Pickled vegetable soup

Pickled vegetable soup

　　Pickled vegetable soup is a common dish in southern Shaanxi.

　　Its prevalence may be due to the wide availability of ingredients. Vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, radish greens, celery, cabbage, and rapeseed—all leafy greens—can generally be used to make this dish. Wild greens like shepherd’s purse, turnips, and wormwood are also naturally suitable and excellent ingredients for making pickled vegetable soup.

　　Pickled vegetable noodle soup

　　It has a unique flavor that is sour, spicy, and fragrant. Legend has it that the name originated when Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, and his minister Xiao He ate this noodle dish here. It has long been a beloved noodle dish among the people of Hanzhong. The best vegetables for making pickled vegetable soup are mustard greens (also called flower-pepper greens), though Chinese cabbage and celery can also be used. To prepare it, wash the vegetables, blanch them in boiling water until wilted, then place them in an earthen jar or pot. Add noodle broth and let it sit for one to two days until the vegetables turn golden yellow. Then, stir-fry the vegetables with cooking oil, salt, and chopped scallions, and mix them with diced tofu seasoned with garlic, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorn. This mixture serves as the topping. The noodles for pickled vegetable noodle soup must be hand-pulled to achieve wide leaves, long strands, and thin slices. Cook the noodles, place them in a bowl, top with the pickled vegetable topping, drizzle with spicy chili oil, and the dish is complete. It presents a colorful mix of red, white, and yellow, with a sour, spicy, and fragrant taste that lingers deliciously and also helps stimulate the appetite.