📍Huizhou ·Wenzheng Mountain Bamboo Shoots : Eat the sweetness of the entire spring in one bite
When talking about Anhui cuisine, many people’s first reaction is the smelly mandarin fish with its “heavy color and heavy taste”.
Who would have thought that in the ancient Huizhou diet, there was an extremely fresh and delicious vegetarian dish, which could completely change your stereotype of vegetarian dishes.
This is the spring bamboo shoots produced in Wenzheng Mountain in She County, which the locals call "white shell seedlings".
When you tear open the dewy bamboo shoots, revealing the jade-white bamboo shoot meat, and the texture is so crisp and tender that you can pinch out the water, it already predicts that it is unusual.
In the eyes of the older generation in Huizhou, the fame of the bamboo shoots in Wenzheng Mountain is entirely dependent on the unique sandy soil soil. This is the reason why it is famous.
The morning and dusk mist and loose soil at the foot of the mountain give the bamboo shoots a very low cellulose content.
There is a popular way of eating in the local area. This way of eating is very luxurious and does not require the use of any knife. Just use your nails to gently pinch off the tips of the bamboo shoots. When you hear the crisp "snap" sound, this is a proof of freshness.
Put the bamboo shoots into an earthenware pot, sprinkle only a handful of snowflake salt from Jixi, and simmer over low heat.
When it comes out of the pot, the color of the soup is clear and translucent with a light green color. The pieces of bamboo shoots cut into pieces are as crystal clear as mutton-fat jade. When chewed in the mouth, there is no residue at all, and it actually has a faint sweetness similar to that of water chestnuts.
It is the "memory of hometown" that the Huizhou merchants linger in their dreams. For the Huizhou merchants who are thousands of miles away from home, this kind of "seeing the truth in the ordinary" is the "hometown memory".
📍West Yunnan·Yongping Braised Chicken : The "heavy flavor" vegetarian revolution on the ancient road
Don’t be fooled by the name. What we are talking about here is not meat food, but the wisdom of Yunnan people in making vegetables taste like meat.
In Yongping County, it is located on the Bonan Ancient Road, where the locals make the base of braised chicken, which is the pot of secret sauce. It is this pot of secret sauce that is the soul that can sublimate vegetarian dishes.
The "vegetarian stew" that is commonly prepared in local households is actually a landmark dish for lazy people.
Take a spoonful of the stew sauce made from locally sourced purple-skinned garlic, peppers from Qiubei, and star anise from Lunan. Then cut the arrowheads into hob-shaped blocks, add konjac tofu, and put them into a casserole.
Arrowroot itself has a slightly bitter and sweet taste. When the sauce is simmered, its surface wrinkles and fully absorbs the soup. When you bite into it, the hot sauce bursts out in your mouth. The mellow salty flavor instantly dispels the bland feeling that vegetarian dishes always have.
Even more wonderful than this is the mountain mint and fragrant willow that grow locally. Sprinkle a handful before serving. The cool and refreshing smell emitted by the plants just neutralizes the richness of the sauce. It makes people want to grab two more bowls of rice involuntarily.
This is not only a dish, but also the most considerate care that Dali Bai people give to vegetarians when entertaining guests.
📍Jiaodong ·Fushan "Bangchui Lace" Cabbage : Minimalism nourished by the sea breeze
Located in Fushan, Yantai, Shandong, this is one of the birthplaces of Shandong cuisine. The essence of vegetarian cuisine lies in "borrowing the taste".
Fushan is close to the sea, and the vegetarian dishes here have a faint ocean flavor.
In the local area, there is a different kind of "Seafood Vegetarian Stir-fried". The main ingredient is Jiaodong Chinese cabbage, but the matching material is a handful of chopped dried shrimps with shrimp paste.
The great thing about this dish is that it doesn’t require any heat or boiling.
Use your hands to pull the cabbage with few green leaves into chunks as big as an adult's palm, place them on the bottom of the plate, sprinkle with shredded ginger and bright red dried chili segments, and then pour in special olive oil mixed with dried shrimp paste ingredients.
Place it in a steamer and steam over high heat for five minutes. When it comes out of the pot, pour a spoonful of hot scallion oil.
Under the influence of steam, the cabbage becomes soft and rotten, fully absorbing the fresh and salty taste of the shrimp paste after natural fermentation, but it still maintains the sweet and sweet juice content of the cabbage itself. The sweetness of this juice cannot be easily replaced by other ingredients.
This dish is commonly known as "lazy daughter-in-law's dish" in rural Fushan, but now it has become popular.
It relies on the simplest ingredients to prove that as long as it can skillfully use regional customs, even the most inconspicuous looking cabbage can also become the most popular "rice killer" on the table.
The complex layers of fresh, sweet and salty flavors are the epitome of the richness of the Jiaodong Peninsula.
From Huizhou's clear stew method, to Yunnan's thick sauce cooking method, to Jiaodong's steaming method, the special foods in these places all convey the meaning: the top-notch vegetarian dishes are never the kind of clear soup with little water, but the ultimate exploration and discovery of the water, soil and characteristics of a certain area and related customs.
Whether it is with the help of local mountain springs, sauces, or unique dried seafood, just by lightly touching the earthy and fragrant ingredients with your fingertips, various flavors of vegetarian dishes will bloom quietly in your kitchen.
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