fever or poinsonous miasmas. This wasn't some thousand year old travel account by an official sent to die on the tropic frontiers among the headhunters and tattooed savages (today's Thais and Burmese), or rebellious Annamites.

Damned natives have attacked the out-posts again.
We must oranize a punitive expedition!
Settle them most firmly.


Still left to look-up: What do they eat? Are there any local gustatory specialties of note? Something interesting with noodles, pork, and spicy pickled vegetables?


Obviously, so far inland seafood dishes are NOT the thing.
Perhaps something with river fish.
Upstream crustacean.

And now, naturally, I'm thinking about broad ribbon pasta with spicy bean sauce, dry shrimp, and chopped long beans, for breakfast. Jigger of hot broth to make it slurry-saucy.
Pinch sugar. Garnish with fresh chives and crumbled peanuts.


邊境麵 ('pin king min'): spicy frontier noodles. Broad wheatflour noodles cooked al dente, dressed with chopped long beans, douban jiang (豆瓣醬), rehumidified dry shrimp (蝦米 'haa mai'), a little garlic, splash of stock, small jigger dark vinegar, dash soy sauce. A little sugar added near the end of cooking. Chopped chives and crushed toasted peanuts.
Chili flakes strewn over for colour and flavour.


The chopped long beans are in there because I bought some recently on Stockton Street.

But as a non-breakfast eater, I'm not planning to cook anything.
Although I assure you that if needed I could.

Just coffee for the nonce.



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