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Taiping yan (Fuzhou peace soup)
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Taiping yan (Fuzhou peace soup)

Pork dumpling soup with duck eggs

In Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, no Spring Festival, wedding or homecoming feast starts without taiping yan, 'peace swallows'. The little dumplings flutter in the broth like swallows, and the duck eggs, ya dan, sound like the words for pressing down trouble, so the bowl is a wish for a calm, safe year. Fuzhou rou yan skins are made by pounding lean pork with sweet potato starch and rolling it paper-thin, which makes them silky and slightly springy, wrapped around a juicy pork and prawn filling. Making the skins is the hard part, so ready-made square wonton wrappers are a fine, easier option. Serve the soup first, a few dumplings and half an egg per bowl. Chef's tip: dust the pork-starch dough generously with starch as you roll; it tears if it sticks to the board.

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KapusniakSauerkraut and millet soup

Kapusniak is the sour, warming sauerkraut soup of western Ukraine, cooked through the long winters in Lviv and the Galician villages, when barrels of home-fermented cabbage stand in every cellar. Potato and a handful of millet make it filling, and a spoon of tomato paste and smoked paprika round out the tang. It is famous as the soup for the morning after a wedding or New Year party, and is often cooked with smoked pork; this vegan version gets its depth from a well-browned zazharka instead. Chef's tip: taste your sauerkraut first and rinse it only if it is very salty or sharp, because the brine is where the flavour lives. Common mistake: adding the sauerkraut together with the potatoes; the acid stops them softening, so let the potatoes cook first.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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