Camellia oleifera is a noodle soup food that predates sesame paste. In the northern region of China, this snack is also called "noodle tea". Noodle tea is a kind of porridge soup with millet flour as the main ingredient. Cooked sesame seeds, sesame oil, sesame sauce, salt and millet powder are boiled into a porridge soup, and are generally eaten most in winter and spring. Noodle tea can also be made of sweet noodle tea with white sugar, often used as an early breakfast and a late night snack. Noodle tea is often sold in the afternoon among Beijing snacks. There is a poem that says: "When you wake up hot noodle tea at the beginning of your afternoon dream, you must always add dried ginger and sesame sauce." "Noodle tea is very particular about eating, do not use chopsticks, spoons when eating, but one hand bowl along the side of the bowl to drink in a circle, non-old Beijingers may not have this way to eat, which is related to the taste of noodle tea."
However, in Bashu, tea and honey, the Western Zhou Dynasty was already a tribute to the ancient Shu state. When Chang Xuan said in the "Huayang Guozhi" that the Shu people were "still delicious and spicy", the ancient Shu ancestors used fragrant tea to brew wheat noodles and rice noodles with salt and honey, which was the early "five-spice oil tea". Although it is called oil tea, later Sichuan oil tea has nothing to do with "tea". Sichuan oil tea, made with glutinous rice flour and rice flour as the main raw materials, is very different from other oil tea in terms of flavor and taste, with strong Sichuan flavor characteristics. Oil tea is all over Prachuap Khiri Khan, it is the occasion of autumn and winter, especially at night and early in the morning, a cheap, warm-hearted flavor snack. In the past, in the autumn and winter, the cold outside the house in the early morning hit people, and the warm quilt at this moment was the most attached. Half dreaming and half awake, outside the silent house, a long series of burden-bearing shouts drifted into the ears from far and near: "Eat oil tea - mile - hot oil tea!" "At first, the temptation was still able to resist, and after a few shouts, one after another, and gradually the people were tongue-tied and hungry, and then they abandoned the warm bed and rolled over.
In the early morning, the oil tea car slowly walked through the small streets and alleys, very warm, but also very tempting to idle the stomach of the night.
Dan dan oil tea
In the old days of Chengdu, many people who picked up and sold oil tea came out at night and early in the morning. At night, the street lights are dim, the cold wind is everywhere, it is cold and clear, as soon as you hear the shouting of dan dan oil tea, Lao Yuan smells the scent of the steaming burden, and feels that the body and mind are warm and whirring, and can't help but want to "supper two night" (Sichuan dialect "supper night" that is, dinner). Especially those who come home from the night shift will not miss it. When the vendor kindly asked about their tastes, spicy or spiced, he saw him use a bamboo tip, scoop out the rice paste from the tile jar and pour it into a porcelain bowl, skillfully put chili noodles, pepper noodles, sprinkle a few crispy soybeans and chopped kohlrabi, sautéed salt, green onions and other condiments, and then grab a few crispy steamed buns and crush them on the oil tea, and then put a small spoon to eat. That oil tea is hot and fragrant, spicy and nourishing, coupled with the crisp and delicious soybean steamed buns, the aroma is chaotic in the mouth, and once it enters the stomach, it is immediately warm all around, so uncomfortable, so comfortable.
Dandan oil tea, in addition to spicy and hot, there are also spices, pepper salt, salt and salt and other flavors. This is a very digestible vegetarian snack, so you don't have to worry about the impact of your stomach on your sleep. Many people in Chengdu also use oil tea as the most suitable breakfast in autumn and winter, especially for office workers and students. I remember that in the past few years of college, as soon as I arrived in autumn and winter, oil tea was my first choice, even in the summer, when I thought of the taste, I looked forward to autumn to winter, and enjoyed the beauty of oil tea. Eating a bowl of lively, spicy and fresh oil tea can really warm up all day.
When I was in elementary school, the oil tea, triad mud, fried steamed buns, twist flowers, bowl bean cakes, steamed cakes, sweet and salty bean flowers, brine meat sandwich pots, soup pot radishes and so on were full of fragrance in the streets, leaving me with many mouth-watering memories of my childhood. There are three stalls selling oil tea on this street, all of which are placed along the street in the afternoon and sold until the evening. Oil tea is made by stir-frying, heating rice noodles, adding cooked oil and salt, stirring and cooking in a pot, and the brownish yellow color is very similar to brewed tea soup. A bowl of oil tea sprinkled with green onions, kohlrabi granules, crushed fried seeds and evenly, eat in the mouth fragrant, eat a bowl and want two bowls. The price is not high, remember only four cents a bowl. There are many people who come to eat oil tea every night. There is also a small shop on this street that specializes in fried seeds, twist flowers and pea cakes, because the things there are well fried, in addition to retail, there are also vendors who specialize in mentioning blue seeds to wholesale. These vendors carry baskets to teahouses or hawk along the streets. The streets are filled with fried seeds, twist flowers, and pea cakes. Although after several changes, nothing has happened. But this small street has still brought a lot of warmth and fun to the people.
The oil tea stall on the street is a pot of confusion, and it is not delicious at all.
Camellia oleifera flavor
In the past, there were also many oil tea shops in Chengdu, the noodles were not large, and they were very simple, but in the production of oil tea, it was much more exquisite than dan dan oil tea. Most of them are a large stove and a large iron pot on the street, the glutinous rice flour, rice flour and spice powder are fried and stir-fried, and then add vegetable oil, salt and water to boil into a brown thick paste, the oil on the surface is shiny, and the wisps of white fog are constantly bubbling, like clouds floating in the morning fog. Then a large pot of oil tea is warmed by a slight heat, if there is a eater, that is, scoop an iron spoon into the bowl slowly, sprinkle with crispy peanuts, soybeans, chopped kohlrabi, squeezed vegetables, green onions, and then break a handful of steamed buns on top, which is the five-spiced oil tea. Spicy oil tea is based on five-spice oil tea, sprinkled with chili noodles, pepper noodles can be.
