Xin Erjinxian Dish 新二锦馅

Where it comes from

The original Erjinxian was included in the Chinese Recipes (中国菜谱) collection in the 1970s. The Hong Kong Commercial Daily (香港商报) calls it a well-known dish of Hebang cuisine (禾帮菜), the local cooking named after Hecheng (禾城), another name for Jiaxing. In 2025 People's Daily (人民日报) listed the new version among the Nanhu Eighteen Bowls (南湖十八碗), the 18 dishes that Nanhu District chose from nearly 100 candidates through public and expert selection.

How it is made

In the older dish, described by the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, minced lean pork leg is mixed with Shaoxing wine, salt, water and chopped bamboo shoot and stuffed into ten fried gluten puffs. The rest of the pork is mixed with diced grass carp and spring onion and wrapped in five squares of tofu skin. The tofu skin should come from Pinghu (平湖), where it is made by pouring soy milk into an oiled pan and is called fanci (饭糍). Ham slices and a shiitake mushroom go in the bottom of a bowl, then the five parcels with the ten gluten puffs around them, with salt and water or chicken stock. The bowl is sealed with paper, steamed for 30 minutes over high heat and turned out onto a plate, topped with blanched greens and finished with lard.

According to Zhejiang Online, Jiaxing chefs reworked the dish to make it healthier. The fried puffs are replaced by a smoother skin of country fanpi (饭皮). Carp (白花鲢) is made into a fish "gluten" wrapped around crab meat, with ginger and choy sum to take away any fishy taste, and river shrimp replaces the pork filling for a fresher, more tender result.