My recipe for my 2024 Chinese New Year's Eve meal
Located at the confluence of Jingzhou's Jiangling and Jingmen's Shayang, Changhu Lake produces a variety of freshwater fish along its shores, and people here make fish cakes after a bumper harvest. Changhu fish cake, also known as "Xiangfei cake" and "lily cake", is one of the traditional New Year foods in Jingchu. During the Chinese New Year, in order to pray for good luck and happiness in the coming year, the children of Huxiang often prepare some auspicious food. Kamabashi is one of them, which means "more than every year, step by step". It is often said, "There is no cake without a table, and there is no cake without a table." "Before the Chinese New Year, every household in Jingchu will prepare fish cakes in advance as one of the main dishes during the Chinese New Year.
In addition to the auspicious meaning, the taste of Changhu kamaboko is also very delicious. It "eats fish but does not see fish", the taste is soft and glutinous, salty and fragrant, nutritious, and it is a delicacy suitable for all ages. During the Chinese New Year, relatives and friends gather together to taste delicious fish cakes, talk about family life, and laugh and laugh, creating a warm and peaceful atmosphere for the New Year.
In addition, Changhu fish cake also has a certain cultural connotation. In the traditional culture of Jingchu, fish represents abundance and harvest, while cake means "high", so fish cake also symbolizes "annual harvest and rising step by step". Eating kamaboko during the Chinese New Year also represents people's wishes for a better future and good wishes for the new year. Here's how to make the long lake fish cake:
The first step is to prepare the ingredients.
The production of fish cakes needs to use more than 5 catties of fresh Changhu silver carp, if not, you can also use grass carp or grass carp, with refined starch, fatty pork, eggs, ginger, green onions and other seasonings. The specific recipe takes 500 grams of fish meat as an example: 500 grams of fresh minced fish + ingredients (150 grams of cooked lard, 50 grams of starch, 3-4 egg whites) + seasoning (5 grams of salt, 3 grams of sugar, 20 grams of green onion and ginger).
The second step is to make the kamaboko stock.
Peel and remove the bones of the Changhu silver carp, then chop it into fine shrugs, add egg whites and egg whites (do not lose the egg yolk, it can be used for coloring fish cakes in the next step) and stir until it is sticky, add green onion and ginger water and stir into a thin paste, add starch and salt, stir vigorously in one direction, stir until it is strong, add minced pork fat, and stir well into a fish puree. The bottom of the steamer (other containers can also be used) is smeared with oil or gauze, poured into the fish paste, smoothed and spread into a round cake shape into a green fish cake.
The third step is steaming in the basket.
Put the raw fish cake into the steamer and steam it over a strong fire for about 15 minutes until it is cooked and fragrant, open the cage lid, pour the remaining appropriate amount of egg yolk on the surface of the fish cake after making the fish cake raw blank before, then cover the cage cover, continue to steam for about a minute, and then turn off the fire when the egg liquid is mature, let the fish cake cool down naturally, take it out, cut the round cake into strips or pieces and save it.
The way to eat Changhu Lake cake is as follows:
1.Fresh. Fish cake is a cooked food with oil, salt, ginger and onion and other condiments, and can be sliced or cut into pieces after being cooled out of the pot, and the taste is fresh and fragrant.
2.Return to the basket for steaming.
Put the slices of the fish cake in a bowl or plate, then steam it in the basket until soft, and pour the minced pork sauce over the fish cake noodles in another pot to enhance the flavor.
3.Stir-fry with other ingredients.
Fish cake slices or strips, shredded and other seasonal vegetables, such as cabbage, leeks, radish slices, loofah slices, etc., are stir-fried and stewed together, the taste complements each other, and the dish is more fragrant and refreshing.
4.Make soup. Pour an appropriate amount of water into the pot, add the cut fish cake when the water boils, and add tomatoes or other vegetables to make the soup.
Friends, as a traditional New Year's food in Jingchu, Changhu fish cake has a white and yellow appearance, bright color, delicate and soft taste, elastic characteristics, very tender and delicious, and endless aftertaste. It not only means auspicious and delicious, but also carries the rich traditional culture of Jingchu's hometown. During the Chinese New Year, you might as well taste the delicious Changhu fish cake to feel the unique flavor and cultural connotation of the New Year. Have you ever eaten Long Lake fish cakes? What is the evaluation of this dish, please feel free to communicate in the message area.