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Chinese Name: 荷叶粉蒸肉
English Name: Steamed Pork with Rice Flour in Lotus Leaf; Steamed pork with rice flour
Category: Zhejiang cuisine浙菜
Main Ingredients: Pork
Steamed Pork with Rice Flour in Lotus Leaf荷叶粉蒸肉 is a famous traditional dish in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. In the late Qing Dynasty清朝, it was said that its name was related to the “Wind and Lotus of Quyuan曲院风荷” of the “Ten Scenes of the West Lake西湖十景”.
Steamed pork with rice flour, also known as rice noodle meat, originated in Jiangxi. The poet Yuan Mei袁枚 first recorded it as a Jiangxi dish in the Suiyuan Food List随园食单.
Steamed Pork with Rice Flour originated in Jiangxi and is mainly popular in southern China. Now it has penetrated the national market and entered the international market, becoming a representative of Chinese cuisine. In the Jiangnan area, taking Jiangxi as the representative, eating steamed pork with rice flour is an important traditional custom at the beginning of summer every year, which is called “supporting summer撑夏”, and it is also a traditional dish that must be eaten during the New Year.
Chongqing Steamed Pork with Rice Flour is not only steamed and fried, but also made of pressed meat flour and hot pepper. Different regions choose different side dishes, such as sweet potato, pumpkin, lotus root, taro, green beans, etc.
Steamed Pork with Rice Flour was the chef of Hangzhou杭州 Restaurant at that time. To meet the needs of tourists in summer, it was steamed by wrapping fried rice flour and seasoned pork with fresh lotus leaves of “Quyuan Fenghe”. It tastes delicious, fresh, fatty, soft, glutinous, and not greasy. It is very palatable in summer. Later, with the spread of the reputation of the West Lake as “Quyuan Fenghe”, the reputation of steamed pork with rice flour also grew, becoming a famous specialty dish in Hangzhou.
It is said that “Steamed Pork with Lotus Leaf Powder” is related to Zhou Cang周仓. Zhou Cang was the “coachman” of Guan Yu关羽, the great general of Shu Han蜀汉 during the Three Kingdoms Period三国时期. The reason why Guan Yu became an ever-victorious general was that he had two treasures, namely, the green dragon Yanyue knife青龙偃月刀 and the red rabbit horse赤兔马, as well as his powerful “coachman” Zhou Cang.
Therefore, Guan Yu was able to do well with Zhou Cang’s cooperation. He has a special function that he can grasp hot food and is not afraid of being hot; The reason why he can run faster than the Red Rabbit horse is that his hands and feet have a thick layer of fluff. He is not afraid of hot, but also can walk faster, which is called “Feimao飞毛”.
After hearing this, Guan Yu felt very confused. In order to find out the truth, he told Zhou Cang that he would sleep with him in the same bed. Zhou Cang didn’t know it was a plan, so he fell asleep as soon as he lay down. However, Guan Yu didn’t sleep well all night because of the hair on Zhou Cang’s hands and feet. The next morning, Zhou Cang got up and asked him to shave off the hair on his hands and feet. At the master’s command, Zhou Cang had to shave all the hair on his hands and feet.
However, when Guan Yu went to the war, Zhou Cang had to follow him. He had no hair on his hands and feet, so his hands were hot when he grabbed hot food, and his feet became hot when he walked quickly. So Zhou Cang picked the lotus leaves on the roadside and wrapped his hands and feet. In this way, he would not be hot to catch hot food and his feet would not be hot. Later, according to this rumor, the folk created “Steamed Pork with Rice Flour in Lotus Leaf”, a wonderful summer delicacy that both refined and popular tastes, and it has been handed down to this day.
How to make Steamed Pork with Rice Flour in Lotus Leaf?
Ingredients：
- 500g streaky pork with skin
- 50 grams of glutinous rice
- 50g japonica rice
- 24 pieces of 10 cm square fresh lotus leave
- 15g cooked lard
- 50 grams of cooking wine
- 3 grams of salt
- 15 grams of white sugar
- 0.5 g octagonal
- 30g soy sauce
Instruction:
- Step 1, Use a soldering iron to burn up the remaining hair on the streaky pork, wash the meat in cold water, cut it into 7cm long, 4cm wide, and 0.7cm thick slices, put it into a plate, put cooking wine, soy sauce, refined salt, white sugar, and streaky pork into the plate, and mix them for about 5 minutes.
- Step 2, Break the star anise into small pieces and dry fry the glutinous rice and japonica rice in the pot at the same time. When the rice becomes light yellow, remove it from the pot and grind it into a coarse powder. Then add the meat slices, mix them well, make the meat slices covered with rice flour, and put them on the plate one by one. When half cooked, take 50g of water, add soy sauce, evenly sprinkle it on the steamed pork, and continue to steam until soft and rotten.
- Step 3, Rinse the fresh lotus leaves, take out the steamed pork with flour, wrap them one by one with fresh lotus leaves, button them neatly into the basin, sprinkle cooked lard evenly, steam them in the cage for about 10 minutes, take them out, turn them over and put them on the plate. When eating, use chopsticks to peel off lotus leaves.
