Yuping Mugwort Rice with Cured Pork 玉屏社饭

How it is made

Shefan is made in spring, when qinghao and wild onion grow along field edges and roadsides. Yuping county media followed a household in Yulu Village (玉露村), Tianping Town (田坪镇), where neighbours set out with bamboo baskets and small hoes to pick them. A villager with nearly fifty years of shefan-making behind her explains that only the tender tips are taken: plants that are too young are left, and old ones are bitter. The greens are washed several times, and this household also adds garlic shoots and leafy greens for texture.

Dried tofu and cured pork, both smoked over farm firewood, are cut into dice, and glutinous and non-glutinous rice are mixed and washed. Peanuts and soybeans are fried first in a large iron wok, then the diced tofu and pork go in; as the heat rises and the pork renders its fat, the chopped qinghao, wild onion, greens and garlic shoots are added. The fried mixture is stirred evenly through the washed rice in the pot, a few holes are poked through it with chopsticks, and the pot is covered and steamed for about half an hour. Controlling the fire is the test of skill: too fierce and the rice scorches, too weak and it does not cook through.

Where it comes from

The household cook moved to Yuping from Henan (河南) nearly thirty years ago and had never heard of shefan before she arrived. She learned to make it because her family likes it, and now makes it every spring while the qinghao and wild onion are fresh and tender, to keep up a dish learned from the older generation. When the pot is done, the helpers sit together in the courtyard to eat it.