Chef Kar Delight

Qing Dynasty Imperial Kitchen Delights 2 of 2

2016/6/9

▲ The Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧

"Imperial Kitchen" was actually the abbreviated name of "Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" in Qing Dynasty.
"Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" included Imperial Tea Kitchen, Imperial Meal Kitchen, and its affiliated organizations.
Different organizations had different works. "Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" was responsible for daily meals and season celebrations of the Emperor.
According to records in ancient books, Imperial Meal Kitchen specialized in gourmet. selection from palace and offerings from everywhere; festive banquet, sitting with the attendant. Imperial Tea Kitchen was responsible for drinks, fruits and offerings from everywhere and sitting with the attendant.
Until Qianlong 乾隆 period, names and setup of organizations under Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen underwent changes. It consisted of Imperial Meal Kitchen, Tea Kitchen, Meal warehouse and subsidiaries.
"Imperial Kitchen Desserts" were dim sums prepared by Imperial Kitchen. Skillful chefs were hired to prepare meals for the Emperor. Although the imperial dim sums looked complicated, the ingredients were not obtained like delicacies from mountains and seas.
That time, common people were poor and materials were in shortage, they could not obtain the relatively expensive ingredients.
Qianlong loved Jiangnan cuisine, whereas, Cixi loved sweet dim sums.
Among so many dim sums, Cixi loved the most are 12 types: the first 6 types including Pea Yellow, Kidney Bean Rolls, Golden Cake, Chestnut Corn Bread, Dream Realized Cake, Doornail Meat Cake were already published in the first part; the last 6 types including Rice Rolls, Deep Fried Cake, 8 Treasure Cake, Deep Fried Triangle, Donkey Rolling, Rose Pastry in this part are now published.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 7: Rice Rolls

The Empress Dowager Cixi loved to eat Rice Rolls.

Method: Mix rice with flour, then add in hot water and mix well. Steam to cook.

There were many types of rice rolls, such as Stale Rice Rolls, Indica Rice Rolls, Japonica Rice Rolls. Either sweet or savoury. For savoury type, add Sichuan peppercorn and salt, 5 spices and salt; For sweet type, add mashed dates, red bean, sugar, peach seeds, or pine nuts, walnuts.

▲Sweet Rice Rolls: Red Beans + Red Sweet Potatoes

Sweet sauce: Brown Sugar + Ginger Juice

▲Savoury Rice Rolls: Sichuan Peppercorn + 5 Spices + Salt;

Taro + Peanuts + Sesame

Savoury Sauce: Anise + Ginger juice

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 8: Deep Fried Cake

Deep Fried Cake 炸糕 is nowadays a famous traditional snack of Tian Jiang. It together with GO BELIEVE 狗不理包子 and 18th Street fried dough twists 桂發祥麻花 are Tian Jiang trio.

The dough of Deep Fried Cake is made of glutinous rice flour and fillings are red beans. Deep fried with oil to golden brown and crispy. Give it a bite. You will see 3 colours: yellow, white and black. Yellow is the external skin; white is dough of glutinous rice; black is fillings of red beans.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 9: 8 Treasure Cake

8 Treasure Cake is differentiated into "Male 8 Treasures" and "Female 8 Treasures". This time, I prepared "Female 8 Treasures" loved by the Empress Dowager Cixi. It was evolved from "Male 8 Treasures" of Qianlong 乾隆. It was made of the Chinese medicinal materials for daily maintenance. In Qing Guangxu 光緒 6th year September, due to eating too much oily and spicy foods, Cixi got sick in the palace. She ate too much and became indigestive and vomiting, feeling unpleasant. The imperial doctors were worried. They thought that her sickness was due to weakness of spleen and stomach. They gave out a prescriptions of 8 tastes: Codonopsis pilosula 黨參、Semen Coicis 薏米、Poria 茯苓、 Gordon Euryale Seed 芡實、Lotus Seeds 蓮子、Atractylodes Rhizome 白朮、Lentil 扁豆、Malt 麥芽、Lotus Root Starch 藕粉, two taels for each, ground to powder. Add sugar and mix well with water to make a cake, named "Strengthen The Spleen Cake". Cixi ate this cake and recovered. She regained her appetite. She renamed it "8 Treasure cake” She ate this cake very often in her old age, keeping healthy and looking young. When she was 70 year old, she looked like 50 year old. She died at 73 years old which was considered long life at that time.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 10: Deep Fried Triangle

Deep Fried Triangle was leaked from Imperial Kitchen to common people when it was going to disappear. It became the snack of old Beijing. Dough was made by mixing flour with sesame paste and water. Knead the dough to disk, and add fillings, and form a triangle shape. Deep fry to golden brown. The outside was crispy and inside was soft. It was inferred that Samosa of Indian and Indochina was originated and evolved from Deep Fried Triangle.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 11: Donkey Rolling

In Manchuria, it was called "Bean Flour Roll". Donkey Rolling" was one of the ancient snacks of Manchuria and Beijing. The skin was made of glutinous rice, and filling was red beans. It was a traditional snack of Manchurian people. In Qing dynasty, it was listed as food of the palace. It now became a famous snack of Beijing. Due to the surface has a layer of bean flour, it looks like a donkey rolling on the ground and covered with dry soil.

Donkey Rolling mix glutinous flour and water to make a paste, steam it to make dough, stir well, wrap with cooked bean flour to make the skin, place mashed red beans and roll over, cut to small logs. It tastes like banana cake of Guandong. Dip in syrup that is made of brown sugar, ginger slices and Osmanthus fragrans 桂花 to enhance the taste.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 12: Rose Pastry

Pastry 餑餑 is the name of many types of pasta for the Manchurian people. The ingredients of pastry are millet, Amaranthus paniculatusL. and sorghum. When the skin of millet removed, it is called Big Yellow Rice; the skin of Amaranthus paniculatusL, it is called Small Yellow Rice; the skin of sorghum removed, it is called Sorghum Rice. These 3 rice will be grounded to powder for making different types of pastry. Rose Pastry belongs to one type of pasta. The fillings are rose.

According to history recording, Rose Pastry was one of the Qing Imperial Kitchen delights.

When Kangxi Emperor went for hunting at Chengde resort, he would enjoy this pastry.

Preparation: Remove the petals of rose and wash well, marinade and mixed with cooked honey to make fillings. The dough is made of flour and sour dough. The dough is layered and wrapped with fillings to form a round cake. It then is baked in an oven.