I think, if you go into the valley of Emei in Sichuan, choose a temple to stay. Watch the sunrise in the morning, watch the Buddha's light at night, enjoy the holy lamp in the sea of clouds, and wait for the Jinding to rise ... Complex feelings will be refreshed, stagnant blood will be smooth, and ideas will be clearer than before.

The night at the top of the mountain is quiet, even if there are occasional birds and insects. I have many associations, so I can't sleep. So wandering alone in the mountains for a long time gradually aroused a strong appetite. At that time, I really wanted to taste vegetarian food in the Buddhist temple. But in this case, it is impossible to find a place to eat because it is midnight, the road is hazy, the gate is closed early and the lights on the secluded path are lonely. So, I had to sit by a bamboo forest, holding a cup of semi-cold green tea and remembering the delicious and elegant vegetarian food in Emei, so that I could be a spiritual food.

It's not surprising that "Sangu 62" and "Tofu" in Emei vegetarian menu are also common in other vegetarian restaurants in Foshan. Only one vegetarian dish has aroused my interest, and this is the snow konjac pioneered by Emei monks. Sichuan people have been frying vegetarian dishes with konjac for nearly a thousand years. Sun Guangxian, a writer in the Song Dynasty, recorded in The Tale of the North Dream that Sichuan officials had already made various pictographic dishes with konjac and flour in the Tang Dynasty.

I remember the first time I saw this product, the first feeling was that this food contained the word "magic", which was naturally a bit strange. I have always been used to reading books before swimming. I used to know the origin of the ingredients in the food code-this Araceae plant has other terrible names, such as Snake Six Valley, Ghost Head, Ghost Taro and so on. Facing a plate of konjac, asking for details surprised me even more! It turns out that konjac is rich in alkaloids and toxic, and it must be treated with heated alkali water or lime water before it can be eaten.

I asked while eating, and suddenly I had some philosophical thinking. The process of making konjac tofu is rather bizarre-when dried konjac powder is boiled in a pot, people can't imagine adding lime water to make it fully absorb and expand, then adding rice flour and stirring evenly, and the juice becomes light brown "tofu" after cooling. Even so, Emei monks will continue to "temper" it, put konjac tofu under the ice and compact it, and finally become a delicious fitness food-Emei Snow Konjac. This kind of experience is quite like the poisonous demon in the mountain being surrendered, guided and trained by the wise, and finally becoming a good kind and being used by people. The vegetarian products made by konjac in Emei remind me of many causes and effects in the world ... When I thought of this, I suddenly saw a ray of morning light looming between the pine forest and the sea of clouds. I still feel full after a sleepless night.

Second, Dinghu Shangsu

"Eat in Guangdong" has long been an advertising word for people with tourist tastes. Later, I don't know who added, "Cantonese dare to eat anything." I have bluntly said that this statement not only has the feeling of "adding feet", but also reveals a relatively crude diet concept. It should be noted that any upright animal that dares to eat food is still like modern people?

During the reign of Tang Xianzong, Han Yu, who was born in Henan, made an outspoken mistake and was exiled to Chaozhou. After the new official took office, he found that Lingnan was still a wild place, and most of them ate ferocious and weird things, such as horseshoe crabs, oysters, toads and snakes. So, the old man ate some with trepidation and reluctance, endured the discomfort in his stomach, and wrote an article "The 18th Coordination Law of Southern Diet at the Beginning of the Year", which highlighted the fear between the lines: "The horseshoe crab is as real as Huiwen, and its bones and eyes are negative. Oysters stick together like mountains, and hundreds are born separately. Typha fish's tail is like a snake, and its mouth and eyes don't match. Zhang Ju vest column, fighting with strange self-introduction, the rest of the dozens, which is amazing. I'm here to resist the devil and cook from the south. The urine smells from Vietnam and the mouth swallows sweat. " This tough guy, who once served as the censor and later followed the rebellion of Pinghuai and Xixi in Pei Du, can't help sweating and blushing in the face of horseshoe crabs (Huiwen) like military commanders' official hats, octopus with snake-shaped tails and octopus shellfish with strange shapes.

Imagine, as a tourist who wants to see the beautiful scenery, it is strange to swallow these elves in his mouth. Can he feel the beauty of mountains and rivers calmly?

Therefore, I have traveled in the Pearl River Delta several times by myself, trying to find delicious food. A famous dish that I have been longing for for for a long time, but I have not been able to taste it so far, is the famous dish of Dinghu Mountain in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province-Dinghu Shangsu.

Dinghushan is one of the four famous mountains in Guangdong, the Qingyun Temple in the mountain and one of the four famous temples in Lingnan. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in order to let many pilgrims appreciate the unique delicacy of mushroom food in the mountains, the old monk in the temple cooked a vegetarian dish named Dinghu Shangsu with three kinds of mushrooms (namely, North Mushroom, Fresh Mushroom, Lentinus edodes, Snow Ear, Yellow Ear, Auricularia auricula, Osmanthus fragrans and Elm). After hundreds of years, this vegetarian dish has become more and more perfect under the continuous development and processing of many chefs, and now it has enjoyed a high reputation in many countries in Southeast Asia.

I swam in Tianxi, Yunxi and Tianhu alone for a long time that day, but I saw the dusk was heavy, the rain was swaying and the tourists on the mountain road gradually dispersed. I looked up at the mountain peak halfway up the mountain in Tianxi Scenic Area. A waterfall poured down from the cliff mouth more than 40 meters high and roared into Longtan. Bird's-eye view, trees and dangerous paths are hidden in the depths of Shan Lan. Where should we go next? Who should stay in the cold rain in the deep mountains? I asked myself silently, feeling very lonely and helpless, and suddenly I walked to the front of Qingyun Temple.

Spending the night in a mountain temple may be quite poetic. The wind blows the rain and leaves fall in the forest, and lonely night talk will not only remind people of the wonderful plots in ancient books, but also have a feeling of purifying their mood. A young chef who came here specially to learn the cooking method of "Shangsu" endorsed under the corridor and met unexpectedly. Facing the rainy night in the mountains, we made a cup of tea and talked softly. Under my question, he vividly introduced me to the process of doing "Dinghu Shangsu". ...

It turns out that cooking this dish is very complicated. First, blanch the tremella, osmanthus fragrans, Ulmus sibiricus, Huanger, fresh mushroom buds, bamboo shoots, fresh lotus seeds, silver needles and tender stems of green vegetables, then soak them in cold water, heat them in a wok, add vegetable oil, add "vegetable soup" and simmer the above raw materials for seasoning. After several times of blanching, draining, stir-frying and frying, tremella, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and fresh straw mushrooms are arranged at the bottom of the big soup bowl in turn, and then the remaining raw materials are put into the bowl. Then buckle the big soup bowl on the big plate to form an undulating mountain forest shape. When the oil in the pot is hot, evenly add monosodium glutamate, refined salt, white sugar, umami soup and soy sauce, then boil, shape the raw materials in turn, and sprinkle wet powder on the plate.

"When I saw the vegetables on Dinghu Lake are beautiful in color, fresh and tender, and full of fragrance, I remembered an old saying,' A hundred flavors are not as good as the original flavor'." The young chef said with a dignified expression.

It was not until the next day that I saw a vegetarian diet on Dinghu Lake. However, I don't know why, for several years, the name and practice of this dish have been deeply preserved in my memory. When I think of this, I think of the ever-changing smoke clouds between cliffs, the rain in the Zen forest and the lonely night talk, and I imagine the color of Dinghu Lake with relish. If I have the chance to go to Dinghu Mountain again, I really want to have a taste.