Jingpo Ethnic Group's Pestle-Tubbed Dishes

Last updated 2026-11-13 — Among the dishes of the Jingpo ethnic group in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, "pestle-tubbed dishes" are the most distinctive and have won unanimous praise from everyone who has tried them. The Jingpo people’s "pestle-tubbed dishes" can be considered an "evergreen theme" on the dining table. "If the pestle-tub doesn’t sound, the meal lacks flavor." Nearly every Jingpo household owns a pestle-tub, and every meal includes such dishes. Moreover, this cooking method can be applied to all kinds of meat and vegetable ingredients. Among the cooked methods, it is often used for preparing meats from livestock, game, birds, and fish—typically using roasted lean meat and bones that can be pounded. Popular choices include pestle-tubbed grilled green spotted doves, grilled eels, and sand loaches. Among plant-based ingredients, bamboo shoots like lila, bitter gourd fruits (both large and small), fava beans, and cowpeas can also be cooked this way. Raw pestle-tubbed dishes mainly feature vegetables, with rock ginger, ginger, horse hoof fungus, milk-white mushroom, heartleaf houttuynia, cowpeas, and fava beans being top choices. The main seasonings for pestle-tubbed dishes include fermented black beans, chili peppers, ginger, garlic, Chinese mustard greens, small sour eggplants, and wild coriander. The making of a pestle-tub is simple: a section of bamboo serves as the tub, and a wooden stick is used as the pestle. Pestle-tubbed dishes are served cold and are highly medicinal, especially refreshing in summer. For instance, horseshoe weed can clear heat, promote diuresis, detoxify, and reduce swelling; heartleaf houttuynia clears heat and toxins while draining water and reducing inflammation—offering disease prevention and treatment benefits. Many ingredients are originally herbs, generally providing functions such as clearing heat, invigorating the stomach, reducing inflammation, promoting urination, and detoxifying. Commonly known herbs like heartleaf houttuynia, bitter gourd fruits, and golden coin grass are also used as ingredients. For injuries like bruises or strains, ingredients such as acanthopanax can also be used. Pestle-tubbed dishes are very hygienic—all ingredients and seasonings must be washed clean. If adding fish, shrimp, or eel, they should first be roasted until cooked before pounding. (Dehong)