Trio of dishes from across China

I can take a culinary tour of Chinese dishes whenever I want in the Bay area because Asian ingredients are much more accessible here. Not Americanized Chinese dishes, but dishes I regularly ate when growing up in Hong Kong.

All three dishes I am featuring today are simple to prepare as always (otherwise I wouldn't have attempted them!). They hail from different parts of China and should satisfy different palates.

Braised Shredded Tofu with Bok-Choy (Shanghai)

For years every Sunday, my family and I visited one of two Shanghainese vegetarian restaurants in turn for lunch or dinner. We often ordered this Shanghainese staple - shredded tofu braised with bok-choy and sliced mushrooms in a light broth. It served as a counterpoint to more strongly flavored dishes my dad liked to order, and it went particularly well with steamed rice.

I can find shredded tofu at any Chinese supermarket in the Bay area so I decided to recreate the dish at home. Simply heat some sliced ginger in oil, throw in all the ingredients, and add some water to bring to boil. Then season with salt, tamari, a bit of rice vinegar, and it's ready to serve. Typical of Shanghainese food, the slight vinegary taste of this dish whets your appetite.

Braised Shredded Tofu with Bok-Choy

Stir-fried Vegetarian Cuttlefish with Sweet Peppers (Canton)

Although the recipe is from a Taiwanese vegetarian cookbook, I assume the dish is Cantonese as I've encountered the original, non-vegetarian version of it many times in Cantonese restaurants. I was quite surprised to find vegetarian cuttlefish at the Marina supermarket in San Mateo. There's a large enough Chinese population in San Mateo to create demand for it.

This dish is supposedly to be spicy. I started with heating some Thai chilies in oil, then I stir-fried the sliced cuttlefish (boiled), sweet peppers, and some leftover enoki mushrooms on high heat. I finished it by seasoning with salt and soy sauce.

Stir-fried Vegetarian Cuttlefish with Sweet Peppers

The vegetarian cuttlefish did not taste like the real deal, but nonetheless it had a convincing fishy flavor and spongy texture reminiscent of fish balls. Definitely an interesting try!

Ma-Po Tofu (Sichuan)

Before you roll your eyes and brush this off as nothing special, listen to this: I've only real, numbing hot Ma-Po Tofu ONCE in the US. And I had it at a nondescript, hole-in-the-wall Chinese take-out place in Washington, DC.

Sichuan-style Ma-Po Tofu requires the use of Sichuan peppercorns and other specialty chilies in the sauce. My limited pantry didn't have them, so I made up the heat with Thai chilies. I sauteed sliced red peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and potatoes in oil heated with ginger and the chilies, added soft tofu cubes, then I doused the mixture with spicy bean paste thinned with tamari and water.

(Unauthentic) Ma-Po Tofu

The end-product burst with tongue-tingling flavors and served up a variety of textures (silky from the tofu, chunky from the peppers, starchy from the potatoes). This was probably still far from the authentic Sichuan dish, but I was more than happy with it.