What do green tomato pickles and chinkiang vinegar have in common?

I'm sure you know of David Thompson.  He's the legendary author of Thai Food, that stunning pink fabric-bound encyclopedic Thai cookbook, as well as a frequent guest on Poh's Kitchen, an exceptional Thai chef, Head Chef of the first ever Michelin-starred Thai restaurant in London (Nahm) and a famously dry wit.

If David Thompson says something about Thai cooking, recipes or ingredients, I pay attention.  When I heard him chatting about oyster sauce once, my ears really pricked up - every time I use oyster sauce from the supermarket (that nasty congealed pale goop) it tastes of nothing, which is not surprising when you check out the ingredients; water, thickeners, preservatives, vegetable gums, and a little oyster extract.

David Thompson says the absolute best brand of oyster sauce (and fish sauce) is Megachef, a Thai company.  Containing 45 per cent pure oysters, Megachef sauce is so thick that when you turn the bottle upside down (even for a looooong time), nothing comes out!  You need to use a knife.  The flavour is just beautiful - perfect on some stir-fried greens.

The Megachef fish sauce (nuoc mam in Vietnamese, nam pla in Thai) is also excellent - mellow yet rich and flavourful.  The sauces are both surprisingly reasonably priced (the regular sized bottle of fish sauce was $3.30 and the massive bottle of oyster sauce was $5.55).

I often do an embarrassingly inauthentic 'Asian' stir-fried bok choi dish as a side with dinner - it is really nice poured over rice, with plenty of the sauce, with a small amount of grilled fish or chicken.

All I do is stir-fry some sliced bok choi (white thick pieces first, green leafy pieces at the end) in a little hot oil.  As soon as the white parts begin to soften slightly, I pour in:  a good glug of mirin, the same of soy sauce, a dash of fish sauce, a glug of oyster sauce, a good dash of chinkiang black vinegar, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a decent glug of good Thai sweet chili sauce.  I then reduce this over heat until it is thick and delicious, adding the green parts for a minute to soften, then pouring over rice.

I just mentioned, above, one of my all-time favourite ingredients:  chinkiang rice vinegar.  It is a black, intense, almost smoky vinegar, made from glutenous rice.  I use it instead of soy sauce for dipping when I have yum cha or dumplings at home.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!  I first discovered chinkiang at David's, one of my favourite Chinese restaurants.  I always order Mock Crab, an unusual and delicious dish made by gently cooking a rich, fluffy yet creamy egg-white omlette, with pieces of scallop and white fish tossed throughout.  It is served with chinkiang to pour over it.  It is probably one of my most favourite restaurant dishes.

Below, you can see what chinkiang vinegar looks like - you can get it at any Asian grocery.  Next to this, you can see a jar of Beerenberg Green Tomato Pickle.  Can you guess what these two items have in common??

Well, they are both sour...  There's a clue...

They were the two items that I completely craved during my pregnancy!  Barely a day would go past without eating one or the other - and I confess to sometimes pouring a little bowl of chinkiang vinegar and just dipping my fingers in to lick them.  I promise, at the time it didn't seem strange at all!