Ruyuan Stir-Fried Rock Chives and Cured Pork 乳源石韭菜炒腊肉

Ingredients

Shijiu, also called Guanyin greens (观音菜), looks and smells much like ordinary Chinese chives but is larger, with a clear ridge down the middle of each long leaf. It grows in rock crevices by streams and mountain gullies. Nanfang Plus (南方+) reports that Shijiu Ridge (石韭岭), a 1,888-metre peak on the southern flank of the Nanling (南岭) mountains and the second-highest in Guangdong, is named after the plant. Farmers also grow it at altitude in Dongping (东坪), Youxi (游溪) and Bibei (必背) towns in Ruyuan.

The meat is Yao smoked cured pork (瑶家烟熏腊肉). According to the Liannan Yao Museum (连南瑶族自治县瑶族博物馆) heritage database, Ruyuan's Guoshan Yao (过山瑶) cure the pork left over from a home slaughter and hang it above the kitchen stove, where the smoke of the daily cooking fires turns it into smoked pork. The choice of firewood matters, since the wrong wood leaves a bitter or odd taste, and the fire must be lit every day. The result is firm, fatty but not greasy, and under the right conditions can keep for up to ten years.

How it is eaten

Locals usually stir-fry shijiu at high heat or use it as a filling. The stir-fry with cured pork is one of the more than ten dishes, distinctly Yao in flavour, of a 'shijiu banquet' (石韭宴), alongside shijiu pockets, dumplings, pancakes, egg rolls, a thickened soup and a stir-fry with mountain-stream snails. The Liannan Yao Museum notes that Yao households serve their smoked pork to guests, and that it is paired with stir-fried shijiu.