Jiangling Mixed Eight-Treasure Dish

Jiangling Mixed Eight-Treasure Dish

　　Jiangling Mixed Eight-Treasure Dish, also known as Eight-Treasure Rice, was originally created by Xiao Dai, a court chef during the late Qing Dynasty, specifically for Empress Dowager Cixi. It later gained fame when Xiao Dai, after falling on hard times, prepared the dish at Juzhenyuan Restaurant in Jiangling.

　　 　　Jiangling Mixed Eight-Treasure Dish is made by steaming glutinous rice, red dates, lotus seeds, longan flesh, honey cherries, melon seeds, osmanthus sugar, honeyed winter melon, and coix seeds to form a base, then stir-frying it with white sugar and lard. It has a glossy appearance, is sweet and moist, rich without being greasy, and sweet without cloying—often described by the saying, “Sip from a small cup, savor slowly; the lingering taste remains long after you leave the table.”