Ant on the tree is a Sichuan dish, made of minced meat and vermicelli mixed with spicy seasoning. Stir-fried minced meat and tender vermicelli with spicy seasoning fully show the spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine. It is named after the tiny minced meat like ants distributed on the vermicelli, just like ants climbing trees. Because the main components of "ants on the tree" are minced meat and vermicelli, it is also commonly known as "minced meat vermicelli". According to legend, its origin is also related to Dou E in the snow.
There was a man in Chuzhou who lost his mother at the age of three and his father Dou was a poor scholar. In order to take the exam in Beijing, the seven-year-old was sold to the creditor Cai as a child bride, so that she could pay her debts and be taken care of. Cai E's mother-in-law lost her husband in her early years and had a son, so she decided to let them grow up and get married, so she adopted Dou Mo.
Ten years later, Dou E changed from a child bride to the daughter-in-law of the Cai family. It is only a pity that she and her husband have lived a loving life for two or three years. Soon, her husband died of illness and her sad mother-in-law fell ill.
In order to cure her mother-in-law's illness, Dou E spent a lot of money, looking for famous doctors and using precious medicinal materials. In order to recuperate her mother-in-law's body, all three meals are delicious. Although her mother-in-law's condition is improving, she has also spent all her family's wealth and her family expenses are in trouble.
However, in order for her mother-in-law to recover as soon as possible, Dou E had to pull her face down and go to the meat stall for credit. The butcher said, "You haven't paid off the money you owed twice before, so you can't owe it today." Dou E had to make three more requests, but the butcher had no choice but to give her a small piece of meat.
Dou E stared at this small piece of meat, thinking about how to cook it. When she happened to see a fan in the cupboard, she suddenly realized. She softened this handful of vermicelli with blisters, patiently cut small pieces of meat into small pieces, and added some onions, ginger, peppers and soy sauce to stir fry, which turned into a big plate of fragrant fried vermicelli and quickly served it to her mother-in-law in the hospital bed.
Mother-in-law asked, "What do you fry so fragrant?" Dou E replied: "Stir-fried vermicelli, eat it while it is hot!" Before moving chopsticks, the old-eyed mother-in-law saw many small black spots like ants on the fan. Mother-in-law asked, "How can there be ants on this fan?" Dou E cried bitterly, "Daughter-in-law is unfilial! In order to treat her mother-in-law and recuperate her health, she spent all the wealth in her family. Because there is no money to buy meat, she can only buy a small piece of meat on credit, and then cut it into tiny minced meat, just like ants with small black spots, which scares her mother-in-law! " After the mother-in-law understood the reason, she quickly took a bite with chopsticks and said, "I am a filial daughter-in-law, darling, don't cry!" " Such delicious fried vermicelli, let's call it' ants on the tree'! Dou E burst into tears and said with a smile, "All right! Good idea! It really looks like an ant climbing a tree! Just call it' ants on the tree'!