【Gancai Story】Phoenix-eyed pearls

Editor's note: In order to dig deeper into and sort out the history and culture of Gancai cuisine, strengthen the publicity of historical allusions behind Gancai cuisine, promote Gancai culture, and make the Gancai industry bigger, the Provincial Department of Commerce has launched the "Gancai Story" collection activity and will successively publish relevant essays (this publication is not used as a basis for subsequent review).

Phoenix-eyed pearls

Ganzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce

Phoenix-eye pearl is a traditional Hakka dish that originated in the Qing Dynasty and is a main dish at Hakka people's feasts during the New Year's Festival or banquet.

Regarding the "phoenix eye pearl" soup, there is a legend in Longnan folklore. Legend has it that during the Light Years of the Qing Dynasty, Longnan's dragon head fish were harvested, and a man named Xu Sizhuang paid a large tribute to the dragon head fish, and the emperor sent a minister of Chincha to Longnan to reward him. In the summer, the mountain road is rugged and difficult to walk, and the minister of Chincha suffers from heat stroke on the way. It was nearly dusk when I came to Xu Sizhuang's house, and the big fish and meat in Xu Town had been sold out, so Xu Sizhuang stewed the "phoenix-eyed pearl" soup for Chincha to eat, and Chincha took a spoon to eat, and suddenly exhausted his fatigue, and even felt that it was a rare dish. Asked about the name of his dish, Xu Sizhuang saw that the pearl rice was crystal clear, like longan, and in order to please Chincha, he said that it was "longan soup" and said: "This soup is cooked from the dragon head fish of Baizhang Longtan, so it is called longan soup." After Qin Cha listened, he felt that the name of this dish was on the prisoner, Xu Sizhuang was uneasy, and was busy explaining that this was not cooked by the eyes of the tribute "dragon head fish". Immediately, Xu Sizhuang asked Chincha to give him the name of the dish. Qin Cha was warmly entertained by him, but it was difficult to push back, and after several deliberations, he said: "Let's call it 'phoenix-eyed pearl' soup." Therefore, the phoenix eye pearl soup is still used today.

Phoenix pearls are made from sweet potatoes, a single raw material. Sweet potatoes are processed into a powdered form, add a little water and knead repeatedly. Put the dough of potato flour into a round bottom pot and spread it out (do not burn), and use your hands to gently press the potato balls clockwise on the pot and rotate them in the pot continuously, so that the potato balls slowly decompose into tiny pearl-like potato flour particles, called "pearl rice". Due to the uneven size of the particles, the uniform pearl rice must be filtered out with a rice sieve, and the large pearl rice is then put into the pot to repeat the previous procedure to make each pearl rice evenly sized. In this way, pearl rice is successfully made. The cooking technique of pearl soup is also exquisite, first put water in the pot, after the water boils, the pearl rice is gradually sprinkled into the pot in batches, can not be poured at one time, otherwise the pearl rice will become a paste because it cannot withstand the high temperature. When the pearls are still slightly white, remove them into cool water and soak them loosely, then re-boil a pot of boiling water and add the pearls. When the pearls are all cooked and floating on the surface of the water, scoop them up with a colander and cook them in the broth. Add oil, salt, shallots and other spices, and the pearl soup is cooked. The boiled pearl soup was steaming hot, and I saw that the beads were tired and sparkling. Take another bite, feel comfortable in the stomach, and clear your mind.