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Sun, 04 May 2003

Darda Seafood and Islamic Chinese Cuisine

I confess to not knowing a lot about Islamic Chinese food, except that there's usally bread and lamb, and there obviously won't be pork. Many Islamic Chinese restaurants seem to be in stealth mode, that is, their customers know where they are, and the menu reveals all, but they don't have a sign in the window or anything, and often get missed by guides to Asian cuisine that manage to hit the high spots like Szechuan and Hunan, or even Hakka and Chiu Chow, but miss the Islamic style. (Actually, it occurs to me that one place, Fatima Seafood, on De Anza on the Cupertino/San Jose border, does have a neon sign saying "Islamic Chinese Cuisine" in its window.)

Some of my correspondents identify Islamic Chinese as a "northern" or "Mandarin" style, but I'm not sure what's up with that. The Mandarins (a class of overlords in Beijing) were not, themselves, Muslims; it may mean that Islamic cuisine is common in Beijing. Paradoxically, a number of Islamic Chinese restaurants, at least locally, have "seafood" in their name, which seems odd since the northern interior of China, Xinjiang, and Mongolia are known for grains and meats, and not seafood. The most numerous Muslim group in China are the Uighurs, who live in the northwest, far from the sea. According to published estimates of the distribution of Muslims in China, beyond the Uighurs in Xinjiang, the largest Muslim population is in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, both of which are not nearly coastal.

So the seafood remains a mystery.

Nevertheless, places like Fatima and Darda pack 'em in nearly every night. I first noticed Darda in the aforementioned Milpitas Square shopping center one evening, but it looked like it was a bit too formidable for my appetite at that point since there appeared to be a significant wait for a table. (I think I got some cafeteria-style stuff at 99 Ranch instead.)

Nevertheless, I finally made it down there recently, talked my two dining companions into it on the way, and luckily there was no wait for a table. The first thing we noticed was that practically every table had ordered a round flat bread -- that turned out to be sesame onion bread on the menu -- and practically every table seemed to have a lamb dish or two as well. So we went with the flow, and it was very tasty.

The sesame onion bread comes in two forms, thick and thin. Thick is what we got, and it's about 2" high, round, and baked in layers, and appears to be made without much (or any) oil. It's covered with sesame seeds. Quite tasty, if a bit dry, and very similar to the "Mongolian bread" served at some Mongolian barbecue places like the original Colonel Lee's. The thin version is, I believe, pan-fried in oil, and is available at a number of other Chinese restaurants under the name "green onion pancake" or "scallion cakes". I get those frozen from Asian markets and fry them up at home.

The lamb in spicy garlic sauce was very thinly-sliced, almost shaved, and quickly stir-fried with some vegetables and a light brown sauce. It also resembled Mongolian barbecue. We added salt-baked (aka "spicy salt") fish filets, which is a standard item, as well as hand-pulled noodles with assorted meats and egg, likewise.

A nice introduction to a regional (well, ethnic multi-regional) cuisine I was not familiar with.

Posted at 19:31 | permanent link

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