Anhui, a land located at the intersection of north and south, not only has a very rich cultural heritage, but also gave birth to countless local flavors that can make people feel nostalgic and dream about it.
Living in northern Anhui, and then moving to southern Anhui, behind every dish called home-cooked food, there is hidden people's understanding of the ingredients and their love for life.
Nowadays, we don’t talk about delicacies from mountains and seas, but we step into the kitchens of ordinary people and take a look at how a simple and ordinary Chinese cabbage evolves into ever-changing Huizhou style and Anhui charm through its exquisite combination with different ingredients.
Classic Huizhou flavor: bacon, mushrooms and cabbage stewed, mellow and pickled over time
On the winter tables in Huizhou, bacon is the protagonist.
Choose bacon that is a mixture of fat and lean meat, cut it into thin slices and soak it in water for more than two hours to remove excess salt, leaving only a mellow, rich and intoxicating aroma.
Heat the pot and pour in a little oil. When the oil is warm but not hot, put the bacon into the pot and stir-fry until the color of the bacon changes to white and a slight oil seeps out. At this time, add the sliced mushroom slices, then add the cabbage cubes, and stir-fry together.
The bitterness and sweetness of the mushrooms just balance out the greasiness of the bacon.
Add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for coloring, and then add an appropriate amount of water and simmer at a slower heat for eight minutes, so that the cured flavor of the bacon and the fragrance of the mushrooms can be fully integrated into the cabbage.
Just before taking it out of the pot, sprinkle a handful of green garlic segments and simmer for two minutes. At this time, the aroma of garlic will hit your nose. In this way, a home-cooked stew with a salty, delicious and mellow flavor is completed. It perfectly interprets the fire power charm of Anhui cuisine, which is "heavy in salt and delicious".
Homemade Fireworks: Cabbage Stewed with Tofu, a delicious and sweet dish that you will never tire of eating
This dish has different interpretations in various parts of Anhui, but the essence lies in the word "stew".
Slice the old tofu and stir-fry the cabbage leaves in hot oil until soft and set aside.
Then, use base oil to stir-fry the pork belly slices and one star anise. When the meat slices are fried slightly and the fat aroma is diffused, add the onion and ginger into the pot to let the aroma burst out.
At this time, pour the fried cabbage back again, stir-fry them evenly, and then add boiling water that has submerged the ingredients - remember not to have too much water, otherwise it will dilute the original taste of the ingredients.
Add the tofu and simmer with the meat and cabbage for ten minutes.
In just ten minutes, the piece of tofu fully absorbed the fat of the meat and the sweet taste of the cabbage, and became hot and juicy. It was sprinkled with a small amount of chicken essence before it was taken out of the pot. The simple and rich delicious taste is the taste of home in the hearts of countless Anhui people.
Taste of Hefei: Cabbage, vermicelli and egg soup, the rich aroma brought by the fried batter
This is a homemade soup with Hefei characteristics .
The method abandons the conventional thickening method and instead adopts the unique technique of "fried batter".
Without oil in the pot, slowly stir-fry a spoonful of ordinary flour over low heat until it turns slightly yellow and the aroma of wheat spreads. Quickly add cold water and stir to disperse to avoid clumping.
In the soup base in the pot, add baby cabbage cut into strips, chopped eggs that have been fried until browned, and soaked black fungus and vermicelli. Then bring it to a boil over high heat and simmer for five minutes.
Finally season with pepper, allspice and salt.
The fried flour in the spoon gives the soup another kind of thickness and fullness with that special wheat aroma, making the whole soup instantly richer in terms of texture. It warms the heart and stomach, and has a unique style.
Northern Anhui style: cabbage and pork rolls, steamed and delicious
This dish embodies the dietary wisdom of Anhui people who cook coarse grains carefully.
Select five large and complete cabbage leaves and blanch them in salted boiling water. When they soften, cool them quickly. After that, the leaves become pliable and transparent.
Take the pork stuffing, add chopped mushrooms, minced onion and ginger, then add light soy sauce, then pour in oyster sauce, sprinkle with pepper, and then beat it vigorously in one direction.
Place the meat stuffing at the base of the cabbage leaves, slowly roll it up, seal both ends, put it on a plate, and then steam it for twenty minutes.
The steamed cabbage rolls are clear and white, and the meat inside is full of flavor.
You need to build a new pot, boil water, steamed fish soy sauce, starch, and a little sugar to make a translucent sauce, pour it on the cabbage rolls, and then sprinkle some minced garlic leaves.
When you take a bite, you will first feel the sweetness and softness of the cabbage, followed by the tender and juicy meat filling. Its appearance is elegant, and the taste is refreshing and delicious.
Innovative Anhui Style: Vinegar Cabbage, a crisp and appetizing dish to go with rice
If stews reflect the mellow characteristics of Anhui cuisine, then this dish called vinegared cabbage shows the refreshing and tasty side of Anhui cuisine.
Use crisp and tender vegetable leaves, sauté dried chili peppers and garlic slices in hot oil to bring out the rich spicy aroma .
Pour in the cabbage and stir-fry quickly over high heat until it becomes slightly wilted.
The key "soul sauce" prepared from light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, oyster sauce, corn starch and water is poured in along the side of the pot and stir-fried quickly over high heat.
In the blink of an eye, the sweet and sour aroma suddenly rose up, and the thick soup was evenly attached to each piece of cabbage. Its color was bright red and looked very attractive.
Sprinkle chopped green onion on the final layer to increase the aroma. The resulting dish has sour and spicy characteristics that can whet the appetite, showing a crisp, tender and refreshing state. It is an excellent choice that can resolve the greasy feeling and awaken the taste buds.
Starting from the mellow waxy flavor of salted pork mushrooms, to the simple and sweet taste of cabbage and tofu, this is a group; from the unique wheat aroma of Hefei soup, to the elegant and delicious taste of cabbage meat rolls, this is another group; to the sour, spicy and crisp taste of vinegar cabbage.
A seemingly ordinary cabbage shows such a colorful and diverse legendary taste experience on the stoves of Anhui people.
These homely tastes are not only the enjoyment our taste buds get, but also an extremely vivid portrayal of the food culture and life wisdom deeply rooted in this land.
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