How do we honor our relatives long gone?At this time of the year Christians places palm crosses on their graves for Palm Sunday. The Chinese have another tradition for a Spring holy day that honors family.Quingming or Tomb Sweeping Day is when food and family entwine.
Regular contributor and author of Made In Taiwan (Simon Element Publishing) Clarissa Wei wrote about this vry ancient holday day in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Quingming or Tomb sweeping day goes back 2,500 years as a Chinese folk practice.It's very similar to the Mexican tradition of Dios de Muertos or Day of the Dead on November 1st. It's celebrated on April 5th this year and followed by those of Chinese origin throughout the world. However the actual act of sweeping tombs is becoming obsolete thanks to tombs being phased out. Goverments across Eastern and southeastern asia have phased these opts pusing for creamtion instead there are columbarium, structures that can store thousands of cremation urns. Even though these structures are cleaned regularly , families still leave offering of flowers, fruit and homemade dishes. Years ago families would bring a whole roasted suckling pig to the cemetery to first offer to the ancestors and then feed themselves. Now it's much smaller offering with simple pots or plates of food. Some even leave fast food which is frowned upon because the ancestors would not like it. The sprits would be tortured according to Nancy Fam, a Malaysian Chinese.
Ms. Wei offers different recipes gathered from various families. She has sweet and sour fish from Gemma Lin. This is striped sea bass is wok fried after being marinaded in rice wine and stuffed with scallions and ginger.It's served with a zingy tomato paste sauce that also has white vinegar , soy sauce and ones birds eye chile Yellow bell peppers and cucumbers are also added. Cherry Tang whose uncles brought suckling pig to their ancestors' tomb has siu yuk or crispy pork belly .This is an eleaborate dish that does take two days to create. It's first boiling the cut in a mix of water, Shaoxing wine , scallions, star anise and ginger along with white peppercorns. This is left to simmer for an hour and then left to cool afterwards. The pork belly sis then rubbed with five spice powder, grown ginger and ground white pepper. This is left to sit in the fridge for eighteen hours and then roasted in tin foil in a 450 degree Farenheit.Nancy Lam gives us chicken rice with shallot sauce.This is boiling a whole chicken in a blend of ginger, scallions and water for twenty five minutes. Reserve a tablespoon of the broth . Put the chicken in a large ice bath and then prepare the sauce. This is a mix of shallots, jalapenos, ground bean sauce and sugar. Lime juice is added for some punch. The chicken is slcied and served over rice with the sauce.
There are many ways to honor relatives long gone. Tomb sweeping day is one of those, families honor those who came before them with good food and honor.
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