Hangzhou Food: Gallic Chives, Black Bone Chicken, Edamame, Pork Heart, Fruit Flower Tea
Feb 15, 2014, Pittsford, NY, Lake Effect Snow
One of the important things for travel is food. My hometown is Hangzhou, China. It is located south east of Shanghai, about 2 hours drive. It is a historical tourism city, world heritage site. I am introducing my hometown home style cooking below:
Dish No 1. 韭黄炒蛋 （Stir-Fry Gallic Chives and Eggs)
Surprisingly, the garlic chives cost more than 10$, and I suspect that it is only available in the Chinese market seasonally. But it is super tasty and worth the money, I highly recommend it.
1. 4-5 eggs + salt + ginger: scramble the eggs and mix the ingredients well (use the knife to cut a slice ginger as small as possible 🙂 , ginger can change eggs’ taste so interestingly)
2. stir-fry the eggs with vegetable/peanut oil
3. once the eggs are done, move it to a bowl
4. stir-fry the garlic chives with salt and little vegetable/peanut oil, when the chives look soft (3-4 minutes), add cooked eggs and mix them well
Dish No 2. 乌骨鸡燉蘑菇 （Black-Bone Chicken and Mushrooms Hotpot)
In my hometown Hangzhou, hotpot or “soup” is a favorite home-cooking dish. The materials for this hotpot include black-bone chicken, a variety of mushrooms (e.g, black mushrooms, tree ears) – small amount, ginger, a few pieces of salty bamboo (this time, I use 黄花菜 – day lily?) , green onions, and some sort of broth base made from bones (this time, I used salty chicken gizzard from Chinese market, it turns out pretty good).
1. ginger + some Chinese wine + bones/salty gizzard: cook until boiled, dump the water
2. refill the pot with water + ginger + black-bone chicken + Chinese wine (little) + 八角茴香 (Illicium verum?): cook for 15-20 minutes
3. add salty bamboo (needs to be rinsed before adding it to the pot to remove some of the salt) + mushrooms (needs to soak in the hot water for a few minutes before adding them to the pot)
4. cook another 15-20 minutes with low heat to let the flavor in
Dish No 3. 五香毛豆（Edamame)
This one is easy. Add water, salt and 八角茴香 (Illicium verum?) and boil them until edamame is very soft (15 min?). Then filter the water.
Dish No 4. 白斩 猪心（boiled pork-heart)
When I was little, this dish was only available during Spring festival because the heart was somehow considered good food back then 🙂 This easy recipe works for beef heart or beef/pork tongues, chicken as well.
1. boil the pork heart with Chinese wine and ginger
2. slice it and serve it with the sauce made from a mixture of: soy sauce, garlic grounds and 老干妈 (spicy peppers from this jar)
After Dinner. 水果花茶(Fruit-Flower Tea)
In Chinese family, after dinner, typically we have some fruit, nuts or a cup of hot tea and sit around the table to chat a bit. This cup is made from a slice of orange (lemon, cucumber would work too) + tea honey + flower tea (e.g., this time I used Jasmine).
Sometimes, I view cooking home food as an exercise of missing home and revisiting my Chinese root. The above procedure sometimes never makes sense from a professional cook’s point of view, but that is how my mom and family used to cook when I was little, and that is what I want to replicate and eat.