Chaoshan’s famous side dish---Ma Ye

Overview

Hemp leaves are the leaves of a unique kind of kenaf in Chaoshan. In the past, they were not eaten because Chaoshan people had to wait for the kenaf to grow and use the kenaf skin to weave ropes. Now no one makes ropes, so this hemp leaves are on people's dining tables. The top leaves of kenaf are picked and eaten when the kenaf is still very young. Therefore, this kind of kenaf will never grow large and cannot be made into ropes. However, the hemp leaves that are served on the dining table are rare and delicious. The hemp leaves need to be soaked in water to remove the astringent taste. I remember when I was a child, adults used home-pickled pickles to boil them first. There is no pickle water now, so they just use water and salt. It is a bit salty when stir-fried, but it is perfect for serving as porridge. It tastes a bit like sweet potato leaves and is a bit slippery after chewing. It is very healthy. Moreover, in the past, there was only kenaf, but now, there are white and green hemp. Three types. My favorite is kenaf, which is fragrant and sweet. It's a pity that it would be nice to be able to buy this kind of white hemp in Guangzhou. It’s also very expensive. 12 yuan per pound. It looks like a lot, but when done, very little is left. Shrunk. Ha.

Tags

• hot dishes
• chaoshan cuisine
• bean paste
• ma ye
• salt

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Prepare fresh hemp leaves and remove the long stems, leaving only the leaves.

   

2. 2 Wash at least 2 times with clean water.

   

3. 3 Boil water in a pot until half a bowl is enough. Add 2 tablespoons of salt.

   

4. 4 Put in an appropriate amount of hemp leaves. Hemp leaves cannot be put in all at once.

   

5. 5 Stir it with chopsticks and the hemp leaves will shrink into wrinkles.

   

6. 6 When the sesame leaves become wrinkled, spread them on top of the pot. Repeat this until all the hemp leaves are wrinkled.

   

7. 7 You need to add 1 tablespoon of salt every two times because the salt will be absorbed into the hemp leaves.

   

8. 8 And there will be more and more water. If there is too much, throw away some.

   

9. 9 After all the sesame leaves are wrinkled, use a cooking tool to press the sesame leaves to squeeze out the water.

   

10. 10 Pour away all the water that has been squeezed out, and use low heat to drain the water again.

    

11. 11 Take it out of the pot and put it on a large plate, flatten it with air or let it cool.

    

12. 12 After cooling, you can package it in plastic bags. Because I can't finish it in one sitting. Divide it into four small bags and put them in the freezer. Take it out and defrost it when ready to eat.

    

13. 13 When eating, put oil in the pot. I like to use lard, which is more fragrant. If you don’t have lard, you can use cooking oil.

    

14. 14 Smash some garlic slices and sauté until fragrant.

    

15. 15 Add sesame leaves and stir-fry. By the way, don't add too little oil like cooking, but more oil, as it will absorb oil.

    

16. 16 Add a small spoonful of Puning bean paste. It doesn’t have to be Puning bean paste. It’s just that Puning bean paste is more authentic.

    

17. 17 Stir-fry twice and serve.