The intuitive impression is that lotus is smaller, while cabbage is bigger; Lotus is tightly wrapped and cabbage is fluffy; Lotus leaves are thinner and have less water, while Chinese cabbage leaves are slightly thicker and have more water. I insist that these two ingredients are different.
Probably, the south is called cabbage, and the north is called lotus or cabbage. Perhaps, they are just the difference between the north and the south? I am neither a gourmet nor a cook. But the sense of taste tells me that I can't stir-fry the taste of shredded cabbage in my childhood memory with lotus dishes.
Winter is coming, and geographical cabbage grows just right. In my childhood memory, I wanted to kill the "Chinese New Year pig". When the butcher got home and began to decorate the yard, my mother asked me to pick vegetables in the field and wash them by the river.
It is a local custom to invite neighbors to have dinner at home on the day of killing pigs. As usual, it is to cook a big table. My favorite thing is to tear cabbage by hand, especially when cooking.
I remember my mother cooked this dish many times, and I knew it by heart. The practice is also simple. Fresh steamed pork, fat and thin, sliced, fried with flat oil, and then put the prepared hand-torn cabbage in and fried. Speaking of spices, it is probably dried red pepper, ginger, and fresh garlic seedlings just picked from the ground. Be sure to cook it thoroughly, but there is no need to add water during the frying process. The water oozing from the cabbage is enough for the stew.
Tearing cabbage by hand, as the name implies, means tearing cabbage by hand, not cutting it with a knife. However, when my mother cooked this dish, she didn't tear the cabbage for later use. When the meat was almost fried in the pot, she quickly cut the cabbage directly into the pot with a kitchen knife. Of course, the taste is still very good.
When I was a child, I asked her why she didn't cut it out or tear it for later use. She said: "It's not the same whether to tear it first or cut it first. Just clean the outside of the cabbage, there is nothing inside except its own water. We just want to eat the freshness it picked from the ground and cut it directly into the pot to preserve its taste ... "I think what my mother said is quite reasonable, which is also her secret book.
The signature feature of hand-torn cabbage is "hand-torn", which has nothing to do with exquisiteness and can be said to be "rustic". It can't go to the high-end restaurants in the hotel, and it doesn't intend to compete with France and food. Its ingredients are cheap and simple, and it is passed down from mouth to mouth on the table of ordinary people, but the treatment is not thin.
The taste of hand-torn cabbage is a natural taste, not a deliberate pursuit of glamorous and exquisite appearance. I am not used to big meals, even afraid of big meals, and I don't have enough to eat every time. If I have to drink and socialize, I will have a headache. Meditate in your heart every time, it is better to tear a bowl of rice with one hand.
The road is simple and the taste is not complicated. For me, it is also the taste of the land, the taste of nature; Or the taste of childhood, the taste of mother; That is the smell of fireworks, the smell of ordinary life. Now, it adds memories and the flavor of hometown.