According to legend, there are about four kinds of famous local buns on the Chinese diet recipe: "Dog Bu Li Buns" in Tianjin, "Xiaolong Buns" in Hangzhou, "Soup Dumplings" in Kaifeng, and "Milk Emperor Buns" in Guangdong. However, there is another one that is famous in Beijing, called "sheep's eye bun". The fame is not very prominent, quite low-key, but it is on par with the dogs in Tianjin who ignore the buns.
Why do people call it such a strange name? Some people who have not eaten it may speculate that it looks different from the general bun, thinking that it may not have a "handle", but a sunken "eye", just like a human navel eye, or like a sheep's eye, so people call it "sheep's eye bun". In fact, it is not what some people imagine, the sheep's eye bun is like other buns, it is "with a handle", but it is very small.
Although the sheep's eye bun is a traditional snack in Beijing, it is not the food of the Han people, nor the food of the Manchus, but the halal food of the Hui people, and it is also a good product in halal food. Although this kind of sheep's eye bun is particularly small, the "connotation" inside is rich and the filling is diverse, and Beijingers like to eat it no matter which ethnic group.
This kind of sheep's eye bun of the Hui people was originally just a very ordinary folk food, who knew that because it was stained with the light of the Kangxi Emperor, it became famous in the capital, so it suddenly became a famous food in the capital. What the hell is going on here?
It turns out that in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi became emperor, in addition to reading the chapters in the palace, he also had a hobby, that is, he liked to make private visits in folk micro-services and observe the people's feelings. Kangxi did not know how many times he had done this kind of thing, the Kangxi Emperor went back and forth among the people, but the common people did not know it, nor did they know him, the supreme leader of the country.
Once, the Kangxi Emperor was itching again and wanted to go for a walk in the folk. He disguised himself as an ordinary little businessman, walked and walked, and before he knew it, he was outside the front door.
Just at this time, the Kangxi Emperor grumbled in his stomach, and he was indeed hungry, so he strolled into a nearby restaurant. In fact, the Kangxi Emperor was able to enter this shop because of the aroma of the freshly baked lamb buns in the store. Because, it happens to be a Muslim lamb bun shop.
Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor urgently stepped into the lamb bun shop, and Xiao Er of the shop graciously brought two cups of lidded bowl tea with a small tray. Kangxi was so hungry that he was a little flustered and eager to eat the buns.
Unfortunately, just when those cages were sold out, Xiao Er had to ask the Kangxi Emperor to order something else. When Kangxi heard that he had never been rejected for anything, he felt that it was very faceless, and he had to eat the bun first.
The treasurer was a little helpless, so he had to accompany him and not say: "This grandfather appreciates the face, it must be like this, then please wait a while." With a bag of cigarettes, Xiao Er sent the hot bun up. The Kangxi Emperor first clipped a bun and put it in the dish, the first time he ate this kind of thing called sheep's eye bun, he only felt the fragrance, and then stuffed it into his mouth, the taste was delicious, and the taste was not ordinary. However, there was one thing that made the Kangxi Emperor wonder, he felt that there should be a sheep's eye on this bun, who knew that left and right, always did not find the "sheep's eye". Therefore, the curious Kangxi Emperor asked the treasurer: "Since this thing is called a sheep's eye bun, why didn't you see the sheep's eye?" ”
The treasurer laughed when he heard it, and quickly explained: "If you go back to your grandfather, we don't have a sheep's eye on this bun, just because it is more delicately made and a little smaller, like that sheep's eye, it was named." ”
The Kangxi Emperor suddenly realized, and then tasted two more, and felt that it was more and more delicious. After returning to the palace that day, the Kangxi Emperor immediately passed on the message: "I think that the lamb's eye bun is very good, but it can often be sent to the palace to find the internal affairs office to open silver." ”
After that, the Muslims' sheep's eye buns suddenly became famous in Beijing, and the streets and alleys all knew about the sheep's eye buns. Within a few months, the Muslims from all over the four cities actually started the business of sheep's eye buns, which made the sheep's eye buns more and more widely known, and even the Han and Manchus ate this halal snack.
In fact, it is not so difficult to say that the sheep's eye buns of the Muslims are not very difficult to do. The usual practice is to make the dough first, then cut open and add some sugar and alkali, and knead well again. Next, roll into small pieces, use as an agent, and roll out into a dough. The next step is to choose a tender sheep, use its upper brain to chop into a meat filling, then add water, magnolia slices, minced green onion, ginger juice, etc., after the filling, add some sesame oil and salt, and the filling is ready. The store usually comes to the customer, reproducing the steamed bun. And each bun must be small and exquisite, can not be made large, otherwise, can not be called sheep's eye bun.
When it comes to Buns in Beijing, unlike halal snack Sheep's Eye Buns, there is another kind of bun called "upside-down bun", which is also jokingly called "Upside-down Monk's Hat". It is also a lamb bun, which is also a halal snack, but with a different filling and taste than the lamb's eye bun.
Why is this bun called an upside-down monk's hat? Because the most obvious thing about this bun is its peculiar shape. It looks like an upside-down monk's hat, so it is vividly called an upside-down monk's hat.
The filling of the poured monk's hat is mainly lamb and scallions, which is not as complicated as the lamb's eye bun, but it was often a popular commodity in Beijing in the past.
With people's demand for the taste of the upside-down monk's hat, it mainly has four kinds: the first is meat buns, the main ingredient is beef, mutton and green onions; it can also be mixed with other vegetables, which can be made of shiitake mushroom meat, vermicelli meat, kale meat, eggplant meat, etc.; the second is three fresh buns, with more ingredients, including flour, beef, fresh shrimp, eggs, cabbage hearts, shiitake mushrooms and green onions. When eating it, it is like a soup, delicious and nutritious; the third is a vegetarian bun, which is not a meat meat filling, pure vegetables, mainly used dry vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, fungus, crushed rice sprouts, frozen tofu, vermicelli, tomatoes, etc.; the last is the sauce meat bun, which mainly uses fresh minced meat, diced yellow onion, sweet sauce, and then add some sugar and salt to make a sauce meat filling, that taste is more chic.
It seems that the snacks in Beijing are still delicious with halal buns of Hui compatriots. Therefore, in addition to eating these buns in the shop, we can also go to the homes of Muslims to eat them.
Everyone knows that there are many special snacks of the Hui people, such as steamed buns, oil aroma, beef ramen, hand-grilled lamb, etc., as long as you go to the Muslims' homes as guests at the three major festivals of the Hui people - Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and the holy festival, then it is certainly indispensable to eat lamb's eye buns and upside-down monk hats, you can feast on your mouth.