One of the pitfalls of being an avid home cook is that you end up with a hodgepodge of half-used spices and condiments from various world food stores. It can lead to some interesting culinary experiments – tarragon finding its way into an Indian curry, say, or tahini into a French omelette. It’s in that spirit of experimentation that today’s dish was born: ingredients I’d originally bought for making mapo tofu somehow ended up in our Sunday lasagne. The essential flavour here is doubanjiang, or Pixian chilli bean paste, an intensely umami fermented broad bean paste that you’ll find in Chinese shops.
