Hangzhou summer inspires new takes on old fare
A hot summer has inspired Shi Jun, head chef of the Inter-Continental Hotel Hangzhou, to create a new menu of refreshing and cooling Hangzhou dishes, and here is a taste of some of them.
• Iced lotus seed with lime Lotus seed is widely used in cooking porridge or dessert in China, but most people use dried seeds. Living by the West Lake, local Hangzhou people love to eat raw lotus seeds.
Shi buys raw lotus heads from a local market, peels the seeds off, cuts crosses on the seeds, and marinates them in salt water with lime for three hours in a fridge before serving.
• Water shield soup with fish Called “water shield”, or chun leaf, or brasenia schreberi, the palatable water weed is a favorite ingredient for a local soup in Hangzhou. The aquatic plant is believed to help reduce heat in the human body.
It is commonly cooked with minced ham and chicken, but Shi uses sole fish paste in the shape of flower, which makes the soup not only a treat to the tongue but also to the eyes.
• Fried beltfish Beltfish is a symbol of home cooking to Hangzhou people, but not a good idea for a business meal, as people need to use their hands to deal with the tricky fish bones.
To avoid the awkward scene at the dinner table, Shi removes the bones before frying, cuts the fish into bite-sized morsels, and serves them in the shape of a dragon boat.