What is an essential dish for your family’s New Year’s Eve dinner? Many people might say it’s fish because there are fish every year. However, each family also has its own unique taste and unique dish. Even if it is not an expensive dish, it is loved by the whole family and is a must-have for the New Year's Eve dinner.
Minced pork with coriander, many people may not have heard of this dish. Even if most people can accept the taste of coriander, they only use coriander as a side dish to enhance the umami flavor, but they rarely use it as a dish.
When I was a child, I didn’t eat coriander either. I just felt that it had a strange smell, which was indescribably annoying. If there is coriander in the cold dish, you have to shake it off one by one before eating it. However, I don’t know when I started to like coriander. I still like it very much. I put a lot of it in cold dishes and put a lot of it in the sauce when I eat hot pot.
The first time I tasted this dish of minced pork and coriander was in ’s hometown in Tai’an. My mother-in-law’s house in Tai’an has a greenhouse where she sometimes grows coriander. At this time, when I walked into the greenhouse, there was a really strong smell of coriander, and it was sweet. There was no strange or unpleasant smell. Maybe I accepted the smell. One time during the Chinese New Year, when coriander was in season at home, I made this dish and fell in love with it ever since.
The general method of making this dish is: first stir-fry the minced meat (usually lean meat is used), stir-fry for a while, so that it does not feel greasy; add soy sauce, add coriander and salt when it is about to come out of the pot, stir-fry within a minute, then add vinegar immediately and take it out. The soul of this dish is the vinegar at the end.
This dish is really unique during the Chinese New Year. It is not greasy at all and is very appetizing. The best way to eat this dish is Shandong pancakes rolled up and eaten. You can eat several of them before you know it.
I was thinking that this dish is served every year and festival, and the big fish and meat are all leftover from one meal to the next, but this dish is really eaten up every time, not only as pancakes, but also as a side dish with porridge and white rice. However, for people who can't tolerate the taste of coriander, they don't know what this dish is like.
I heard from my husband that this dish they grew up eating is really the taste of their childhood. After so many years, the preparation of this dish is still the same simple, but the taste is still the same delicious. If I have to say something has changed about this dish, it might be that the conditions are better now and more meat is added.
What is the most unique dish at your family’s New Year’s Eve dinner? So what is the essential dish?
minced pork with coriander
