This refreshing, tangy sauce is a perfect foil for the richness of the fish.
. A Chaoshan muay is marked by its distinct rice grains, cooked just until tender, that can cling and heap on each other like small peaks in a bowl of rice broth. Swa ga hai—meaning “mountain and sea”—is how a bowl of perfect muay is described in the Teochew dialect.
As a young man, like millions of Teochew before him, my father left the familiar coastline of his childhood in search of opportunities elsewhere. The Teochew people have scattered to almost every corner of the globe, although a migration path well-worn over centuries led many seekers to Southeast Asia. In these new lands, Teochew communities; on return trips to the motherland, they shared these new influences with the relatives who stayed behind.
The Teochew palate favors a light hand with most seasonings, and prefers to customize many dishes to personal taste at the table. Depending on the spread, the complementary dipping sauces might be deeply savory or fruity and sweet, brightly zippy or all fermented funk. The goal is always to allow the natural essence of fresh ingredients to shine through. Tiny clams the size of a fingertip are quickly stir-fried with local basil.
Another of my family’s favorite dishes calls for fresh fish, which we quickly slash for even cooking before topping with young ginger, tart salted plums, and pickled mustard greens. Add a drizzle of fish sauce and it’s ready for the steamer. Ten minutes or so later, airlift it out and catch a whiff of the mouthwatering sauce that’s pooled in the dish—tangy, savory, and refreshing, a perfect foil to the richness of the fish that keeps you coming back for more.
At the end of every meal, we push back from the table and settle around the gong fu tea tray. We pass around tiny cups of strongly brewed dancong oolong from the nearby Phoenix Mountains to help us digest. We sip the fragrant tea as my grandmother tunes into a Teochew opera on the TV. And then we start strategizing for the next meal.
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