China South of the Clouds

Of all the dishes in my Yunnan cookbook, Cooking South of the Clouds, my favorite two are probably the dishes made with zajiang or “mixed sauce,” an addictively delicious combination of ground/minced meat and sweet, savory, spicy chile-bean sauces (along with other flavors, which vary depending on the part of Yunnan you’re in). It’s amazing as a topping for noodle soup, as it’s served in Yingjiang (see Breakfast Noodles with Pork and Sweet-Spicy Sauce in the book), and it’s equally wonderful served as part of a cold dish over rice, as it is in Wenshan (see Cold Rice Bowl with Stewed Beef and Herbs, pictured above).

Zajiang is usually made with pork or beef, but recently while preparing dinner for friends with a new baby, I experimented with vegetarian versions of the sauce.

Pressed five spice tofu, finely chopped

My first version used pressed five spice tofu in place of meat, and my second used seitan. I finely chopped the tofu and seitan but left the pieces larger than piece of ground beef because I knew that without the meat’s fat, they would cook differently. Instead of weighing out the same amount called for in the recipe, I used the cup measure listed in the recipe as a guide (in this case 1/2 lb = 1 scant cup). I heated oil in the wok and cooked each ingredient the way I would cook meat, stir-frying and also letting it brown a bit against the side of the pan, but both vegetarian bases required more scraping of the sides and bottom of the wok because they stuck to the pan in a way that meat doesn’t. Once the tofu and seitan were cooked, I drizzled in a little soy sauce for added umami (a step that is not necessary with meat), then cooked them for another minute, to let the flavors blend. Once this was done, I followed the zajiang recipe as it was written in the book, adding the same amount of seasonings I would with meat.

Both versions of the sauce were good. They did not taste like meat, per se, but they had enough chile-bean seasoning to give the dish the right flavor. In the end, I mixed them together before making the final dish. Next time, I think I’ll just use the seasoned tofu, because I liked the texture it had when cooked.

Vegetarian zajiang, ready for Wenshan-style cold rice bowls

Photos: Georgia Freedman (3)