It surprises me just how much I have come to really love this dish.
For many of us it isn't a big deal, but for me, a person whom, at one time, could barely work her way through a plate of Mala Chicken 辣子鸡, and whom still considers very spicy food (never mind from where) a challenge, to love and even anticipate this dish, I'd say I've come pretty far.
No doubt I don't have it very often.
But neither do I shy away from any opportunity at all.
This is a dish that, despite its rustic vibes, is surprisingly fun to eat.
And which offers you plenty of choice.
Where in other dishes you have to finish a whole large grilled fish, or where you are served a minimum number of lobsters in the plate, with Mala Xiang Guo 麻辣香鍋, you get to choose the kind of ingredients you want, you get to choose the number of portions you want, and you can decide for yourself just how much spice you want.
This bowl here comes from a newly opened place just downstairs my house which The Parent had suggested we go for a late-night supper.
I hadn't even known The Parent enjoyed Mala Xiang Guo 麻辣香鍋. :D
It didn't matter to either of us that we would have to take it either mildly spiced, or no spice at all.
We managed to settle down quickly- at that hour there were very few dine-in customers (but there were several takeaways)-and we ordered- let me see- a single portion of beef, a single portion of mushrooms, seaweed, noodles, Taiwanese sausage, and fried beancurd skin.
The dish is stir-fried and it came all mixed together in a bowl with sauce and seasonings and very red-looking oils same like the kind in Water Boiled Fish 水煮鱼.
At first I was afraid it might be too spicy and oily and greasy (the ingredients really looked like they were swimming away in a ladleful of oil) but- here's the beautiful part- it wasn't.
Yes, I could taste the oils.
Yes, I could feel the oils on my lips and my tongue.
But the feeling didn't linger.
In fact it went down quite easily with no greasy aftertaste at all.
And because there was still a bit of sauce and seasoning and oils left in the bowl after we'd finished our ingredients, we sneaked in a couple of cherry tomatoes that I had brought and used them to wipe up whatever was left of the delicious, stimulating, salty, spicy oils.