I have had a huge hankering for some Ma Po Tofu, so today at lunch I ordered takeout from my nearby Sichuan restaurant. Turns out the local place (Sichuan Spring) has an odd variation on the dish, with rice instead of noodles, and including MEAT although the dish is listed in the vegetarian section. I don’t particularly mind, but it wasn’t what I had been wanting and I had also tried to interest a couple of vegetarians in sharing with me, I am just as glad that didn’t work out. Besides all that it had an odd spicy flavor like coriander seeds.
ANYWAY, as I was eating my odd Ma Po Tofu (ouch! ouch!) I was perusing the takeout menu and I saw a really strange listing, with no explanation:
ANT CLIMB TREE 螞蟻上樹
No description whatever about what this was. I doubted that the dish contained actual ants (I’m not sure this would be legal in Edison NJ) so I looked it up. It is marinated ground meat cooked with thin mung bean noodles. As you hold up noodles with your chopsticks, the bits of meat clinging to the noodles look like ants climbing a tree. Charming. Not hard to make at home.
SO the questions here are – 1) Do you have a favorite Szechuan-Sichuan dish that I should try out at my local place?? 2) have you ever noticed “ant climb tree” at your local place?
I’ve had “ants climbing a tree” a few times at Wu Liang Ye in Midtown. it is a cellophane noodle and szechuan pepper dish. very good. the ants are little specs of meat.
Traditionally Mapo Tofu uses pork and is served with rice.
Shui Zu yu (or niu rou or Yang rou) which is literally translated as “water boiled fish” (or beef or lamb). Depending on the preparation the protein is cooked then served in a spicy oily stew along with plenty of Sichuan peppercorns (these are numbing not chili hot). The best version I had was in Beijing when instead of using frozen fish fillets, as most restaurants tend to do, they used a whole, fresh fish. Best version ever.
or “Chongqing La Zi Ji”, which is spicy chicken wings from the Chongqing area. Not much meat, but spicy and savory.
or “Gan Bian si ji dou” Szechuan “dry” fried green beans. Lots of chinese restaurants serve this with different methods, but I particularly like the traditional Sichuanese method which uses a dash of chopped Sichuanese pickled vegetables.
or “hong shao rou” which is soy braised pork. Reddish in color from the long cooking, gelatinous sauce, braised meat greatness.
As others have mentioned, mao po tofu is cooked with minced pork and served with rice. In fact i’ve never had it without meat. ?
How is the veggie preparation like?
And ant climb tree is good, but it’s usually not healthy as to make the noodles not stick, a lot of oil is used. . Then again, if u get REAL “water boiled fish” it comes in a bowl of oil haha
Oh and yah, water-boiled fish… Yummmmmm.
Although true preparation is not filet pieces… But cut up a whole fish and contains bone. Probably not done this way in north America tho.
An appetizer i recommend is “Fu qi Fei pian”
It means “spouses… Something” i cant actually translate the last two… Its basically spicy internal organs such as tripe and tendon. Really good
Anyone have a good lead on the peppercorns? I had fantastic ma po in Chengdu back in the day and have been wishing to recreate this dish at home. Great thread.
Correct on all counts. Their Shuizuyu is “yu pian” which is sliced fish fillet which is very common. You’d have to order a day ahead of time or pay extra bucks to have them do the whole fish version.
Other stuff from their menu you might try:
“Sauteed Water Spinach - Kang Kong with Garlic” [Chao] Kong Xin Cai. [炒] 通心菜 or many times written as [炒] 空心菜. Great vegetable dish.
“Dan Dan Noodle with Minced Pork Chili Vinaigrette” Dan Dan Mian. 担担面 (simplified) 擔擔麵 (traditional) There are many many variations of this throughout China, but the Sichuanese versions are pretty tasty.
“Brisket Beef with Noodle in Spicy Soup” 紅燒牛肉麵 (these are the traditional Chinese characters) Simplified are: 红烧牛肉面. This SHOULD be “hong shao” beef, in a noodle soup. The best places would hand pull the noodles. This dish isn’t really Sichuanese, but it’s popular all over China and Taiwan.
If you live near a big metropolis hunt down a Chinese grocery or supermarket. A generic “asian” grocery story might not be good enough. Ask them for the peppercorns. “hua jiao”
I think there are some places online to buy it too, but much more expensive than if found in a store locally. I think some whole foods might even carry it.
Szechuan food is great (I was born in Chengdu) but it’s hard to pair with wine. With the spice…I prefer beer but I guess a Riesling can work.
I can’t wait go to go Chengdu this winter. Some of my favorite dishes are: Fu Chi fay pian, Spicy Hot Pot, and my personal favorite: Ma La Rabbit Heads
Thanks. I lived in Changsha, Hunan for a year in 91/92, but had a great time traveling. Sichuan province was the only place, for me, that rivaled the food at home.
I first encountered Szechuan cuisine more than 30 years ago, and the first dish I ate remains my top favorite (among a host of favorites): Twice Cooked Pork. Tasty China in Marietta GA makes my favorite version, with pork belly and leeks:
Any restaurants/dishes that you recommend on the Eastside? Szechuan Chef has been good in the past, but I think it has gone downhill - new owners, maybe? Used to love the hot pot.
I can’t do zi on my computer for some reason. But yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever had it with lung. I’d be curious to try it. I’m pretty sure it was tripe the last time I had it, but I wasn’t really getting a straight answer.
Dan, according to the interesting Wikipedia article, it was never really made with lung, and that’s not even the correct translation in this context. It was kids making fun of the real “married couple” who perfected the dish with beef slices, by calling it “offal.” This was back in the 1930’s.
Fuqi feipian is a great little cold appetizer dish but I don’t order it every time I eat a Sichuan restaurant. The dish is another one that swims in oil.
Where do you eat Szechuan cuisine in the Bay Area? I lived there for 5+ years but only found Spices 1 and II in the Richmond district that were decent.
. Then again, if u get REAL “water boiled fish” it comes in a bowl of oil haha
