Then say "Eight Immortals of Water". Today we talk about water chestnuts.
Water chestnut is an herb of the sedge family, water chestnut genus, growing in shallow paddy fields, we usually eat its tuber in the underwater silt. Water chestnut is native to Luzon and was not grown in our country very early. There are many aliases for water chestnut, including horseshoe, water chestnut, peony, skullcap, black potato, pineapple (pu), chestnut, shallot, chestnut, prickly pear, prickly pear (child) and so on. In the Liangguang area, water chestnut is called "horseshoe", of which Guilin horseshoe is particularly famous, which was a tribute to the imperial court during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In The area of Ningbo, Jiaxing and Shanghai in Zhejiang, the water chestnut is called "ground chestnut", and the Song people wrote in the poem: "It is better to be born of lotus flowers in silt than to be born of chestnuts." Lotus flowers are beautiful, but chestnuts are delicious. In henan and parts of Anhui, it is similar to this name, called "ground pear (child)". In some places in Hubei, it is called "Bodhisattva (蒲荠)". In Sichuan, people called the water chestnut "Ci Mushroom (Er)", regardless of the fact that in botany, the Ci Mushroom is another kind of "Water Eight Immortals" that looks similar to the Water Chestnut. The ancient books also use different aliases for the water chestnut, for example, Zheng Badger of the Song Dynasty mentioned in the poem that the people dug up the water to fill their hunger, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" recorded that "black yam, sweet, cold, slippery, non-toxic." "It's all about water chestnuts. Water chestnut is also known as qian onion in the Chaoshan area, because the leaves of water chestnut are very similar to green onions, and when viewed directly above the water chestnut, the water chestnut resembles a round copper coin, so there is the word "qian onion".
I remember when I was a child, every winter, I would sell water chestnuts in the wet market, but it seemed that this kind of thing was sold as a fruit at that time, so I didn't want a ticket, I could buy it casually. But because the price is not cheap, the family will not buy more. Every time you buy it, you have to wash and cook it, and then the whole family sits around, peels it and eats it slowly, sweet and crispy, and a little bit of sand, which is very delicious. When I got older, I learned that water chestnut can not only be eaten as a fruit like this, but also can be cooked. Later, when I saw the "Shimizu Horseshoe" of "Export to Domestic Sales" in the non-food store, I learned another name of the water chestnut, "Horseshoe". In a sense, my feeling is good, water chestnut is indeed a fruit, in Suzhou, "air-dried water chestnut" is a famous small snack, the water chestnut can be stored for a long time after drying under the eaves, when eating peel off the crumpled water chestnut skin, the meat inside is more sweet, this is a snack that Lu Xun, who loves sweets, will never forget. You can also buy a water chestnut marinated with osmanthus sugar and honey, which is also a delicious little snack.
This ingredient is rich in starch, sweet and juicy, while the taste is crisp and not obtrusive, which is very compatible with meat. Water chestnut roast meat is a very popular home-cooked dish, slowly simmered with pork belly and water chestnut, the meat is fat but not greasy, the water chestnut is more and more sweet, people can not get tired. Lychee meat is a traditional dish in Fuzhou, Putian and other places in Fujian Province, because of the white water chestnut and pork cut into a cross flower knife in the raw materials, after cooking, it is named because of its shape like a lychee. You can also add sliced water chestnuts in the stir-fried waist flowers, and the fresh taste of the water chestnuts is accentuated by the rich flavor of the waist flowers. In addition, stir-fried shrimp with water chestnuts, fried chicken with water chestnuts, etc., are common practices.
However, many times, water chestnut appears as a supporting role in dishes. The most famous dish with water chestnut as an ingredient is "lion's head", which can be said to be a taste and taste taste taster in the combination of various meat fillings, and the sweet and crisp addition suddenly takes away the grease in the lion's head. Therefore, many of the meat fillings in various parts of our country are added to the flavor of water chestnut. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, there was a kind of ball made of fresh water chestnut with sugar, refined meat and other ingredients, which was fried and eaten after being fried. This kind of ball is a traditional dish in Xinxian (present-day Liaocheng City, Shandong Province) and has a history of more than 200 years. Shunde's fried stuffed mud carp is also an important supporting role in the filling, a whole carp peeled to take the meat, the skin can not be broken, the fish meat is deboned and then added tangerine peel, water chestnut and shiitake mushrooms chopped into fine mushrooms, and then brewed back into the fish skin, still like a whole fish. The fish is fried in oil, then boiled in broth and finally poured with juice. The skin of the fish is crisp and thick, and there are no fish bones, which is a high-grade lazy dish. As for horseshoe meatloaf and horseshoe shrimp cake, they are also dishes that add texture to meat products after chopping water chestnuts.
