Stew is a snack in Yantai area, using crude sweet potato starch as raw material, heating and freezing the starch with water, cutting the freeze into small pieces, frying it in a pan until it becomes a scorched color from white to transparent, and accompanied by shrimp oil, sesame paste, garlic juice and other spices on the table.
The origin of Yantai stew: Legend has it that more than a hundred years ago, two brothers of the Men clan came to Yantai to dry vermicelli, and once just made the powder embryo well, encountered even cloudy days, the vermicelli could not be dried, and the powder embryo was going to sour. In a hurry, the Men brothers invited the villagers to fry the powder embryos in oil, add garlic and eat them, and everyone said in unison that it was delicious and flavorful. So he helped the Men brothers to set up a pot to fry the powder embryos, people said it was delicious, but when asked what the name of this food was, no one could say it. One of the wise men thought that this product was created by the Men brothers, and then fried and stewed in oil, so he blurted out "stew".
When I was in my twenties, I lived in Yantai for three years.
At that time, the streets and alleys of Yantai often sold local snacks - stewed.
I remember that at that time, Yantai stewed two cents a plate, with a special small wire fork inserted to eat.
In front of the stew stall, there are small tables, small stools or small chairs.
People who walk the streets and alleys, passing by the stew stalls, are used to stopping to enjoy a dish, as natural and casual as eating a sugar gourd or an ice cream while shopping.
When I first arrived in Yantai, I went shopping with my local sisters in Yantai, and they had to drag me to eat a plate of stews and then go to run errands.
I look at the contents of the dish, soft and not pulling a few, sticky, pouring juice is only a dull color, looking not only unattractive, to be honest I still feel a little disgusting, so I even pushed away, never refused, just stood aside and waited for them to finish eating.
Later, I often saw the satisfied and enjoyable expressions of men, women and children eating the stew on the street, and once I finally couldn't help but try it.
After tasting it, I feel that the taste is OK, the fried sweet potato starch is soft and tough, the garlic paste and hemp juice and the shrimp oil are mixed with pouring juice, and the garlic in the fresh flavor is full of spicy flavor.
Not as bad as expected, not as good as imagined.
Only later did I gradually realize that as long as you start to try and accept this stuff, you will become more and more addictive.
Later, I also went with the customs, and whenever I went shopping, as long as I encountered a stew stall, I always had to stop and eat a dish.
Later, it finally developed to go out for a spin in order to eat stew.
I remember that at that time, there was a small market in the Southwest River around the Haiphong Camp Market and the Three Stations, and there were braised people selling everywhere.
The stalls are very simple, a pan, under the pan is a basket of cut stew, and then the side of the pot has been mixed with hemp juice, garlic water and another light brown sauce.
The pan is always fried and steaming. When the guests come, the stall owner will ask you if you want to eat the old or tender one, then scoop out a plate of fried stew, and then pour the sauce, garlic paste and hemp sauce one by one.
Some of the guests who picked up the stew liked to sit down and enjoy it slowly, or some of them stood, ate three mouthfuls of two mouthfuls in a hurry, and were busy continuing to hurry.
When I left Yantai, I realized that I had developed a deep attachment to Yantai stew.
At that time, the traffic was not as convenient as it is now, and I once spent nearly three hours a one-way on a bus to Yantai to hang out, and every time I went, I never forgot to taste the authentic stew in my memory again.
Later, I had a home of my own, and I tried to make my own stew at home, but I did it a few times without success. The difficulty is that the cooled starch paste is not easy to form.
Later, I heard bloggers say that they should use crude sweet potato starch instead of the fine starch sold in supermarkets.
So this time I tried to make a stew with crude sweet potato starch.
Practice has proved that crude sweet potato starch is indeed easier to form and does not collapse.
However, when frying in the pan, as the temperature rises, the molded starch is still easy to soften and partially gelatinize.
Especially when eating, you can still clearly feel that the stew you make is not as good as the real Yantai stew, the powdery ingredients are large, and you lack the tenacity.
I think it's because I didn't add alum.
But the taste is absolutely fine.
Nowadays, there are no stalls selling stews in Yantai City.
Eleven I went to Yantai, walked around for a long time and did not find Yantai snack stew, but there are many selling foreign snacks and Korean snacks on the street.
Only those who inquired about passers-by knew that only the first floor of the Zhenhua Shopping Center in Yantai now had a copy of the stew for sale. If you want to eat, you can only go to the hotel to order, it is said that the hotel has seafood stew and three fresh stews.
I still miss the Yantai in my memory and the Yantai stew in my memory.
In the cold wind, standing on the street corner, ha white steam, eating a plate of hot, fragrant, spicy Yantai stew, such a scene, has been forever frozen in my mind, people to middle age, this familiar scene often returns to my dreams.
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raw material:
1) 1) Sweet potato starch (crude) 150g, water 700g, salt 2g
2) Tahini, minced garlic, salt, soy sauce, shrimp oil, vinegar, sesame oil
method:
1, the sweet potato starch and salt mixed, add water in parts, stir evenly;
2. Pour into the pot, heat on low heat, and stir continuously;
3, until the entire starch paste is gelled and transparent, turn off the heat;
4, the bottom of the bowl is greased and anti-sticky, and then the starch paste is poured in, smoothed, covered with plastic wrap after cooling, and refrigerated and solidified in the refrigerator;
5, sesame paste with a little water to open into a sauce, garlic paste plus a little cold boiled water, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and shrimp oil mixed into the juice;
6. Take out the solidified stew and cut it into moderately sized cubes;
7: Add very little oil to the pan, add the sliced stew, spread out and fry slowly over low heat, fry until the four sides change color and then put it out;
8: Drizzle with sauce and hemp sauce, stir well and use.