As the old saying goes, "A year's plan starts with spring." Eating spring pancakes on the Start of Spring is a traditional custom to welcome the arrival of spring, symbolizing good fortune. The ways of eating spring pancakes vary, and today I will introduce them to you.
Five Blessings Spring Pancakes
Traditional Spring Pancakes—Seasonal Vegetables and Bean Sauce are Essential
When eating spring pancakes, besides the pancakes themselves, you must also pay attention to the choice of side dishes, dipping sauce, and accompanying foods.
1. Fresh and tender vegetables as side dishes: Spinach, yellow chives, bean sprouts, and chopped scallions are all the newest seasonal tender vegetables of spring. Add a dish of minced meat with vermicelli and eat it wrapped in the spring pancake for a perfect mix of meat and vegetables, nutritious and delicious.
2. Sweet bean sauce and scallions for flavor: Spring pancakes should be dipped in sweet bean sauce. As a fermented soybean product, it has a fresh and savory flavor and is rich in B vitamins. Additionally, shred some fresh scallions and roll them inside to remove any gamey taste, cut through the richness, and stimulate the appetite.
3. Millet porridge aids digestion: Besides achieving a balance between meat and vegetables, you should also consider the combination of dry and wet foods. Cook a pot of millet porridge to go with the juicy and soft spring pancakes for a nutritious and easily digestible meal.
Modern Spring Pancakes—Multigrain Pancakes Wrapped with Tender Sprouts
While there are many types of side dishes for spring pancakes, they share a common characteristic: they are all fresh, seasonal vegetables and wild greens. One bite and your mouth is filled with the taste of spring.
In addition to traditional options like spinach, bean sprouts, shepherd's purse, and mustard greens, trendy sprouts also make excellent side dishes. Stir-fried toon sprouts with eggs, radish sprouts mixed with dried tofu shreds, and cold-dressed pea sprouts, when rolled up, have a very fresh texture. Furthermore, purple cabbage, endive, lettuce, and bell peppers can be used as modern side dishes. Beyond the improvements in side dishes, the spring pancake itself can be enhanced by adding some multigrain flour to the dough, making a multigrain spring pancake that is even more nutritious.
Fashionable Spring Pancakes—Sweet and Savory Red Bean Pancake Rolls
Tired of traditional spring pancakes? Try my fashionable red bean pancake rolls. The main ingredients are spring pancakes, red bean paste, and walnuts. Cut the round spring pancakes into squares and steam them until soft. Chop the walnuts (toasting them first makes them more fragrant). Then, spread a layer of red bean paste on a steamed pancake, sprinkle on a little chopped walnut, and press the walnuts into the paste. Finally, roll the pancake from one side into a log and cut it into small pieces to eat. If you prefer it warm, you can steam it for another 2-3 minutes before eating. While traditional spring pancakes are savory and delicious, the modern red bean pancake rolls are sweet and flavorful—definitely worth trying occasionally.
"Biting into Spring" with New Varieties
Besides various bean sprouts, try some "fancy" sprouts like oil sunflower seed sprouts and goji berry sprouts for a delicious, fresh, and nutritious treat.
Oil Sunflower Seed Sprouts (for lowering blood fat and blood pressure), also known as sunflower seed sprouts, look similar to bean sprouts. They have a light sunflower seed flavor, a fresh texture, and a sweet taste.
Oil sunflower seed sprouts contain various minerals and vitamins and are very beneficial for lowering blood fat and blood pressure, preventing cardiovascular diseases, beriberi, and depression. They are also rich in unsaturated fatty acids, with more than half being linoleic acid, making them suitable for long-term vegetarians or those with a light, monotonous diet.
At home, you can eat oil sunflower seed sprouts cold-mixed with tofu shreds and shredded carrots, or use them as a hot pot ingredient or to make vegetable juice.
Goji Berry Sprouts (for clearing heat and improving eyesight) are the tender new shoots of the goji berry that grow in early spring. The goji berry sprout leaves are long and oval-shaped, with a slightly bitter taste but a hint of subtle sweetness and fragrance.
The components of goji berry sprouts are mostly the same as those in goji berries, containing many antioxidant substances such as flavonoids, catechins, and polyphenols. Eating goji berry sprouts in moderation can clear internal heat and improve eyesight, enhance immunity and antioxidant capacity, and help with anti-fatigue and softening blood vessels.
The stems and leaves of goji berry sprouts can be used in soups, stir-fries, or cold dishes, or they can be stir-fried and then steeped in water to drink. They are fresh and fragrant with the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal fire.
Sesame Sprouts (for delaying aging) become increasingly nutritious as seeds transform into sprouts. Their content of vitamin C, amino acids, linolenic acid, and sesamol increases, giving them strong antioxidant properties. They can keep skin soft and radiant, inhibit the formation of age spots and pigment spots, and delay cellular aging. Moreover, the large amount of active plant protein formed during the sprouting process of sesame sprouts aids digestion, is easily absorbed by the body, and is rich in calcium, making it suitable for children and the elderly with weaker digestive functions.
Sesame sprouts have a fresh and crisp texture and can be stir-fried, boiled, steamed, eaten cold in salads, or used in soups. They can also be paired with various vegetables to make sandwiches or rolled pancakes.
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