Tongren Shefan (Herbal Rice)

Tongren Shefan

　　According to the *Tongren Prefecture Annals*, Shefan originated from rituals held during the She Day (a traditional festival for worshipping the god of earth). It is mainly popular in Tongren City. Local custom dictates that for the first three years after the passing of an elder, families must visit the gravesite for a memorial ceremony before Qingming Festival, known as "Guashe." Typically, Tongren locals use Sundays to gather relatives and friends for the grave visit, followed by a meal of Shefan. Later on, because the dish tasted so good, people began making and eating Shefan regardless of whether there was a "Guashe" event.

The main ingredients of Shefan are mugwort, glutinous rice, regular rice, wild onions, and cured pork. The preparation process is as follows: wash the mugwort, chop it up, squeeze out the bitter juice, then stir-fry until dry and set aside; chop the wild onions; boil the cured pork and dice it; soak the glutinous rice for 5–8 hours then drain; steam the regular rice in a pot. When layering the ingredients, do so in layers, and once the container is full, you can drizzle a small amount of the cured pork cooking broth on top. The resulting steamed rice is fragrant, has a perfect balance of stickiness and texture, is crispy yet tender, and is very tasty. It is believed to have benefits such as invigorating the spleen, removing toxins, and strengthening gallbladder energy, making it very popular among people. In recent years, people have also started adding peanuts, walnuts, and similar ingredients to Shefan, further enhancing its nourishing properties. (Tongren)