In short, Guangdong bok choy ≠ foreign bok choy ≠ vegetables.
The stringent "Cantonese standard" usually makes the foreign daughter-in-law, who is new to Guangdong, confused when buying vegetables. However, the best reference for determining whether a green vegetable is "Cantonese" enough is the heart of the vegetable.
Cabbage heart, the standard "green vegetables" in the eyes of the Cantonese
Cabbage heart, not the heart of the green vegetables.
This South China specialty, which is green from the head to the tail, came into the backyard of Guangdong people's farms during the Southern Song Dynasty, and is a proper independent vegetable species.
In the eyes of the Cantonese, choy sum is the perfect example of a green vegetable.
Northern people eat vegetables, like big bundles of big bundles to carry home. But in Guangdong, there are seasonal vegetables all year round, and it's a good idea to buy them all at once, but also to buy them fresh and green.
The heart of the vegetable is green from the leaf to the stem, and the leaves are erect and lush, very much in line with the aesthetic standard of the green vegetable.
Guangdong people, who grow up in the subtropics, have always loved to eat lightly. The flavor of the heart of the vegetable is not at all strong, and it tastes fresh and slightly sweet, with a sense of peace and quiet as a green vegetable should have.
Shui Dong mustard is also a specialty of Guangdong, it contains mustard polysaccharide, after hydrolysis will produce a special spicy flavor, not everyone likes.
So, in Guangdong, choy sum has always stood at the top of the chain of green vegetables, laughing at the vegetable market. The only ones that can be compared to it are the kale and the oleander stream. Those eggplant, bitter melon and potatoes, here even the green circle can not be mixed in, and the vegetable heart is even worse than ten thousand eight hundred thousand miles.
In the northern friends can not tell the difference between kale and choy sum, Guangdong people have eaten kale out of flowers.
How do you eat choy sum?
Guangdong people are afraid of heat and humidity, so the most authentic way to eat choy sum is white burnt and in soup.
Scalding is a Cantonese cooking technique where raw food is scalded with boiling water or broth to maximize the flavor and freshness of the ingredients. Also, Cantonese people eat seafood and love to have it white-burned.
To get a good dish of white burnt cabbage, you have to learn to "give and take". The short section in the center of the dish, which is the most tender part of the dish, is the only one left.
To put them all together, thrown into the addition of oil and salt in the boiling water to roll, pinch a good 1 minute to fish on, spread on the ginger, drizzled with hot oil, is the most refreshing in the morning tea that dish of dim sum, simple and uncomplicated.
Chaosin in soup perfectly carries forward the characteristics of Cantonese cuisine, which is made of coarse materials. After dipping the broth from the white-cut chicken, add the skinny egg and shrimp, throw in a few handfuls of choy sum, and cook until the stalks are soft and collapsed.
Gently bite into it, and the vegetable juice and chicken soup instantly fill your mouth, making it a dish that's so fresh at a family dinner that you'll lose your eyebrows.
In the Cantonese menu, white burnt or on the soup, a plate of vegetable heart, are hard vegetables level existence.
The garlic cloves are flattened and blown to a golden brown and slightly charred color in the oil, and then poured into the heart of the vegetables and stir-fried with a fierce fire, often found on the tables of the stalls, which is very much what the Cantonese call "wok qi".
But because of the Cantonese obsession with green vegetables, choy sum is also often found as a side dish in other people's pots and pans.
On the street, when you ask for a pot of rice with its aroma and flavor, there will always be a few stalks of choy sum lying quietly next to the ribs in black bean sauce or preserved meats.
In the chilled cafeteria, order a plate of plate head rice, shiny and oily barbecued pork, roast goose next to, will also be sure to let you get tired of lying down with the vegetable heart.