Across the highlands
Yangben
Dried lichen with fatty pork and pig's blood, richly spiced in the karai
50 min·4 servings
pig's blood
Fresh blood from the pig, which sets and binds as it heats; robust, iron-rich, faintly sweet.
Pig's blood is familiar from black pudding but is not sold on the shelf: order it fresh from a butcher, usually treated to stop it clotting, or buy it frozen or as set cubes from an Asian grocer.
Substitute:
There is no good substitute, because nothing else provides the binding, the dark colour and the iron-rich flavour all at once; without blood it becomes a different dish.
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