Food and Writings - Old Beijing Dukkha Eggplant
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"If you are looking around Beijing, there are one or two people in a hundred who know about this dish; many have never heard of it, let alone eaten it; and those who have eaten it seldom know how to make it, unless there is someone in the family over fifty who has eaten and seen it. and unless there is someone in the family over fifty years old who has eaten and seen the dish, but not all of them know the craft."
In the sixties and seventies, there was a shortage of food, vegetables, meat and daily necessities. Cui Daiyuan, a native Beijinger, has mentioned in his book "The Taste of Beijing" that people want to eat roasted eggplant in their homes, but they are afraid of the cost of oil, and a pot of eggplants should use half a kilogram of oil, because eggplants eat oil, and in the old Beijinger's impression, roasted eggplants should be more expensive than meat; and secondly, eggplants are a typical summer seasonal dish, and the kind of thin-skinned, thick, round eggplants originating in Beijing are black and purple with a shiny oil and are in season, and they are of course expensive. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on some of the most popular eggplants in the world, and you'll be able to do it in a way that's easy on the eyes.
After reading the whole book, I realized that in the memories of Beijing children about food that he wrote out according to the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, there was no description of "dukkha".
The article "Eggplant" in Mr. Liang Shiqiu's (1902-1987) book Yasha Talks About Eating successively introduces several ways of eating in the north, such as "roasted eggplant, simmered eggplant (dipped in vinegar and garlic), cold eggplant, eggplant box, and eggplant in deep-frying sauce", and there is no "Atsushi eggplant". "The first step in the process is to make sure that you have a good understanding of what you are doing and how you are doing it.
In addition, Cui Daiyuan "Dictionary of Eating", Wang Zengqi "Old Taste", Tang Lusun "Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Spicy and Salty", "Tang Lusun talk about eating" and other books, there is no description of it.
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As the old saying goes: you get what you pay for. The average person wants to eat roasted eggplant, you must go to the restaurant to eat. The old people do not believe in this evil, only two handfuls of soybeans, a round eggplant to solve this problem, Atsushi eggplant gradually evolved into a private dish not out of the house, in the hot summer, according to the seasonal old people to figure out the exquisite food, punctually appeared in the family table.
Duk eggplant, also known as Duk fresh eggplant, the dish is characterized by no oil, easy to operate, although it is a vegetarian dish but has a meat flavor, summer eating fresh and tasty, due to the cooking of the sound of gurgle gurgle, people called "Duk".
Reason here want to introduce, exclusive grandmother's private home, reflecting the old Beijing traditional home cooking practice.
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Back to the preparation:
"This is a memory y engraved in my mind as a child: a woman standing with her hands on her hips, a tall woman, my grandma, waiting next to the stove of a house in the city quadrangle.
In summer, when the midday sun filled the yard with heat, she was busy in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the family."
Hubby was making this dish at home while telling stories about his childhood. The fact that he could figure out the dish based on his childhood memories alone, all thanks to his ears, eyes and ears since childhood and the family's habits, Richie admired in his heart.
"Eggplant harvest season, so many eggplants, can change the pattern of burning delicious, is to spend some effort.
First of all, the preparation of materials, need to be a day or two in advance of the round eggplant cut into diamond-shaped pieces, eggplant skin down, scattered yards in the ventilation holes, steamed buns with the grate, placed in the sun underground drying. Sunny weather, sunshine half a day can be; cloudy and rainy days need to dry on a day or two. When the eggplant skin pumping, shriveled, water evaporation, hand feel pinch tough, take into the house to spare.
The preparation of ingredients, in the eyes of the elderly, but also to complete carefully, eggplant block to cut block with purple skin, attention is not froze big, froze tip of the triangle block (do not believe that you cut it into a triangle block try, guaranteed to be the old man threw his hand, all thrown into the colander, no negotiation, re-work).
Additionally, you need to half a day in advance, grab two handfuls of soybeans in a bowl with hot water, activate the natural activity of soybeans, and immediately move to the tap water pipe under the cool water, water and soybean ratio of about 2:1, the bowl rests in the house in a cool place, slowly soak out the wet soybeans, so that we can make the authentic taste of the tradition."
Husband slowly said, sanity on the sidelines can not stop nodding, learning, heart agreed.
On the Internet was able to check the video introduction of the production method, the use of dry soybeans, hot pan dry-fried or directly under the pot of water boiled for fifteen minutes, and then with the eggplant together with the cooing, seasoning. After watching it, reason unconsciously shook his head and inwardly expressed opposition to this practice.
You think ah, in the era of food scarcity, all the waste of firewood, waste of grain and oil, waste of ingredients, will be home cooking old people abandoned, and laborious, time-consuming home cooking, for the hands of the old people clutched a large amount of time, but it is a trivial matter.
The wilted eggplant can absorb the flavor of soybeans and seasonings, and the texture is still so soft and smooth; soybeans in the cooking process, due to soaking reasons, easy to cook and the flavor is easily forced out. If you use dry-fried or dried soybeans, the core of the beans is hard, as for the probability that it can be cooked through the flavor? It is questionable!