Water chestnut is rich in starch, and many pastries can be made with water chestnut powder. The most famous is probably the horseshoe cake that is popular in Liangguang and Fujian. According to legend, horseshoe cake originated from the Tang Dynasty, is mixed with sugar water water or sweet potato powder steamed into a pastry, its color is yellow, translucent, can be folded but not cracked, plucked and continuous, soft, smooth, refreshing, tough and sweet, the taste is extremely sweet. After a cup of tea or an appetizer, order a piece of horseshoe cake for a refreshing taste. In Guangzhou, the most traditional and famous horseshoe cake comes from the Panxi restaurant, which is because the pantang where the restaurant is located is rich in horseshoe. In addition, in Anshun, Guizhou, there is also a dessert made of water chestnut powder called Chong Chong Cake, which is made by boiling water in a special large tin pot and steaming glutinous rice cake on the lid of the pot. Put the water chestnut flour in the prepared bowl, alternately rinse with hot and cold water to form a paste, put the steamed rice cake in, pour boiling water again, put rose brown sugar, peanut rice, sesame seeds and mix well.
In addition to shining in the main dish and pastries, water chestnut can also "shine" in drinks, such as horseshoe sugar water popular in the southeast coast and even Southeast Asia, which covers many varieties, such as red date lily horseshoe sugar water, horseshoe bamboo cane water, as well as pear juice, water chestnut juice, fresh reed root juice, wheat winter juice, lotus juice made of "five juice drinks", etc., are very good drinks.
In addition, in the festival diet of many places, the figure of water chestnut will also appear. For example, the salted porridge eaten by Suzhou people must have green vegetables first, and the second does not use meat (such as salted meat and diced ham, etc.). Use overnight soaked soybeans broad beans and pea peanuts, add taro, yam, diamond meat, chestnuts, ginkgo biloba, mushrooms, water chestnuts, kidney beans, cowpeas, carrots, etc., be sure to put broad beans sprout beans, japonica rice is mainly a little sticky rice, but also with peeled glutinous corn kernels, glutinous sorghum rice and rhubarb rice, porridge is almost cooked, and then put oil fried greens. Salty porridge is based on the usual porridge, with some ingredients, the colorful flavor is richer. The 23rd day of the Lunar Month in Fuzhou is called "sacrificial meat stove", and the 24th day is called "sacrificial vegetable stove", and the fresh fruits used in the sacrificial stove include fu oranges, sugar cane, and water chestnuts. During the New Year, Suzhou's reunion dinner waits until the time of the meal, and two hot water chestnuts will be hidden in advance, and when they are eaten, they will be clipped out, this hand is called "Fishing Yuanbao", which is the best blessing for the Suzhou people. Zhejiang Linhai Yuan has the custom of eating a hundred family soups, generally at noon on the fourteenth day of the first month, sweet soup generally has water chestnuts, red dates, raisins, Sichuan bean boards, peanut crushed, etc., diced and then added rice flour. Salty soup is a variety of seafood cut very finely stir-fried, and then boiled with various ingredients added to the rice milk. The Ninth Festival (the 29th day of the first month) is a folk traditional festival unique to Fuzhou. The "Nine Festivals" are also known as the "Last Nine Festivals", the "Nine Festivals of Filial Piety" and the "Festival of Sending The Poor". Early this morning, every household uses glutinous rice, brown sugar, plus peanuts, dates, water chestnuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon balls and other raw materials, cooked into sweet porridge, called "Aojiu porridge", used to give gifts to parents.
In the past, in years of famine, water chestnuts could be dug up to fill the hunger. The most famous story here is that in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, when there was a severe famine in the Jingzhou area for many years, the people fled into the mountain swamps and dug up water chestnuts for food. There were many hungry people and little grain, so there was a dispute, and Wang Kuang and Wang Feng, the people of Xinshi, distributed food fairly and reasonably, eliminated worries and difficulties, won the support of the hungry people, and were elected as the leader and led the people to revolt. This team is the famous Green Forest Army, which is the prototype of the Good Man of the Green Forest.
By the way, water chestnut contains a substance called "water chestnut", which has the effect of bacteriostatic, but do not think that eating more water chestnut antibacterial, or that sentence, leaving the dose to talk about the efficacy is nonsense. If you are really infected by bacteria, don't expect to eat water chestnut, honestly go to the hospital is the right way.