And the store is mostly dark, full of hot rooms, fragrant smell, there are a few small square tables and long stools, you and I rely on eating lively. Some old diners sometimes shout: "Three tables, add more steamed buns!" Some shouted, "One table, add fritters!" The smooth voice of the stove head glanced back: "I know, wait until you get up, come right away!" After the oil tea is brought, it is mixed with a spoon, scooped a spoonful and slowly sent into the mouth, and the "clicking" of the chewing steamed bun is full of crisp sounds; then the crispy aroma of peanuts and soybeans, the salty aroma of kohlrabi, the fragrance of green onions, accompanied by the aroma of rice noodles of piping hot oil tea, really make people want to eat and want to go. If someone seems to feel that the aroma is insufficient, they should add the crispy fritters that have just come out of the pot. If it is spicy, it is even more spicy taste, suddenly blushing, sweating, and even more than not strong enough, then spoon a spoonful of the chili noodles placed on the table, mix it up, and only then eat it is enjoyable. After eating, as soon as I walked out, everyone was full of red light, full of energy, a look of peace of mind, and a comfortable look that was quite eye-catching.
In the past, in the era when my fathers were young, they often put the fried rice noodles in a small cloth pocket, and then wrapped some chili noodles and salt as dry food on the way out of the door to work, when hungry, find a person or restaurant to order boiling water to brew in the bowl carried, stir and mix, scatter salt and chili noodles even if it is a meal, now I think it is really a bit bitter!
Spicy oil tea with sweet silver ear soup is a very exquisite luxury
There is also a kind of lard tea in Chuandong, which is a kind of meat oil tea. This kind of oil tea is different from the Tibetan butter tea, and it is also different from the cream tea in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. According to the people of Chuandongshan Township, "Do not drink tea in a hurry, climb on the way home in the middle of the night; do not drink tea downhill, and the foot pole flashes the road more slippery." "It can be seen how much people rely on lard tea." Chuandong's lard tea is fried with lard, fresh tea leaves, simmered with water for more than three hours, kneaded the bottom tea leaves of the pot into powder with a wooden scoop, and then filtered out the tea residue; the pot washed the bone broth, put in the meat, salt, cold water and mixed bean flour, flour, put lard, sesame oil and simmer to boil. When eating, put it in a bowl and scatter more than ten puff pastry beans. Lard tea color is golden, tea taste is mellow, oily but not greasy, fragrant and delicious, it is very refreshing.
In the northern Sichuan region, especially Langzhong, "oil tea" and "steamed buns" are also convenient foods for the Hui people to go out for business and tourism. In the past, the preparation method of oil tea was relatively simple: first prepare the flour, then cut the lamb or mutton fat into diced meat, put the diced meat, flour, salt and other ingredients in turn, and fry the noodles over low heat until the color changed from white to yellow. Hui oil tea, yellow and fragrant, there is no knot in the bowl after brewing, generally can be stored for two to three months without deterioration, even in the hot summer will not be moldy. Steamed buns are also a kind of fried snack of the Hui people. The steamed bun is first naturally fermented, kneaded into the size of a lotus, then fermented, the noodles are successively wrapped on the fingers as a spinning wheel to run and pulled into a dough ring, and then the oil pan under the dough ring is covered with two long chopsticks and fried into a golden comb.
Steamed buns are the standard for eating camellia oleifera
I was collecting wind in Langzhong and found a century-old shop, the owner of which is a 65-year-old man, still silently adhering to the ancient taste of oil tea. He wears a white hat and is scooping oil tea with his hands and feet. I saw him put a spoonful of orange-yellow oil tea in one bowl after another, and then he kneaded a handful of steamed buns into small pieces and placed them on top, and finally put winter vegetables, green onions, mashed peanuts and rice, sesame seeds, peppers and other condiments on the steamed buns, and a bowl of fragrant "oil tea steamed buns" was served. As long as the diners stir well with the spice spoon, they can enjoy it slowly. The ancient and modern camellia oleifera steamed bun has become a very touching snack in Langzhong, a beautiful food culture style and cultural landscape!
Camellia oleifera is a flavorful snack from the Prachuap Khiri Khan region and is found everywhere. No matter what kind of oil tea, from the perspective of nutrition, it is not a high-grade tonic food, but it is affordable and convenient, from the function of autumn and winter to keep warm, it is indeed a good food for warming up, and more importantly, he fundamentally meets the Sichuan people's "eating and drinking spicy" dietary preferences, so it is widely loved by men and women, young and old, and has become an enduring traditional flavor snack.
Nowadays, although there is no pick-up oil tea and oil tea specialty stores, but in the comprehensive snack bar most of them have oil tea for sale, especially in the flower fair, lantern fair, temple fair, snack exhibition, food festival, almost every snack stall is selling oil tea, and even bagged oil tea for sale, with boiling water can be eaten, although there is salt taste but no taste, not difficult to eat but not delicious, not to mention the flavor and style, eating atmosphere is far from the same.
Pujiang Xilai Ancient Town Qiaogu Chuan Snack Shop's oil tea is simple and unpretentious, very touching.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Board of "Sichuan Province Chronicle • Sichuan Cuisine Chronicle" Sichuan Cuisine Culture Person Sichuan Cuisine Contributor
Author of "A Hundred Years of Sichuan Cuisine Legend", "The History of Sichuan Cuisine on the Roadside", and "Three Hundred Years of Spicy Hemp Temptation"
Original Jianghu Gluttony East 2019.02.21 Chengdu