Why do you eat dumplings during the Chinese new year
Jiaozi is a common food in our life. In particular, northerners eat dumplings during the new year. Why do they eat dumplings? What is the meaning and origin of eating dumplings in the new year? Let's have a look.
Why do you eat dumplings during the Chinese new year
Second, people expect to eat the unpleasant things that have happened in the past year, like eating dumplings, and pray for good luck in the new year. The third is to eat dumplings and pray for an early child in the coming year. The whole family Ding Xingwang means that the child is promising. In addition, dumplings have become the mascot of the Spring Festival because they are shaped like silver ingots. Eating dumplings during the Spring Festival symbolizes the meaning of "making a fortune in the new year, and the ingots are rolling in" and reposes people's good wishes of "Attracting Wealth and making treasure".
For the sake of auspiciousness and festivity, people put something in dumplings, such as red dates, which means to have a noble son early or get rich as soon as possible; Some put chestnuts, which means good luck; Others put in coins. Whoever eats them indicates who can get rich. Even the same kind of dumplings have different eating methods: Daur people in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang want to cook dumplings in vermicelli broth. Then eat soup and dumplings together; In some areas of Henan Province, dumplings and noodles are cooked together, called 'golden thread wears Yuanbao'.
There are also taboos on eating dumplings in the new year. For example, boiled dumplings can't say 'broken', 'rotten' and 'bad', but say 'earn' and 'rise'. These taboos have the moral of people seeking Jina Xiang.
The meaning of eating dumplings in the new year and the origin of dumplings:
Dumpling is a kind of folk food with a long history, which is deeply welcomed by the people. There is a folk saying "delicious but dumplings". During the Spring Festival, dumplings have become an indispensable delicacy. According to the records of Guangya written by Zhang Yi of the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, there were food shaped like crescent moon called 'wonton' at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of today's dumplings. In the northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton was' shaped like the Yan Moon, and the world could eat '. It is speculated that after the dumplings were cooked, they were not taken out to eat alone, but mixed with the soup in a bowl, so people called the dumplings' wonton 'at that time. This eating method is still popular in some areas of China. For example, people in Henan, Shaanxi and other places eat dumplings and put some small materials such as coriander, scallion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup. As like as two peas, the dumplings have been made to be the same as the dumplings they are now, and they are eaten separately on the plate. The Song Dynasty called jiaozi 'jiao'er', which is the etymology of the word 'jiaozi' in later generations. This kind of writing can still be seen in the later yuan, Ming, Qing and the Republic of China.
The Yuan Dynasty called dumplings' flat food '. Shen Bang's "miscellaneous notes of the Wan Office" during the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty recorded: 'New Year's Day & hellip; Make a plaque to eat '. Liu Ruoyu's "drink in the annals" contains: 'the first day of the new year's Day & hellip; Eat fruit snacks, that is, plaque food. " In the yuan and Ming Dynasties, the "plaque" of "plaque food" is now commonly known as "Bian." Flat food 'may come from Mongolian. In the Qing Dynasty, new terms for dumplings appeared, such as' Jiaoer ',' water dessert ',' boiled pastry 'and so on. The increase of dumpling names shows that the region of its spread is expanding. The folk custom of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival was quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Dumplings are usually wrapped before 12:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve and eaten at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating dumplings means "more year-old Jiaozi", and "Zi" means "Zishi", which is homonymous with "dumplings", which means "happy reunion" and "good luck".
What kind of dumplings are suitable for Chinese new year
1. Leek stuffing (also known as vegetarian three delicacies, which means peace)
The key points are the proportion of stuffing and seasoning. 70% leeks, 15% scrambled eggs, 15% water noodles; Seasoning: the best oil is mixed oil (peanut oil, pepper oil and lard oil account for one third respectively), the salt is one percent, and a small amount of pepper powder can be used without adding monosodium glutamate. Adjust and pack now. Don't pack it again after too long seasoning time. It's nutritious and tastes good.
2. Hemei stuffing (Hemei, Pingan)
Stuffing: cut carrots into shreds, blanch them, squeeze out the water with a clean cloth, and chop them with a knife, with a proportion of 60%; Water powder noodles are chopped with a knife, with a proportion of 20%; Squeeze the frozen tofu dry and chop it with a knife (the proportion is 20%). Seasoning: one is minced onion and ginger, the other is mixed oil (peanut oil, small mill sesame oil and lard oil account for one-third respectively), and the third is refined salt and pepper powder (poured with hot oil, and then mixed with the filling heart).
3. Pork stuffing (meaning great wealth)
Pork stuffing is best to use 50% streaky pork and 50% net meat. Slice it first and then chop it with a knife (don't chop it too finely). Stir it with water and soy sauce. 70% meat stuffing and 30% vegetables (carrots, green carrots and vermicelli). Onion (if you don't pack the filling immediately, please don't put onion) can be mixed with minced ginger, five spice powder, salt, cooking wine, chicken powder, monosodium glutamate, sugar, soy sauce, pepper oil, sesame oil, etc.
4. Mutton stuffing (auspicious)
Hydrolyze the chopped mutton with pepper and beat it vigorously. Mutton likes ginger. The proportion of ginger powder can be slightly larger, and meat accounts for 70%. Vegetables (carrots 20%, vermicelli 10%) accounted for 30%. A small amount of soy sauce, mainly seasoned with salt, pepper powder and sesame oil.
5. Beef stuffing (bumper grain harvest, six livestock prosperity)
The minced beef is hydrolyzed with pepper and stirred vigorously. Meat and vegetables are still opened according to 37. The dish is made of green radish and a small amount of vermicelli. The seasoning is basically the same as mutton.
6. Three fresh fillings (fish, shrimp and sea cucumber, meaning leading the business)
Soak the grass carp meat in salt water with scallion and ginger, squeeze the water, chop it into minced mud, stir it with scallion and ginger, dice the shrimps with a knife, and dice the sea cucumber. Season with salt, cooking wine, lard and sesame oil. Vegetables can be properly added with some brittle raw materials, such as horseshoe (water chestnut) or tender bamboo Xun, etc.
What do you eat with dumplings for the new year
Although dumplings are delicious, they are also unhealthy. Generally speaking, dumplings are mainly filled with meat, with more meat and less vegetables. Eating more will naturally feel greasy. Not only does it taste uncomfortable, but eating too much greasy is also extremely harmful to human health. Therefore, many people like to dip in vinegar to ease the pain when eating dumplings.
In fact, in addition to dipping in vinegar, we can also drink some healthy drinks that can remove greasy while eating dumplings, which can also get good results. There are many health drinks with degreasing effect, such as tea and fruit juice, but the most suitable match with dumplings is sour plum soup, a traditional drink in China. Sour plum soup tastes sour, but it is an authentic alkaline drink. Eating too much acidic foods such as meat and eating too much oil leads to blood acidification. Drinking sour plum soup will also help us maintain the balance of blood pH in our body. Moreover, the sour plum soup tastes sour, sweet and delicious. It is more suitable to drink with dishes than bitter tea and sweet fruit juice.