Chapter 50 Amaranth - Memories of Pink

Zhang Ailing described that when she was living with her mother in Shanghai, she often went to eat at her uncle's house across the street, and every time her mother would bring a portion of fried fresh amaranth. In Zhang's pen, this dish is colorful and sexy: "When amaranth is on the market, I always hold a bowl of amaranth with black oil, oil, purple red and dark green silk, and the fat white garlic cloves inside are dyed light pink. .Crossing the street under the sun, like holding a pot of common unknown Western potted plants. Small pink flowers, speckled spots, dark red moss green same jagged edges and large pointed leaves, Zhu Cui Li. But this flower is not fragrant, no The aroma of warm amaranth."

Zhang Ailing's grasp of amaranth is definitely at the level of a gourmet. She once said: "Fried amaranth without garlic, it is not worth frying." It can be seen that garlic cloves play the role of Xiaomi in this Jiangnan delicacy. Different from the name in Shanghai, our hometown of Youyang calls amaranth a spinach or Tianxian rice.The saying of 蔊菜 is very old, and it is said in Chinese medicine: "Shuncai is born in the south, and it is also stir-fried in the garden." Zhang Ailing's very graphic description of amaranth immediately brought back my memory: when we were young, my mother made amaranth for us and fried it with a little vinegar, which could make the rice very red and fragrant.

Dyeing the rice red is always very fun for children and can increase appetite. Amaranth is not only a delicacy, but also a good medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it can clear away heat and detoxify, and can restrain bleeding.I remember when I was a child I had diarrhea, my mother made me eat amaranth with vinegar and added more garlic than usual, usually two meals would be enough for diarrhea. Wang Shixiong, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, had a book "Suixiju Diet Spectrum", which is a famous diet therapy book. When he mentioned amaranth, he said that it "invigorates qi, clears heat, improves eyesight, prevents tires, and benefits the large and small intestines".The book also focuses on the methods, such as steaming amaranth, amaranth soup, braised amaranth, etc.The way to braise tender amaranth heads is to add duck protein and chicken soup to the amaranth heads, which makes the taste even more delicious.

Amaranth is a common green vegetable in the south of the Yangtze River and the southwest. Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine all have famous dishes. For example, in Sichuan cuisine, there is a dish of "red tomato and green amaranth", which is made of tomato stuffed with meat and amaranth; Wash the meat, add a little milk and egg white to make crab paste; add cooking wine to the oil pan, add pepper, salt, then amaranth, crab paste, thicken, add milk at the same time, put in a bowl, then sprinkle with minced ham to make a dish . Amaranth was originally a wild vegetable, but later it became a garden vegetable.

Gu Zhong of the Qing Dynasty mentioned in his "Yangxiaolu" "Genus of Vegetables", "Grey amaranth, cooked food, fried or mixed, and Shengjia amaranth is suitable for those with fire syndrome." Amaranth is actually divided into red and green. Xue Baocheng of the Qing Dynasty recorded in "A Brief Introduction to Vegetarian Food": "There are two kinds of amaranth, red and green. They are fried with sesame oil, and then simmered with broth." It is more fragrant and can highlight the deliciousness of amaranth. All in all, it's a delicious vegetable.