Eryuan County Dining
Eryuan is the palace of origin of Yunnan Erhai Lake. The culture of Bai nationality and the food of it is a highlight of the tour.
1.Carved Plum and Stewed Plum
Carved Plum is the traditional featured food of Bai people. It gets its name because people carved patterns on the fruit of greengage.Carved plum is not only a delicious food in the Autonomous Region of Dali, but also a carefully made handicraft. Eryuan County has been given the good name “Hometown of Plums”. Most of the local Bai girls are able to make carved plums when they are still very young. Whether a girl can make carved plum has also become a criterion of judging whether she is skillful enough. According to the local customs, before a girl gets married, she has to send gifts to her husband’s family as greetings. One of the gifts is a plateful of carefully made carved plums. At the first night of the newly-married couple, the bride has to serve fruits and wines to entertain the guests. Whether the carved plums are delicious and good enough becomes the topic of that night. Poets also take carved plums as the theme to compose a poem so as to add to the fun. There has been a poem singing for carved plums. The poet compared carved plums with chrysanthemum and orchid. He said the carved plums were in fact the celestial flowers which came to our earthly world.
2.Raw Hide
Cut the baked pork (mostly from the hip and rear lag) and pork liver into filaments, take onions, garlic, parsley, stewed plum, spicy noodles, soy sauce, etc. as the condiments, put the filaments in the condiments for eating. This is known among the people as “eating raw hide”. The custom is said to date from the period of Nanzhao Kingdom with a long history. The shredded meat with condiments wipes off the fishy smell and provides unprecedented fresh, tender and sweet feeling.
3.Milk Rushan in Eryuan,Dali
Rushan is made of the milk produced by local cows. It has a shape of a fan. Rushan does not only taste good, but is also nourishing. It contains many substances necessary to human bodies such as protein and amino acid. It can also regulate people’s lifeblood, soothe the nerves and strengthen the appetite, and thus is an ideal food to strengthen your corporeity and keep you fit. You can cook Rushan in different ways: fry, braise, bake, boil, blast, steam or stir-fry.
If you cook Rushan with meat and vegetables, you can manage some new and fresh dishes of Rushan. Raw Rushan is also edible. In the past when there were no highways among the high mountains in west Yunnan, transportation could only be done by horses. The horse drivers usually brought brown sugar and Rushan with them so as to ease their hunger when they are tired. All the visitors from home and abroad will taste Rushan and savor its special flavor.
The creation method is: After heat" the sour water" firstly, then ladle up the fresh milk to flutter lightly, it becomes the form of downy, then stand the thin slice with the bamboo chopsticks, dries by air on the bamboo. Because the shape likes inclined, it is called Rushan. The Rushan not only has the taste only, the nourishment is abundant, implies various materials of protein, amino acids...etc. that human body need, but also has the in harmony with spirit, blood and tranquilizes the nerves to cultivate mental calm, is good for the stomach to repair falsely etc. effect, it is the good product of the human body health to strengthen the physical endowment and promote.
The cooking method of the Rushan is varied, fried, steam, roast, very hot, fry, boil all can. Take the Rushan together with other meat or vegetables; you can boil to make a series food of various milk of a pleasant change of atmosphere. The Rushan also can eat without boiling, in the past, there weren¡¯t highways in Shenxi, the conveyance depended on horses, the people of riding horses often took the Rushan and brown sugar as the food when they were tired.
4.Pawpaw Chicken
Pawpaw Chicken is another famous dish in the culture of Bai nationality.Pawpaw is sour but palatable..In Eryuan,people often treat their guests with pawpaw chicken.This dish has some medical effect. It is good for treating rheumatism, gastritis and makes you calm.
