Author: Huang Yi
Litchi is the representative of the summer fruit in many people's hearts. The flesh is crystal clear, and the taste is clear and sweet. "If you ride a red dust princess smiles, no one knows that it is from lychee." Its wonderful taste, supported by many famous sentences left in history, has been recited by future generations.
Litchi "Feizixiao" produced in Haikou volcanic area. Photo by Yin Haiming
Hainan is the earliest mature producing area of litchi in China. Especially in the volcanic area of Haikou, there are two thousand years of litchi cultivation tradition. The volcanic fertile soil rich in minerals and the pure ecological environment make the volcanic lychees cultivated here taste delicious and nutritious.
Every year from the end of April to the beginning of May, the lychee trees in the Haikou volcanic litchi producing area began to turn red from green. Feizixiao, Litchi king, big lilac, white sugar poppy and other varieties were transported from here to all parts of the country.
The harvest of Haikou volcano litchi. Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of Xiuying District Committee of Haikou City
The lychee industry is booming, and various creative ways to eat lychees are constantly being developed. In Haikou, in recent years, it has become popular to put lychees into dishes to make a variety of creative dishes. Sweet and delicious lychees and compatible Qiong dishes have collided with wonderful sparks.
Litchi Dazhendui: the collision of tradition and creativity
The 42-year-old Huang Chuanjian was a 16-year-old kitchen chef and has been cultivating Qiong Cai for 26 years. He has hosted several sessions of Haikou Volcano Litchi Banquet. Since he came into contact with Litchi creative dishes 5 years ago, he has developed 40 or 50 kinds of Litchi creative dishes, skillfully using cooking techniques such as frying, frying, cooking, frying, roasting, braising, stewing, steaming, etc. to match Litchi with different ingredients , Creating many amazing litchi dishes.
Huang Chuanjian who is preparing dishes. Photo by Luo Yunfei
At the Haikou Volcano Litchi Banquet held every year, Litchi Dazhendui is an indispensable dish and a well-deserved protagonist. Zhendui, also known as Jiandui and Zhenbao, is a famous local snack in Hainan. Dazhendui, with a diameter of up to 40 centimeters, is often used in festive occasions such as weddings, housewarming, and Heshou, which means auspicious reunion and a house full of gold and silver.
The picture shows Litchi Dazhendui. Photo by Luo Yunfei
Litchi Dazhendui, the usual method of Zhendui is similar, but the difference is that freshly squeezed lychee juice is added to the ingredients, so that the fried sweets produced have a sweet layer of lychee.
Mix glutinous rice flour, lychee juice, water, and white granulated sugar evenly, and knead into a smooth and smooth glutinous rice noodle. When the vegetable oil in the cauldron heats up and the temperature of the oil rises to 70-80%, Huang Chuanjian takes a long chopstick to fix the noodles in one hand, and uses a long-handled spoon to tumble the noodles quickly and pour the oil evenly. It gradually expanded into a golden sphere larger than a basketball.
Break with a mallet when eating, tear off the skin with your hands and put it in the mouth, the aroma of lychee spreads in the mouth, sweet and crisp.
Chef teaches you to make creative litchi dishes
In addition to Zhendui, Litchi and Hainan ’s traditional dishes, dry pot with skinned yellow ox, steamed gentian, and fried shrimp balls can also be perfectly integrated.
Huang Chuanjian introduced the practice of "liguo small yellow ox": boiled small oxen from Hainan Qiongzhong area together with star anise, cinnamon and other spices for more than an hour, until the yellow beef is soft and glutinous and crispy, add lychee pulp, and collect the juice on fire flavor. Beef and sauce fully absorb the sweet and sour taste of lychee. The sauce is rich in flavor and has a unique flavor.
The picture shows the litchi creative dish "liguo small yellow cattle". Photo by Luo Yunfei
Gentian is also known as gentian grouper, and is known as the "king of grouper". Cut the belly of the gentian fish, remove the main thorns, place the lychee pulp under the fish belly, add the scallion and ginger and steam it. After it is baked, drizzle with the sauce of the lychee juice, it will make a delicious dish. ". The sweetness of lychee and the umami of sea fish are fully integrated, the taste is tender, fresh and refreshing.
