Chapter 15 15. Plum Rain and Dried Plum Vegetables

Just like plum rain is also called "mildew rain", plum dried vegetables are also called "mildew dried vegetables".In fact, there is no temporal connection between plum dried vegetables and Meiyu, but they are both produced in the Meiyu belt in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, dried plum vegetables have a strong Jiangnan flavor. If you think dried plum vegetables are pickled mustard greens, Chinese cabbage or potherb mustard greens and dried in the sun, and you treat salted dried vegetables and dried plum vegetables as the same thing, you are wrong.In fact, the real dried plums are all taken out of the pickle tank, steamed in a pot, and then tied into small handfuls, hung on bamboo poles and ropes (some are directly spread on the bridgehead or by the river) stone) to dry in the sun.Sometimes, when it is half-dried in the sun, it needs to be steamed again in the pot, and then dried in the sun.Generally, that's mostly in sunny late spring.There are also people who chop the steamed pickles finely and put them in the bamboo plaque to dry until they are soaked in the soothing and quiet atmosphere of late spring sunshine.Good dried plums, without thick stems and old leaves, are salty and salty in the hand, with a deep color, a kind of gloomy and unrestrained.

When we travel to Shaoxing, we usually bring back a small package of fennel beans and "dried vegetables" as souvenirs.Speaking of moldy dried vegetables in Shaoxing, the word "mildew" really comes first, because their pickles are not dried in the sun after steaming, but are dried in the dark like moldy beans.But our dried plums are slightly yellowish and refreshing, and the tangy and stagnant atmosphere is much lighter.But these two kinds of dishes are equally delicious whether they are braised pork or roasted pork belly, and they are easy to eat with rice, and they are steamed on the rice cooker after the second meal. The aroma is overwhelming.Speaking of which, they are really destined for this. They most need to be close to the meat, and need to absorb the fat and fragrance of the meat. Therefore, in the era of lack of oil and meat, they can only secretly sigh that heroes are useless.It is said that Nixon made an ice-breaking visit to China in 1972. At the banquet in Hangzhou Louwailou, Premier Zhou ordered a dish of braised pork belly with Shaoxing dried vegetables. After eating, Nixon even said: "OK!"

On March 6, 1935, Lu Xun, who was in Shanghai, said to his mother in a letter to Shaoxing: "...a small package, which was also received the day before yesterday, and immediately gave half to the third child. The dried vegetables in it , very delicious, and the children love it, because they have never eaten such dried vegetables.” He also specifically mentioned in the article: “In Shaoxing, whenever spring returns to the earth, the wind and the sun are beautiful. It’s a great season for pickling moldy and dried vegetables..." People are always full of nostalgia, and for some tastes, once entangled, it will last a lifetime.The preference of your taste buds is developed in this way, because of one side of the soil, because of the early years of growing up, those ordinary but magical flavor foods are interpreted as a certain cultural and emotional accumulation.

In fact, dried plum vegetables are not noble at all. In the past, it was a must-have for every household in the countryside.This thing has a strong taste, especially able to absorb the smell of meat and fat, and the smell of fishy meat has long disappeared in the gloomy fragrance of dried plums.Among them, the stewed meat with dried plums and vegetables is the most effective. The square meat cut from the fat and thin pork ribs is served with Shaoxing wine, sugar and other condiments. It is full, and even the luster on the skin has a quiet and simple reverie.Its trick is to stew it first and then steam it. The more times you steam it, the more fragrant it will be. The dried vegetables are black, soft in the mouth, and slightly sweet. Full of sensuality.Some people who care about their body shape are afraid of extreme fat on weekdays, but it is difficult to resist the temptation of stewed meat with dried plums and vegetables.

Dried plum vegetables are eye-catching both in color and taste.If you can bear the cumbersomeness, you might as well give it a try. The method: use an electric rice cooker to steam the pork belly until it is half-ripe, and marinate it in soy sauce for later use; mince dried plums, add soy sauce, meat fat, and sugar, and steam it until Crisp and rotten; fry the pork belly in hot oil until the skin bubbles, remove and drain the oil; put the bottom oil in a frying pan, add ginger and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant, add pork belly, cooking wine, soy sauce, sugar, water, and simmer for ten minutes Five minutes to thicken the marinade; cut the cooled pork belly into thin slices, place them neatly on the prunes in the bowl, steam until the meat is crispy, pour over the thickened marinade and serve.The flavors of vegetables and meat permeate each other, oily but not greasy, fresh, glutinous and sweet, and the taste is beyond words.

In Huizhou, no matter in She County, Tunxi, or Xiuning, the crispy, fresh and spicy dried plum vegetable biscuits are freshly baked in street charcoal ovens, and the burnt side is filled with fried black sesame seeds. Unforgettable flavor food.Nowadays, even the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes filled with dried plums and vegetables can make a big splash.You can also boil the dried plums, chop them and mix them with minced meat as fillings to make flavored buns. Cowpeas, lentils, small bamboo shoots and even eggplants are steamed and dried, and the names are slightly adjusted, called plum cowpea, plum lentils, etc. In winter, they are stewed with pork belly, and the taste is also croaking.