Posts under ‘Guizhou’

Zao Lajiao (Fermented Chili Pepper Paste)

Jun 15th, 2011 3 comments

Nothing says Guizhou to me like zao lajiao (糟辣椒), or fermented chili pepper paste. It exemplifies the best of Guizhou country cooking: homey, simple and bold in flavor. With a few slices of scallions and cloves of garlic, it can transform ordinary ingredients (cabbage! potatoes!) to a beautiful thing of complex spiciness. Zao lajiao has [...]

Last year we were eating

Apr 24th, 2010 No comments yet

Last year in April, my intrepid companion and I were walking the hills of Guizhou province, in southwestern China. We wandered through villages of the Dong and Miao minority, traipsed through tea fields and orchards of “tea oil nuts”, befriended ducklings, and became acquainted with every pothole on National Road 321. And we ate some amazing food, too, unlike that of anywhere else in China.