Snack Banquet
in Nanjing
Nanjing was the capital of
the
Ming Dynasty (1368 AD – 1644
AD) before the third Ming
emperor relocated his "dragon
seat" to Beijing.
Historically,
the region around the ancient city of
Suzhou had always been one of the major
sources and centres of the Chinese
civilisation, and more so after China was
invaded by the Tartars, which forced the
Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD – 1127
AD) to flee to the area south of the
Yangtze River and became Southern Song
Dynasty (1127 AD – 1279 AD). When the
Ming’s administration moved to Beijing
- by then a city surrounded with bleak
landscape and backward economy - Jiangnan
(the Yangtze delta area between Nanjing
and Hangzhou) had continually been China’s
economic and cultural centre. And it
still is today, with Shanghai replaced
Suzhou as the heart of the region.
The
districts along the Qinhuai River have
formed Nanjing’s commercial corridor.
As the old saying has it, that in the
spring, willows by the river were so lush
looked as though two streams of smoke,
while on the Moon Day night (15th
day of the eighth lunar month), thousands
of lanterns in all imaginable colours
floated on the water, making the river
shine like a fire dragon. And of course,
the shops, restaurants and sing-song girl
houses, that were so densely lining up
along the shores, spreading in the air
the inviting perfume of lady’s
cosmetics and the soft sound of bamboo
music and the tempting aroma of the local
snacks.
Nanjing
style snacks have long been famous, and
the snacks created by the chefs at
Confucian Temple (Fuzimiao夫子庙) were especially unique -
the flavours change according to the
weather and the season of the year.
Night scene
of Nanjing
Today the
snacks have become, arguably, the
trademark of the Nanjing cuisine. At the
Terrace with Late Afternoon Sun
restaurant (Wanqinglou 晚晴楼) in the Confucian Temple
you can even order a snack-only banquet.
A snack
banquet
Click on the image to
see the inlarged photo
Below is
the menu of a snack banquet:
Entree:
1,
Hawthorn kebab – a kebab features
five hawthorns, each of them filled
with either a green plum, red jujube,
walnut kernel or peanut;
2,
Prawn balls with tomato sauce;
3,
Steamed chicken fillet;
4,
Salad.
Main
Course:
1,
Eggs slow cooked in tea and five
spices (五香蛋) and broad
beans seasoned with five spices (五香豆);
2,
Fried radish pie (油炸萝卜丝饼) and spiced
hot tofu (豆腐脑);
3,
Steamed mixed vegetable buns (什锦菜包)
4,
Bean sprouts braised with spiced dry
tofu (烩卤干);
5,
Fried beef dumpling (牛肉锅贴) and a stew of
black dry fungus, dry mushrooms,
chicken shreds and sliced bamboo
shorts;
6,
Steamed buns filled with sweet red
bean paste (细沙包) and rice
porridge stewed with lotus roots (糖藕粥).
Finish:
a long
banana, meaning see you again (长香蕉=常相交)
Baked Sesame
Pie (蟹壳黄烧饼)
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