I have heard from adults that amaranth and turtle can't be eaten together, onion and honey, persimmon and crab can't be eaten together. At that time, I was mysterious about the interaction between these foods, and I didn't see adults dare to try it easily.
However, in that era when meat and oil were scarce, it was almost impossible for a noble young man like a turtle to be worthy of a poor daughter like an amaranth. At that time, there was only one way to eat, vegetarian fried. As for the "shrimp or shrimp" prince mentioned by Mr. Yuan Lao, at that time, he could only be the dream lover of Amaranth girl forever.
Later, when I arrived in Chengdu, the poet Lu Zeming invited me to eat in a small restaurant in Yulin, and a "steamed amaranth with powder" was served in the middle, which made my eyes shine: I have eaten so much steamed pork with powder, but I really haven't eaten steamed amaranth with powder. Zeming said: Mix amaranth and fried Chili rice flour, add bean curd and duck oil, and steam over high fire.
I'm afraid the first one who yearns for and is obsessed with amaranth is the beauty writer Zhang Ailing. Zhang Ailing described that when she lived with her mother in Shanghai, she often went to her uncle's house across the street for dinner, and every time her mother would bring a fried fresh amaranth.
In Zhang's pen, this dish is rich in color and sexy: "In the season when amaranth is on the market, I always hold a bowl of amaranth with dark green silk, and the white garlic cloves inside are dyed light pink. Crossing the street under the skylight is like holding a pot of common unknown western potted plants. Pink flowers and serrated leaves also have dark red moss and green spots. Zhu Cui is super natural, but this flower is not fragrant and has no spicy amaranth fragrance. " Zhang Ailing's grasp of amaranth is definitely the level of a gourmet. She said, "It's not worth frying amaranth without garlic." Garlic cloves play the role of millet in this delicious food in the south of the Yangtze River.
Unlike Shanghai, our hometown Youyang is called amaranth spinach or fairy rice. The saying of POTAMOGETON crispus is very old. "Compendium of Materia Medica" said: "Potamogeton crispus was born in the south and fried in the countryside." Zhang's picturesque description of amaranth suddenly reminds me that when I was a child, my mother cooked amaranth for us and fried it with a little vinegar, which could make rice very red and fragrant. It is fun for children to dye rice red, which can increase their appetite.
Amaranth is not only a delicious food, but also a good medicine. Chinese medicine believes that it can clear away heat and detoxify and stop bleeding. I remember when I was a child, my mother would fry amaranth with vinegar and add more garlic than usual for me to eat, usually two meals. Wang Shixiong, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, has a "Resting Diet Spectrum", which mentions amaranth: "invigorating qi, clearing away heat and improving eyesight, slipping fetus and benefiting the large intestine." And mentioned several methods, such as steaming amaranth, amaranth soup, stewed amaranth and so on. The way to stew tender amaranth head is to add duck egg white and chicken soup to amaranth head, which tastes more delicious.
There is also a story in the book: Xu Dachun, a famous doctor in Gan Yong in the Qing Dynasty, once saw a man suffering from head wind and was in great pain. A countryman taught him to fry soup with wild amaranth, put it in a pot, and steamed it at the mouth of the pot with his eyes. He gradually saw the light and finally saw the light again. This shows that amaranth is cheap, but it should not be underestimated.
Amaranth is a common vegetable in the southwest of Jiangnan. Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine all have famous dishes. For example, there is a "red persimmon and green amaranth" in Sichuan cuisine, which is made of tomato stuffing and amaranth. There is a dish "Braised Amaranth with Crab" in Cantonese cuisine. The specific methods are as follows: wash amaranth, cook it in hot water, wash crab meat, add a little milk and egg white to make crab meat, cook cooking wine in an oil pan, add pepper and salt, thicken amaranth and crab meat, add milk at the same time, and sprinkle ham powder after serving.
There is a kind of "rouge soup pill" in Huaiyang cuisine: red amaranth is boiled and picked up, and the soup is drained before use; Chop amaranth, mix with minced meat or fish, add thicken powder, and knead into balls. Shepherd's purse soup is cooked in the meat oil in the pot, and then the meatballs are poured in, and the bowl is lifted up and down, which is unexpected for diners. I'm afraid this cooking method is the highest courtesy for amaranth.
Amaranth is a wild vegetable, and wild amaranth tastes better. Gu Zhong of A Qing Dynasty mentioned in Historical Records: "Grey amaranth, cooked food, stir-fried dishes and mixed vegetables can all beat home amaranth, which is suitable for those with fire certificate." Amaranth is actually divided into green and red, which are fried with sesame oil and stewed with broth, according to Xue Baocheng's "A Brief Introduction to Su Wen". This practice is also wonderful, because frying first and then simmering can make it fragrant and highlight the delicious amaranth.