Suan cai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suan cai
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| Chinese: | 酸菜 | ||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin: | suān cài | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning: | sour vegetable | ||||||||||
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Suan cai (also called Chinese sauerkraut) is a traditional Chinese cuisine pickled Chinese cabbage. It is used in a variety of ways. Suan cai is a unique form of pao cai, due to the material used and the method of production.
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[edit] Production
Traditionally, only Chinese cabbage is used to make the vegetable dish. Suan cai differs from the rest of pao cai in the production process in that the vegetable is compressed. This is accomplished by placing a heavy weight such as a large rock on top of the cover of the container so that the Chinese cabbage inside the container is slowly pressed and fermented. The compression of the vegetable helps to create a distinct flavor.
Generally, the cabbage is dipped into boiling water, then put in a container with cold water with salt. Suan cai is often used in cooking with meat, especially pork. It is said to neutralize the grease of meat.
[edit] Regional
[edit] Mainland China and Taiwan
In Chinese Islamic cuisine, suan cai can top off noodle soups, especially beef noodle soup.
[edit] Hong Kong
In Cantonese cuisine, it is served in a small dish often as an appetiser. They are usually free. Sometimes it can be available in mini-containers on the dining table. There are also Cantonese variations such as salted suan cai (鹹酸菜).
[edit] Northeast China
In Northeastern Chinese cuisine, suan cai are made from napa cabbage or head cabbage and has a similar taste with saurkrauts. As part of the cuisine in Manchuria, it is used with dumplings and boiled, or stir fried, and more frequently, it is used to make suan cai and pork stew.
[edit] Hot pot
In hot pot cuisine, it has been used as one of the ingredients.
[edit] Comparison
Suan cai is similar to a fermented-cabbage dish, sauerkraut, which is common in many northern European cuisines, especially German cuisine.
[edit] In Popular Culture
A popular sitcom and namesake song depicting lives in Northeast China Cui Hua Shang Suan Cai (翠花，上酸菜, literally "Cui Hua, serve the suan cai") debuted in 2001, and the phrase Cui Hua Shang Suan Cai became a popular catch phrase. Suan cai became synonymous with a person from Northeast China. A company in China registered "Cui Hua" brand packaged suan cai. [1]
