Zha cai is a type of
pickledPickling, also known as brining or corning, is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar . The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste...
mustard plantMustards are several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis whose small mustard seeds are used as a spice and, by grinding and mixing them with water, vinegar or other liquids, are turned into the condiment known as mustard...
stem originating from
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. Other
transliterationTransliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
s might include
cha tsai,
tsa tsai (from
Mandarin ChineseStandard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, known by various names to native speakers, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan, and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
); or
jar choy,
jar choi,
ja choi,
ja choy, or
cha tsoi (from Cantonese). In English, it is commonly known as
Sichuan vegetable,
Szechwan vegetable, or
Chinese pickled vegetable (although all of these terms may also refer to any of a number of other Chinese pickles), including the several other types in the Sichuan province itself.
The pickle is made from the knobby, fist-sized, swollen green stem of
Brassica junceaBrassica juncea, also known as mustard greens, Indian mustard and leaf mustard, is a species of mustard plant. Sub-varieties include Southern Giant Curled Mustard, which resembles a headless cabbage such as Kale, but with a distinct horseradish-mustard flavor...
, subspecies
tatsai.
Zha cai is a type of
pickledPickling, also known as brining or corning, is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar . The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste...
mustard plantMustards are several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis whose small mustard seeds are used as a spice and, by grinding and mixing them with water, vinegar or other liquids, are turned into the condiment known as mustard...
stem originating from
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. Other
transliterationTransliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
s might include
cha tsai,
tsa tsai (from
Mandarin ChineseStandard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, known by various names to native speakers, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan, and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
); or
jar choy,
jar choi,
ja choi,
ja choy, or
cha tsoi (from Cantonese). In English, it is commonly known as
Sichuan vegetable,
Szechwan vegetable, or
Chinese pickled vegetable (although all of these terms may also refer to any of a number of other Chinese pickles), including the several other types in the Sichuan province itself.
The pickle is made from the knobby, fist-sized, swollen green stem of
Brassica junceaBrassica juncea, also known as mustard greens, Indian mustard and leaf mustard, is a species of mustard plant. Sub-varieties include Southern Giant Curled Mustard, which resembles a headless cabbage such as Kale, but with a distinct horseradish-mustard flavor...
, subspecies
tatsai. The stem is first salted, pressed, and dried before being rubbed with hot red
chiliChili pepper is the vegetable of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Botanically speaking, the fruit of capsicums are berries...
paste and allowed to
fermentFermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. A more restricted definition of fermentation is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...
in an
earthenwareEarthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects. Although body formulations vary between countries, and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15% feldspar. Earthenware is...
jar. This preservation process is similar to that used to produce Korean
kimchiKimchi , also spelled gimchi, kimchee, or kim chee, is any one of numerous traditional Korean pickled dishes made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Its most common manifestation is the spicy baechu variety. Kimchi is the most common banchan, or side dish...
.
The taste is a combination of spicy, sour, and salty, while the aroma is similar to
sauerkrautSauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid that forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars in...
with hot chili paste. Its unique texture—crunchy, yet tender—can only be vaguely compared to Western
pickled cucumberA pickled cucumber, most often simply called a pickle in the United States and Canada, is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solutions and left to ferment for a period of time...
s.
Zha cai is generally washed prior to use in order to remove the chili paste and excess salt coating the preserved vegetable. Depending on the region and the brand, the flavor can be on the sweet, spicy, salty, or sour side.
Uses
Although originating in Sichuan,
zha cai is also used frequently in the cuisines of southern China, particularly in a soup made with ground pork and
mifenRice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water. However, sometimes other ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are also added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodles.Rice noodles...
, and also as a condiment added to
rice congeeRice congee is a type of rice porridge that is eaten in many Asian countries. The word congee is possibly derived from the Dravidian language Tamil word kanji....
. It is generally sliced into thin strips and used in small amounts due to its extreme saltiness, although this saltiness can be tempered somewhat by soaking the strips in water prior to use.
A popular Chinese dish featuring
zha cai is "Noodles with
Zha Cai and Shredded Pork" (榨菜肉絲麵;
zhà cài ròusī miàn).
Zha cai is also an ingredient of
ci fan tuanCí fàn tuán is a kind of food in Chinese cuisine, originated in Shanghai. It is made by tightly wrapping a piece of youtiao with glutinous rice. It is usually eaten as breakfast together with sweetened or savory soy milk in Eastern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.In Hong Kong, it is usually known as...
, a popular dish in
Shanghai cuisineShanghai cuisine , also known as Hu cai is a popular style of Chinese cuisine.- Cuisine :Shanghai does not have a definitive cuisine of its own, but modifies those of the surrounding provinces . What can be called Shanghai cuisine is epitomized by the use of alcohol...
.
In Japan, the pickle is common in Chinese restaurants (though it is usually less spicy, to suit Japanese tastes), and it is transliterated into Japanese as
zāsai (katakana: ザーサイ; kanji: 搾菜).
See also
- Tianjin preserved vegetable
Tianjin preserved vegetable is a type of pickled Chinese cabbage originating in Tianjin, China. It consists of finely chopped Tianjin cabbage ; a variety of Chinese cabbage with an elongated shape) and salt...
- Suan cai
Suan cai is a traditional Chinese cuisine pickled Chinese cabbage. It is used in a variety of ways. Suan cai is a unique form of pao cai, due to the material used and the method of production.-Production:...
- Pao cai
Pao cai is a type of pickle, usually pickled cabbage, often found in Chinese, and particularly Sichuanese cuisine. It is most common to northern and western China; however, there is also a unique form of pao cai, called suan cai, which is prominent in Northeast China.Chinese pao cai closely...
- Meigan cai
Meigan cai is a type of dry pickled Chinese mustard of the Hakka people from Shaoxing , China....