Lightly Steamed Dishes

Lightly Steamed Dishes

　　Located on the banks of the Yuan River, the city of Changde is renowned for its halal cuisine, which has long enjoyed widespread fame. Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong visited the southern regions and passed through Changde. He stopped at a Halal restaurant, tasted the halal dishes prepared by the chef, and was so impressed that he immediately wrote calligraphy to name the restaurant “First Spring of Halal Cuisine.”

“Halal cuisine” refers to the beef and mutton preferred by the Hui people. The culinary techniques of Changde’s halal dishes are unique in form, aroma, color, and taste. First and foremost, the selection of ingredients is strict, with the main ingredients being finely chosen—only fresh beef, beef tongue, beef tripe, and beef tendons personally slaughtered by an imam are used. A wide range of auxiliary ingredients are also employed, mainly including corn chips, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and eggs. Seasonings emphasize southern flavors, featuring ginger, scallions, garlic, chili peppers, pepper, star anise, pickled vegetables, and more. The cooking methods are also diverse, including steaming, braising, pan-frying, stir-frying, stewing, simmering, crisping, sautéing, deep-frying, mixing, blanching, boiling, roasting, baking, and marinating. Although “halal dishes” are all made from beef and beef by-products, knife skills and ingredient combinations vary, and cooking styles each have their own merits. “Silver Thread Beef Tripe” is distinguished by its fine knife work and perfectly executed cooking. The chef cuts boiled beef tripe, after removing the base, into fine threads, and similarly cuts auxiliary yulan bamboo shoots into thin strips. Fresh red chili peppers are deseeded and sliced into threads, ginger into fine strips, and scallions into sections. These are then stir-fried in a hot wok with clear oil until done, and served in a dish drizzled with sesame oil. The result is uniformly arranged beef tripe threads, snow-white in color, accented with red chili, green scallion sections, and yellow ginger threads, presenting a colorful, aromatic, and delicious dish. In addition, there are traditional dishes such as braised beef tendons, stewed beef brain, layered beef, spicy beef tripe strips, salt-blasted beef, stir-fried beef strips with mung bean starch, stir-fried beef tripe, steamed beef with rice flour, spiced beef tongue, braised beef meatballs, and cold tendon beef salad. Thanks to the chef’s careful preparation, these dishes take on a thousand vivid forms; their colors are rich and pleasing to the eye; their aromas are rich and enduring; and their flavors are delicious and leave a lasting aftertaste.