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Chinese Name: 梅菜扣肉
English Name: Pork with salted vegetables; Steamed pork with preserved vegetables; Pork with Preserved Vegetables
Category: Hakka cuisine客家菜
Main Ingredients: Pork
Pork with salted vegetables梅菜扣肉 is a famous traditional dish of the Han nationality, belonging to Hakka cuisine客家菜. Steamed pork with preserved vegetables, Baked chicken with salt盐焗鸡, and Fermented bean curd酿豆腐 are known as Hakka’s three treasures.
The specific origin time of preserved pork with preserved vegetables has not been verified. Meicai梅菜 is a Hakka specialty in Guangdong. It is made from fresh Meicai by pickling, desalting, and other processes. Plum dish has a long history and is famous at home and abroad. It is one of the three famous dishes in Lingnan. It is a famous traditional specialty in Lingnan. In history, it was called “Huizhou Tribute惠州贡菜” as a palace food. It is made of fresh plum vegetables through multiple processes. It is golden in color and fragrant. It has the effect of enhancing digestion, clearing away heat, and relieving summer heat.
The long history, unique flavor, and efficacy, as well as the spread of nearly a thousand years, have created the reputation of “Huizhou Meicai惠州梅菜”. There is an ancient poem that says: “Ramie apples are green for ten miles, and Huizhou plum vegetables are a flower苎萝西子十里绿，惠州梅菜一枝花”, and Huizhou is awarded the title of “the hometown of Chinese plum vegetables中国梅菜之乡” by the State Council.
But the legend about plum vegetables has been handed down to this day. At the end of the Ming Dynasty明朝, when the peasants revolted, there was chaos in the war, and a large number of Central Plains families moved south to avoid the war. Surrounded by the mountains 40 miles north of the Xunzhou Prefecture循州府, there is flat land with a radius of 10 miles, welcoming Pan, Liu, Lu, Yu, and other people. They have chosen their own regions to build their own businesses and carry out reclamation.
Lu, who was originally a scholar, once worked as a local petty official. Because he was dissatisfied with the corruption of the imperial government, he also moved with his wife and children to settle here. This place is open and flat. The stream flows through it. A simple wooden bridge was built to cross the stream. Later, the village was named “Tuqiao土桥”.
There is also a legend that there was a lady named Lu who was farming and the children around were hungry. At this time, a fairy came down from the sky to comfort her and took out a package of rapeseed. The lady asked, “Who are you?” The fairy replied, “My surname is Mei.” In accordance with the wishes of Fairy Mei, Lady Lu and her husband planted the rapeseed and cultivated it carefully after returning home.
After a few days, the vegetable seeds will sprout into leaves. When the month of December comes, the vegetables will grow big and fat. They will be picked and boiled for eating, which is very delicious. When friends and relatives learned about it, they came to find out what it was. Madam Lu said that it was the vegetable from the Fairy Plum. Let’s call it “Meicai梅菜”. Since then, plum vegetables were introduced by relatives and friends, and soon became widely planted. After the harvest, the common people lived a prosperous life, and the Hakka people had plum vegetables from then on.
After moving south, people in the Central Plains lived in poverty. Many people were engaged in manual work with high labor intensity. Usually, I seldom eat meat, but fatter food can satisfy my hunger effectively. The dishes they eat are salty, and the sauce they use is relatively simple. Generally, they only use raw onions, cooked garlic, and coriander to taste.
Hakka people make streaky pork with ingredients, and then steam the meat pad on dried plum vegetables to make a delicious dish with a rich aroma. As time goes by, this dish has gradually become famous all over the world, which is the “Pork with Preserved Vegetables梅菜扣肉” that we often taste.
How to make Pork with salted vegetables?
Ingredients：
- 500g streaky pork
- 100g plum vegetables
- 1 red and 1 green pepper
- A few slices of onion and ginger
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- A few cloves of garlic
- 2 octagons
- A spoonful of sugar
- Moderate salt
Instruction:
- Step 1, Soak the plum vegetables for a while, then spread the leaves, wash them carefully, and then soak them for standby. Wash the pork, add water, onion, and ginger slices, and 1-star anise into the pot, cook for 30 minutes, and insert it with chopsticks. Then take out the meat and pour the soy sauce while it is hot.
- Step 2, Heat the oil in the pan, add the streaky pork with the skin side down and fry for a while until the skin is shiny. Remove the meat and let it cool before slicing. The remaining oil in the pot is used to stir-fry plum vegetables.
- Step 3, In the process of drying the meat, stir fry plum vegetables. Remove the plum vegetables and squeeze out the water. Use the oil left over from frying the meat. Add the chopped garlic and green and red pepper to stir fry until fragrant. Add the plum vegetables and stir fry. Add the leftover soy sauce from the first step, and then add the raw soy sauce, star anise, sugar, and 100ml of water. Add an appropriate amount of salt according to your taste, cover, and simmer for a while.
- Step 4, Cool the sliced meat, place it in a large bowl, evenly spread the fried plum vegetables on the meat, and then pour the remaining soup. Put into a steamer and steam for 1-1.5 hours.
- Step 5, Put the meat and plum vegetables in a big bowl with a big deep plate, and quickly turn it upside down. Heat the remaining soup with a little starch in a pot until it is slightly sticky. Pour it over the large plate of braised pork.
