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March 27, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Guizhou eateries satisfy sour and spicy craving

By Wu Huixin | March 27, 2014, Thursday | Print Edition

A delicious way to get to know about a remote area is to sample its classic dishes.

Some restaurants specializing in Guizhou Province cuisine that recently have opened in Hangzhou provide locals a chance to get to know the spicy and sour flavors of the southwestern Chinese province.

Unlike Sichuan cuisine, also noted for pungency, the peppery mouthfeel of Guizhou delicacies is mixed with a wide variety of ingredients, including mint and mujiang flower, a Guizhou herb.

The sour flavor of Guizhou cuisine is said to be linked to a lack of salt in ancient times in the local diet. Sour food ingredients were believed to substitute for salt to some extent.

But when talking about Guizhou cuisine, it is also necessary to mention the role of minority groups’ fare. Guizhou is a multiracial province with more than 40 ethnic minorities, like Miao, Tujia, Buyi and Bai.

Local gourmets have cultivated a tradition of pickling vegetables going back hundreds of years. Each household has a couple of vats filled with pickled cabbage, radish and other vegetables, which usually are served as appetizers.

Another feature of Guizhou food is the spicy dipping sauce made of salt, peanut sauce, shredded ginger, shallots, garlic, chilies, soy sauce, caraway and other seasonings.

Guizhou people often stew ingredients without any seasoning and then dip it in sauce before eating it.

Today, Shanghai Daily recommends three famous Guizhou dishes, which you can savor in local eateries.

Sour Soup

The ingredients in sour soup vary according to people’s own tastes and the seasons, but the soup should be made in a special Guizhou style.

Quality sour soups can be divided into a series of varieties.

The common kinds include tomato sour soup, which is made with tomatoes fermented in sealed jars with ginger, chilies, shallots and distilled white spirits for half a month, and shrimp sour soup, which is fermented shrimp sauce, chilies, rice wine and fermented rice that has been sealed in a container for several weeks.

A legend says a beautiful woman who was expert at making mellow wine attracted many admirers.

However, she said the wine would be aromatic only for her destined lover, but would become sour for others.

Many young men tried the wine but tasted only a sour flavor. At last, they left and turned the sour wine into a soup.

Where to eat:

• Qianwei Restaurant

Address: 8 Jinjiadu Rd

Tel: (0571) 8877-9377

• New Zhouji Restaurant

Address: No. 3, Shiwukui Lane

Tel: (0571) 8681-7810

Kung pao chicken

Kung pao chicken, which is diced, sauteed chicken with chili and peanuts, is one of the most common dishes in Chinese cuisine. However, there is disagreement about its obscure origin. Some say it belongs to Sichuan cuisine while some say it originated in Guizhou.

That controversy was derived from its creator, Ding Baozhen, who was a Guizhou native but served as a court official in Sichuan Province during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

It was said that at one time, Ding returned to his hometown in Guizhou and locals treated him with spicy chicken. The tasty dish left a deep impression on Ding and he asked what the name was.

In order to fawn on Ding, people told him it was kung pao chicken, which was named after Ding’s official title kung pao, a high position in the ancient royal court.

The auspicious name plus flavorful taste found favor with Ding. Later, Ding augmented the dish by adding more ingredients like peanuts and dried bean curd.

Where to eat:

• Hong Jing Yu Restaurant

Address: 535 Wensan Rd

Tel: (0571) 8893-1777

• The Second Chapter Restaurant

Address: 588 Gudun Rd

Tel: (0571) 8763-2191

Chang Wang Noodle

Some 100 years ago, there was a road flanked by grocery stores selling pork and organ meat of pigs in Guizhou’s provincial capital Guiyang.

In order to make best use of every part of pig, those shop keepers clotted pig blood into blood curds, and then combined them with pig intestines and chilies. Noodles and several spoonfuls of chicken soup were added to counteract its strong flavor.

Afterward, people named it chang wang noodles, which means intestines and prosperity in Chinese. The noodles are considered a symbolic snack of Guizhou by many.

Its pungent flavor is believed to remove excess moisture from the body and stimulate intestinal tract movements.

Where to eat:

• Lazhiqian Guizhou Noodle Restaurant

Address: 39 Yile Rd

Tel: (0571) 8751-5961

Hangzhou


 

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