Guiyang, China (CNN)Here, they like it hot.
Chilies — whether dried, pickled, fermented or stir-fried — are a staple of every meal in Guizhou. And that includes breakfast.
Broths, dipping sauces, noodles and stir fries are liberally seasoned with chili peppers that are grown on the province’s terraced fields — from the milder green bells to the tiny, red firecrackers that pack a mouth-stinging punch.
The dominant taste is “suan la” (sour spicy) rather than the “ma la” (numbing spicy) found in neighboring Sichuan, another Chinese region famed for its fiery cuisine.
Poor and remote, Guizhou’s food, known as qian cai, is relatively unknown even within China.
Home to dozens of ethnic minorities, the region’s signature dishes draw on folk cooking — there’s little refined banquet cuisine.
But what I found was extremely fresh ingredients grown and made locally — foraged fungus, unusual root vegetables and fruits and fish plucked from the fast-flowing rivers that snake their way through the limestone karst landscape.
Nothing goes to waste here.
I came across griddled pig’s brain in street markets in the provincial capital Guiyang and the city of Anshun to the southwest.
First cooked in a cabbage leaf, it’s then seasoned with soy sauce, scallions and pickled and dried chili.
The pungent sauce complemented the jelly-textured offal.
Coagulated pig’s blood is also a delicacy — often added to noodles.
Grasshoppers
I was served these at a home stay in a village so remote it’s not connected to the road network.
But I also spotted bowls of them — and other insects — for sale at night markets.
My hosts had caught theirs earlier in the day by dragging a net as they ran through the cornfield in front of their home.
Their haul clearly hadn’t dented numbers too much — the screeching din of buzzing insects made it hard to talk during the early evening meal.
They were part of a simple home-cooked meal that consisted of a salad prepared with homegrown red onions and garlic, stewed goose that the family had reared for two years before slaughtering behind their kitchen and a dish known as rainbow rice — the grains colored yellow and purple with natural plant dyes.
Crunchy, the insects are best washed down with home-brewed rice wine.
My hosts poured their moonshine from a plastic jerry can into ceramic bowls.
Where to find it
I found most of these dishes and snacks at night markets in Guiyang (Erqi Lu) and Anshun (Gufu jie also known as Tasty Street).
Sour Fish Soup can be found in restaurants throughout Guizhou.
Kaili Sour Fish Restaurant in Guiyang, (55 Shengfu Lu) is a well-known place to sample it.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/foodanddrink/china-guizhou-food/index.html
