To be precise, most people in Yunnan like boiled vegetables [yeah].

Many friends from other places will find it incredible when they see such a practice in Yunnan for the first time. In particular, southerners who are not tired of fine food and Cantonese who are good at making soup may have some faint disdain in their hearts if they don't say anything. Is it because Yunnan people are "poor, lazy and stupid" that they have such a simple and rude cooking style, or is there a deeper reason? Let's try to analyze it today.

the practice of any living habit has its subjective and objective factors, not to mention the formation of a thousand-year-old dietary tradition that has influenced one side of the people.

first, the historical origin.

this may really be because of "poverty"! Yunnan is located in the plateau, with complex terrain, mountainous areas, semi-mountainous areas and dam areas intertwined; Mountains and rivers are densely covered, valleys are criss-crossing, traffic is always blocked, and living conditions are relatively backward.

The wisdom of many local people's long-term life has been formed because of the simplicity and the local conditions. The caravan culture, in particular, has had a far-reaching impact on the eating habits of Yunnan people.

boiled vegetables are no exception. The caravan has been walking outside for many years, sleeping in the wind, and the pot at the head of the horse pot has solved three meals (two meals) a day for the whole caravan. Cooking in the wild is often based on local materials. Fresh wild vegetables are boiled with white water and dipped in water. If there are some pickles and bacon, a pot of fragrant potato stew rice is served ... It not only solves the problem of food and clothing for a day, but also supplements rich vitamins and nutrients.

second, the ingredients are excellent and the food features.

boiled vegetables seem simple, but in fact, they require more ingredients. Because it is only cooked in white water without any seasoning, the original flavor of the food is vividly reflected, and the growth environment, freshness and other factors of the original ingredients will directly determine the taste of the dishes.

moreover, not all dishes are suitable for boiled water. In fact, in Yunnan, the most common kind of boiled vegetables has several characteristics: green leaves, slightly bitter, thick fiber, cold and cool ... For example, the most common: bitter vegetables, as well as wild vegetables such as black hemp leaves and Radix Isatidis. This kind of vegetables, when mixed with other foods, actually have a bad taste. After boiled in white water, although it is slightly bitter, it tastes moist and has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying. After getting used to it, it will be as memorable as drinking tea. Therefore, people in Yunnan eat mussels, often like to cook them and let them cool before eating them, which makes them taste better. On the other hand, leafy vegetables with coarse fiber are more likely to be dipped in water, with a slightly rough taste, and with the spicy pepper paste, they have a unique flavor.

Now, with the richness of all kinds of ingredients, the scope of boiled vegetables is also expanding, and some fresh and sweet vegetables are often used in boiled vegetables to highlight their original flavor. But no matter how it changes, the basic requirements for ingredients are still: fresh, original ecology, preferably non-greenhouse, not out of season. These seemingly simple requirements are the easiest to achieve only in Yunnan.

three, dip in water, the soul of boiled vegetables.

In fact, as far as taste is concerned, Yunnan people are generally biased towards mouth. Then, how does a pot of boiled vegetables without oil and salt catch the taste buds of Yunnan people? Here, it is a bowl dipped in water.

(I wrote an article about a bowl of water dipped by Yunnan people earlier, so I won't go into details here. Interested friends can check it out. )

People in Yunnan dip in water in a variety of ways. Because of the variety of seasonings and complex tastes, people in Yunnan will have different dips with different foods. The most traditional way to cook with boiled water is to paste chili pepper and dip it in water.

It's very simple. The raw dried peppers are roasted on low fire until they are crispy, ground with a bamboo tube, only with salt, and poured with a spoonful of vegetable soup, which is spicy and sweet.

(Modern simplified version: Bake dried peppers in a griddle and knead them in paper bags. )

The key lies in: Chili is not only spicy, but also fragrant enough, and it has a certain amount of oil. Personally, I think Qiubei chili pepper is the best; Secondly, it is necessary to knead the pepper now, not too fine and slightly burnt, and the taste is better. You can add a small amount of monosodium glutamate to taste, but it must be less. Other seasonings are redundant.

A seemingly ordinary bowl of mussels embodies Yunnan people's pursuit of food essence, nutrition and taste. The simpler the cooking method is, the more we are required to have good ecological raw materials ...

So, this is the plain water cooking of Yunnan people, simple but not simple!