what's that smell?

take the alvarado-niles exit off nimitz freeway and travel east about a mile, on your left, just before you reach decoto road, you’ll see one of the many small strip malls that dot union city. spurred by the explosive growth of local asian population over the past decade, instead of the usual radio shacks or liquor stores, the l-shaped mall is home to a chinese supermarket - a increasingly common sight in the yay area - and several restaurants ranging from vietnamese to malaysian, including one specializing in tofu everything.

my parents are very picky about food and rarely have nice things to say about any chinese restaurant. but they’ve been raving for past several months about little potato, a new joint at the mall that serves mostly dongbei cai. literally meaning “eastnorthern dishes”, dongbei cai hail from three northeastern provinces of china, heilongjiang, jilin and liaoning, where hearty meat dishes prevailed, the ingredients often fermented, and you can taste hints of mongolian, korean, even russian cuisine. some of the specialties include steamed pork and sour bok choy gyoza, stir-fried sour bok choy and glass noodles, and anything potato.

many dongbei dishes are acquired taste. the fermented tofu, for instance, is pungent, slimy, and gaggingly salty; it's common for newbies to feel like wretching after sampling just a smidgeon. since both my parents are from northeastern china, these are familiar family fares for me. sour bok choy, in particular, always reminds me of when i was a kid and the whole family gathered at my g-units’ home to welcome the new year around a hot pot.

you make sour bok choy by fermenting chinese cabbage. when prepared properly, sour bok choy is crisp and slightly acidic, excellent counterpoint to fatty meats, starchy potato, or bland cellophane noodles.

but that smell! the entire fermentation process is an attempt to wrest flavor from decay. so, understandably, it stinks like shit. in fact, after coming to america, during a fit of self-sufficiency brought on by poverty, my parents made their own sour bok choy in a large garbage can right out side of our apartment door. several neighbors stopped by to make sure everybody’s ok.

for you readymade types, here’s a how-to; consider yourself warned about the environmental impact. (tip: it’s much, much better in the winter when the smell isn’t as, um, robust. )

4 to 6 midium size whole chinese bok choy, washed and blanched (optional).
1 plastic garbage can, large.

several large polished garden rocks, the kind you can get from home depot.

put bok choy in garbage can, cover with cold tap water. use large rocks to keep the bok choy submerged. (mo’tip: the key to success is to minimize floaters; floating = rot.) cover, store in a cool, dark place as you would cheese. wait for about a month or two for best result.

Posted by cellpharmer at July 25, 2006 08:51 PM