Chapter 22 Dishes for Chinese New Year

Before the Spring Festival last year, a friend asked me to open a menu for eating spring wine.To entertain guests during the Spring Festival, it is natural to prepare a few decent dishes, which are the so-called "New Year's dishes". It took a lot of trouble!Although She Xia has lived in Beiping for generations, since his great-grandfather traveled north and south in official positions, and drank and drank at home, he has long eaten both north and south, and tasted both east and west. According to the northern customs, when the New Year's Eve is observed, when the child is due, a long whip will be hung to worship the gods and welcome blessings.It is said that at this time, the gods descended to the world to investigate the good and evil in the world, so the dumplings used in the offerings to the gods were made of pure vegetarian stuffing, which meant that they would not slaughter living beings casually, and that they were dedicated to good people. Be a vegetarian forever.I think during the Spring Festival, every family has enough food and wine to feed the New Year, steamed chicken and dolphin, before the meat is full, although it is not a vegetarian invitation, it is also good to make the temple of five internal organs quiet and quiet.However, relatives and friends who come and go to celebrate the New Year and pay New Year’s greetings, according to the northern rules, within five days, relatives and friends will leave others to eat dumplings.

As far as the situation is concerned, let's talk about snacks first. "Jujube Cake" is the most outstanding dessert in Shexia. It is made by rubbing red dates into jujube paste and steaming it with eggs, glutinous rice flour, lard walnuts.When Xianci was alive, he loved to eat this kind of jujube cake made by his family. Therefore, at the end of the year, he always offered jujube cake.Jia Yu (Jingde) said before his death that this kind of jujube cake is a high-end snack in Jin Province. It is not known whether it is available in other provinces. "Carrot Cake" is a radish cake made by Shejian. Although it is only mixed with sausage, bacon, dried shrimp, and coriander, the ingredients are pure and moderately soft and hard. Even in the real Guangzhou township, it is considered to be a pure Yangcheng flavor.I have tried the radish cakes of Cantonese-style drinking tea in various restaurants in Taipei, but they are indeed not as exquisite as the ones made in Shejian.

"Dried spinach buns", every spring when the spinach is in the market, scald the spinach with boiling water and dry it in the sun. When it's time to eat, use the broth to chop and mince the meat, add salt, ginger, green onion, and wine to make the stuffing , Steamed buns are eaten, fragrant but not moist, plump but not greasy, it is indeed a good product in dim sum. Although "tea eggs" are a very common food, there are ways to cook them to taste. Although the shells are cooked, the shells must be cracked and evenly cooked. Put black tea, salt, and star anise into the boil. To use new tea that has not been brewed, the water should cover the eggs when boiling, and there is no need to add any pork bones, pepper, etc. to taste, but you have to cook it once, so that the egg white and egg yolk can remain fresh and tender forever.

With these four kinds of sweet and savory snacks, I think it is enough to keep guests entertained. Next, let’s talk about some new year’s dishes for eating dumplings with wine! One dish that people in Peiping must have during the Chinese New Year is called "Stir-Fried Shredded Vegetables", while southerners call it "Ten Parsley".The name of the dish is Shixiang. Of course, there must be ten different kinds of dried and fresh vegetables. In fact, some people stir-fry more than ten kinds of Shixiangcai!First shred carrots and stir-fry half-cooked, then stir-fry soybean sprouts, then cut dried tofu, thousand sheets, lily needles, fungus, winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, pickled ginger, and pickled mustard greens into thin shreds and stir-fry until cooked, then add shredded carrots and soybean sprouts , add soy sauce, salt, sugar, wine and other seasonings and stir fry.There are also mustard and celery in the southern stir-frying method, so there are more than ten kinds.The trick to stir-fry ten coriander is that all kinds of fresh vegetables should be shredded finely, and the length should be consistent, which is not only beautiful but also easy to stir-fry.The soy sauce should be light in color, and the oil should be used properly, not too much. If the water is not enough, you can add the soaked mushroom soup, which can make it soft and fresh.

"Crispy fish" is an authentic northern dish, and it is also very suitable for eating dumplings.For live crucian carp, four or five per catty is the most standard. Take out the viscera of crucian carp and clean it, put it in a large sea bowl, mix well with rice wine, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar, soak for 40 minutes, and the sauce water can be overwhelmed The height of the fish body is appropriate, so as not to turn up and down, which will damage the fish and damage the appearance.When the oil boils, fry the fish thoroughly, take the fish out of the pan, and put it in another pan, with a layer of scallions, a layer of crucian carp, and more onions. Add shredded ginger to each layer to remove the fishy smell, and then put the soaked fish Pour all the seasonings into the crucian carp pot, it is better to cover the height of all the fish.Cover the pot, put it on a slow fire and simmer for an hour and a half. Drizzle sesame oil and serve it on the pot (lard is not available). At this time, the scallions melt into the fish cakes. Feel free to chew without worrying about the fishbone getting stuck in the throat.It is better to eat the crispy fish cold, and keep it in the refrigerator to take it at any time, so as to avoid the trouble of temporary cutting and cooking.

"Songhua fried diced meat", this is a dish that is often eaten in Shejian. It seems that I have never eaten it in other places. Both the preserved eggs and meat are diced. It has a special flavor when eaten with horseshoe biscuits, and it is also very suitable for eating and drinking. "Roasted vegetarian chicken" is said to be a refreshing and delicious vegetarian dish that Huizhou people must have for the New Year at the earliest. A little hair dish, add seasoning and burn together, not only the fragrance is delicate, but also the color is pleasant.Facai is a homonym of Facai. In the New Year, the beef lips are full of meat, and the fish is full of meat. It seems to be particularly appetizing and refreshing!

"Pheasant stir-fried pickled melon", there is a proverb in Rehe: "Hold the roe deer, catch the fish under the cover, and the pheasant flies in the rice pot." It means that there are too many wild animals in Rehe, and there are groups of pheasants. It will automatically fly to the stove to be cooked.It seems to be very common to eat this kind of mountain delicacies in the Northeast, so every year before the Spring Festival, there are always friends in the Northeast who give us pheasants to embellish the New Year, because there are pheasants to eat every year, so fried pickled melon with pheasants has become a must every year. Prepared a dish.Later, when the Puppet Manchukuo was established and the traffic in Shanhaiguan was blocked, some people found that the Babaoshan pheasants in the western suburbs of Beiping were as delicious and tender as those produced outside the customs. During the Chinese New Year, there were also Babaoshan pheasants. Woolen cloth!

"Shrimp sauce" is a dish that I like to have a strong taste.The dried shrimp must be yellowed and red, and the skin of the dried shrimp must be clean. Wash the dried shrimp with warm water first, cut the lean meat and winter bamboo shoots into cubes, saute the lean meat with ginger, green onion, and cooking wine, and then add yellow sauce to the dried shrimp. saute.This side dish should not be mixed with dried tofu and peanuts, nor can it be mixed with sweet noodle sauce. If chili is added, it will be the southern eight-treasure chili sauce, not dried shrimp sauce. It is a custom in Beiping that from the first day of the first lunar month to the Lantern Festival, every family is full of fish and meat. If guests are left for a casual meal, nine out of ten it will be dumplings.If you have friends from the south who are not used to eating pasta, prepare a hot pot. Although it is not golden, but it is relatively good for drinking and eating, and the host and guest can enjoy themselves!