Introduction: The Mid-Autumn Festival falls during a time of beautiful flowers and a full moon, a day that symbolizes reunion. On this occasion, families and friends often gather. If you are preparing a family feast, you might consider the recipes we recommend for you. These dishes are very fitting for the season and are the top choice for a Mid-Autumn family dinner.
Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Crabs are Fat
Meitian's Recommended Crab Recipes: It's Time for Crabs Again
The hairy crab is an indispensable and festive dish for people in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions during the Mid-Autumn Festival. One per person, eaten with ginger and vinegar, is the best way to pass the time. However, as hairy crabs are considered a "cooling" food, it's best to pair them with yellow wine to warm the stomach. Drinking a cup of ginger tea after the meal is also beneficial for your health.
Recommended Dish - Steamed Hairy Crabs
Ingredients: 4 hairy crabs, 1 section of green onion, 1 piece of ginger, 1 small teaspoon of sesame oil, 2 small teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 small teaspoon of aromatic vinegar, 1 small teaspoon of sugar.
Instructions: Tie the crab claws and legs with string; wash and chop the green onion and ginger into small pieces; mix the chopped green onion, ginger, aromatic vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil to make a dipping sauce and place it in a dish; put the hairy crabs in a steamer and cook until done (this takes about 15-18 minutes); remove the string, place the crabs on a plate, and they are ready to be eaten.
The Most Traditional Mid-Autumn Delicacy - River Snails
The "Shunde County Gazetteer" from the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty records: "On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, taro and snails are eaten." Folklore holds that eating river snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival can improve eyesight. Analysis shows that snail meat is nutritious and contains Vitamin A, which is an important component of the eye's visual pigment. Therefore, the belief that eating snails can improve eyesight is logical. But why is there a special enthusiasm for eating them during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, the snails are "empty," meaning there are no small snails in their bellies, so the meat is exceptionally plump and delicious, making it the best time to eat them. Today, in Guangzhou, many families have the custom of stir-frying river snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Recommended Dish - Stir-fried River Snails
Ingredients: 500 grams of river snails, 1 tablespoon of chili sauce, half a teaspoon of salt, 4 fresh perilla leaves (cut into shreds and set aside), half a teaspoon of sugar, a little chili, 1 tablespoon of oil, a little minced garlic.
Instructions: First, clean the river snails, then use pliers to remove the tail end of the snail, and clean them again; heat a wok, add a little oil, sauté the minced garlic and chili until fragrant, add the snails and stir-fry together, then add the chili sauce, salt, perilla leaves, and sugar, add a little water and stir-fry until cooked, and it's ready to be eaten with a little sauce.
The Most Auspicious Holiday Dish - Glutinous Rice Lotus Root
To learn more about lotus root recipes, please see Meitian's special feature: "Healthy Autumn Eating - Skillful Ways to Cook Lotus Root"
Eating lotus root during the Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes reunion. Fill the lotus root with glutinous rice, then drizzle it with osmanthus honey. The fragrance of the rice, lotus root, and osmanthus is rich and delightful, making the family reunion feast a sweet start.
Recommended Dish - Glutinous Rice Lotus Root
Ingredients: 1 section of lotus root, appropriate amount of osmanthus sauce, glutinous rice, rock sugar.
Instructions: Peel and wash the lotus root; cut one end off the lotus root, stuff it with the washed glutinous rice, and cover it with the small piece you just cut off, securing it with toothpicks; add rock sugar and steam for 2 hours until cooked; slice and serve on a plate, then pour the osmanthus syrup over it.
Mid-Autumn Festival - More Than Just Mooncakes
Due to different dietary customs across the country, there are other foods besides mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. For example, in the Jiangnan region, people in Nanjing not only love to eat mooncakes but also must have the famous local dish, "Osmanthus Duck." "Osmanthus Duck" is available when the osmanthus flowers are fragrant, it is rich but not greasy, and delicious. After drinking, they must eat taro balls drizzled with osmanthus syrup, which is indescribably delicious. In Sichuan, besides mooncakes, people also make "ba" (a type of rice cake), kill ducks, and eat sesame cakes and honey cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Now, let's learn about other special delicacies of the Mid-Autumn Festival!
Osmanthus Wine On every Mid-Autumn night, people gaze at the cassia tree in the moon, smell the sweet fragrance of osmanthus, and drink a cup of osmanthus honey wine to celebrate the family's sweet reunion, which has become a beautiful enjoyment of the festival. Osmanthus is not only for decoration but also has edible value. In Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs," there are lines like "I grasp the steed's halter and pour the cassia wine" and "I offer cassia and pepper wine." This shows that the tradition of drinking osmanthus wine in China dates back a very long time.
Pumpkin In various parts of Jiangnan, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, wealthy families eat mooncakes, while poor families have the custom of eating pumpkin. Legend has it that a very long time ago, there was a poor family at the foot of South Mountain. The parents were old, and they had only one daughter named Huanghua, who was beautiful, smart, kind, and hardworking. On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Huanghua discovered two flat, round wild gourds in the weeds on South Mountain. She picked them, cooked them for her parents, and after eating, the elderly couple's appetite greatly increased, and their illnesses were cured. Huanghua girl then planted the pumpkin seeds in the ground, and the next year, they sprouted and grew many round gourds. Because they were picked from South Mountain, they were called pumpkins. From then on, every year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, a custom of eating old pumpkin with glutinous rice spread among all households in Jiangnan.
Taro Eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes warding off evil and disaster, and also signifies a refusal to believe in evil. The "Chaozhou Prefecture Gazetteer" from the Guiwei year of the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty says: "On the Mid-Autumn night, peeling and eating taro is called 'peeling ghost skin.'" Peeling and eating a ghost shows the heroic spirit of Zhong Kui driving away ghosts, which is admirable.