Gourmet getaway in Yunnan (10): Mustard with big stem (Child food)
What I call "mustard with a big stem" is a particular variant of "brown mustard" (Brassica juncea), cultivated not for its seeds used to produce the well-known condiment, but for its oversized stems, which constitute a unique and tasty vegetable. This plant is one of the ingredients that I discovered during my last stay in Dali, in the Chinese province of Yunnan.
Known in Dali as "ercai" (??[ércài], literally "child vegetable", this plant has the binomial name of Brassica juncea var. tumida, formerly B. juncea var. tsatsai. It is this plant which is sometimes used to make "vegetables in brine" (??[zhàcài]), sold in small sachets throughout China and often accompanying the rice porridge of Chinese breakfast.
Genetic selection has made it possible to produce this variety of B. juncea, which is distinguished by the hypertrophy of its stem, on which numerous globular growths are clustered. These growths vaguely resemble children clustered in clusters around their mother's body, which would explain the name "child vegetable" given to the vegetable. In Chinese, coarse mustard is still known under various other names (???[ch? osh? ngcài],???[wáwacài],???[bàozijì]). The outgrowth of the stalk is such that it is not uncommon to find plants which, when mature, reach the respectable weight of 3 to 4 kg, as can be guessed below in this photo of a Chinese peasant woman harvesting her "big stalk mustards" (the photo comes from the article that Baidu online Chinese encyclopedia dedicates to this vegetable here).
In China, this mustard variety is grown mainly in Sichuan province and the territory of the municipality of Chongqing, as well as in Yunnan.
Vegetables can be prepared in many ways: stir-fried, fried, in salads, in soup... In Dali, it is stir-fried with ham and sautéed with minced garlic that I had the opportunity to taste it.
The slices of mustard stalk, one or two millimetres thick, are tasty and keep a very pleasant crunchy taste under the tooth. The taste is surprisingly fresh.
Below, a portion of "child vegetable" stems sautéed with ham, eaten for dinner on 28 December 2017 at a restaurant in Dali:
(I interrupt here my series on Yunnan's cooking, which we only scratched the surface. The province is rich in places to discover and food to enjoy. I look forward to continuing my exploration of this province as soon as the opportunity arises.