The picture shows the litchi creative vegetable "lily juice steamed gentian". Photo by Luo Yunfei
Fresh sea prawns are peeled and peeled, whipped with lychee pulp to form a velvety, seasoned and squeezed into table tennis-sized shrimp balls, coated with corn bran and fried. The shells of the shrimp balls come out crispy, and the bite is full of lychee and lychee shrimp. A "five-star lychee ball" is crunchy and delicious, and it is very popular among children.
"Five Star Lychee Balls" rolling in the oil pan. Photo by Luo Yunfei
As a food ingredient for soup, litchi also has a wonderful effect. Huang Chuanjian introduced to us a soup-"Liguo Pigeon Soup".
Lao pigeon, betel nut flower, snail slices, scallops, lychee fruit are used as soup ingredients, and boiled slowly for two hours, and a rich soup with Hainan characteristics is released. The meaty, seafood and fruity aromas of various ingredients are a wonderful fusion of the original flavors, making this soup taste like tea, fresh and delicious, with a long aftertaste.
Huang Chuanjian makes a table of litchi creative dishes. Photo by Luo Yunfei
Huang Chuanjian made a dazzling list of litchi delicacies, with meat and vegetables, combined with cold and hot. The sweet and sour cuttlefish sweet and sour, the lychee cod rolls are crispy and delicious, the lychee braised fish gelatin is sweet and chewy, the lychee osmanthus cake is fragrant ...
He introduced the notes of litchi dishes to Xiaoxin, "The key to making is to put less sugar and use the sweetness of litchi to match in. The burning time should not be too long, otherwise the litchi will easily drain and become sour."
There is a nostalgic taste called fruit into the dish
Not only lychee, in Hainan, where there is plenty of light and rain, tropical fruits such as coconut, mango, lychee, pineapple, carambola, papaya, and dragon fruit can be added to the dish.
Whether it is meat, seafood, snacks, desserts, or dips, it is not difficult to see the existence of fruit.
The most well-known among them is "Coconut Chicken". Take fresh coconut juice as a base, add coconut flesh to add flavor, pour fresh chicken into the water after boiling, and serve immediately after 5 minutes. The fresh and stimulating sour taste accentuates the umami taste of the chicken at the entrance of the dip made of small green oranges. The mild and sweet taste is different from the Sichuan and Chongqing spicy hot pot.
Coconut chicken hot pot. Photograph by Hong Jianpeng
In Hainan, almost every household cooks several home-cooked fruits. Zhang Yan, a Hainanese who has worked in Shanghai for many years, especially loves "sweet and sour pineapple tilapia."
Stir fry pineapple, tomatoes, green peppers, etc. into a thick sauce, pour on both sides and fry the golden tilapia, a sweet and appetizing home cooking is completed. "When my family is not around, I try to make it myself, and every time I eat, I always remember the happy time as a child."
Hainan home cooking "sweet and sour pineapple tilapia". Huang Yishe
In addition, fried ribs with pineapple, braised chicken wings with yellow skin, fresh fish soup with carambola, and fried watermelon skin are all the nostalgic taste that many Hainanese can't forget wherever they go.
Hainan cuisine has always been inclusive and varied, and in recent years, various innovative "fruit dishes" have also been emerging. With a variety of fresh fruit ingredients, not only makes people shine, but also makes the index finger move.
Creative fruit dishes, from top to bottom, from left to right are "Passion Jelly Cake", "Peacock Open Screen Gold Pomfret", "Peony Banana Balls and Ice Grass". Photo courtesy of Huang Chuanjian
If Hainan ’s unique geography, history, and humanities are born with a unique flavor, then its flavor must contain a hint of fruity sweetness.
Food, like travel, is also a way to know the world. When you taste these fruits and vegetables, can you also think of Hainan, which has evergreen seasons and fragrant fruits?