Introduction to Shangri-La cuisine in China

Shangri-La’s cuisine is mainly Tibetan style. Butter tea and tsampa are the main foods. Butter tea is the most commonly drunk beverage by Tibetan compatriots. Tsampa is the staple food often eaten in three meals a day.

This delicacy known as the “king of fungi” has an extremely delicate and delicious taste. It has very 苛刻 requirements for the growth environment and climate and only grows in the unpolluted virgin forests of northwest Yunnan and Nyingchi, Tibet.

Tricholoma matsutake gets its name because it grows in pine and oak forests and looks like antlers in the bud stage.

Tricholoma matsutake contains a lot of active substances that can activate the human immune system. For those who are relatively weak, it can improve personal immunity. It is also a rare edible fungus that combines taste and health care. More importantly, there is really a time limit for tasting its freshness. If you miss it, you have to wait until next year.

It is rich in many essential trace elements for the human body. It has low crude fat content and has multiple physiological functions. It can also enhance human immunity, nourish essence and qi, regulate qi and reduce phlegm, delay aging, prevent cancer and treat cancer, prevent and treat diabetes, etc. It not only has high nutritional value but also has important dietary and health care functions. It is a rare and precious edible fungus.

Shangri-La yaks are cold-resistant but not heat-resistant. They are strongly adaptable to the cold, humid alpine pastures and are suitable for extensive grazing management. They have strong foraging ability but poor training. They have a short and sturdy body. The body size varies depending on the place. Those in Niru and Geza areas are slightly larger, followed by those in Dazhongdian, Xiaozhongdian, and Dongwang areas. The yak meat produced here is delicious with a unique flavor, high in protein and low in cholesterol.

Yaks are rare semi-wild and semi-primitive animals living in the harsh alpine environment at the top of the earth without any pollution. Together with polar bears and Antarctic penguins, they are known as the “three alpine animals in the world.” The whole body of yaks is precious. In particular, their meat is known as the “crown of beef.”

In Shangri-La, yaks grow in the alpine region at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters without ecological pollution. Moreover, the natural pastures here are mostly composed of the stems and leaves of precious alpine medicinal plants such as Cordyceps sinensis, Fritillaria cirrhosa, Panax notoginseng, and Solanum lyratum. Therefore, yak meat is delicious with a unique flavor, high in protein and low in cholesterol.

Yak jerky should be eaten along the grain 一丝丝 ly. In this way, you can better feel the aroma, taste, and chewiness of yak meat. The elderly and children can eat it. It can be used as a snack or side dish for drinking. Eating it will not make you gain weight but also supplement calcium. It is nutritious, healthy and delicious.

Yaks are a special cattle breed formed through long-term natural selection and self-adaptation under the harsh natural conditions of high altitude, hypoxia, long periods of withered grass and ice-covered periods lasting about half a year. This harsh natural environment endows yaks with some unique characteristics, such as cold resistance, low temperature resistance, hypoxia resistance, and higher dry matter, protein, fat, lactose and mineral content in yak milk compared to other cattle breeds.

Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, as the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet provinces and autonomous regions, has vertical climate and three-dimensional ecological environment characteristics. There is the largest natural pasture in Yunnan Province within its territory. The yaks of Shengda Dairy freely and happily lie on ice and climb snow on Diqing’s own pasture of more than 9 million mu, eat Cordyceps sinensis, drink pure glacier water. This creates the pure and clean quality of yak milk. Yak milk has a mellow taste, a light milky fragrance, is delicious without a strong smell, and is rich in nutrition. Shengda Dairy adheres to ingenuity. For 12 years, it has been deeply engaged in the production and research and development of yak milk. Sincerely presenting everyone with nutritious, original and healthy yak dairy products, only to improve human immune resistance.

Tibetan fragrant pigs, also known as “ginseng pigs” and “potato pigs,” are a livestock and poultry breed. They are an ancient livestock breed resource unique to the western Sichuan Plateau, Yunnan, Tibet, Gannan in Gansu Province and Min County. They are the original lean-meat pig breed in Tibet and belong to the external grazing category.

Tibetan fragrant pigs that run in the wild since childhood generally grow up “drinking spring water and eating mountain delicacies.” The meat quality is very good.

Tibetan fragrant pigs have “six bests” in terms of quality: the highest amino acid content in meat products, the highest trace element content, the lowest fat content, the longest intestines, the thinnest pig skin, and the longest bristles. They are traditional ethnic delicacies in Tibet. The meat has high nutritional value, low fat content, thin skin, fresh meat and is not greasy. Tibetan fragrant pigs are suitable for slicing and smoking or stir-frying quickly.

Dishes made with Tibetan fragrant pigs: Steamed Pipa meat of Tibetan wild pigs. Pipa meat is a kind of meat product made by traditional pickling methods in Shangri-La. After slaughtering Tibetan fragrant pigs, their internal organs and bones are removed, leaving the complete body. After it cools slightly, sprinkle pepper powder, tsaoko powder, salt and other seasonings and white liquor. After gently rubbing, sew up the opening. Apply stove ash mixed with water or sesame oil on the sewing line. And plug the pig’s nose tightly with a wooden plug or corn cob to prevent insect damage. Then press it with a stone slab or wooden board and dry it. After drying, it looks like a pipa, hence the name “Pipa meat.”

The Pipa meat made with Tibetan fragrant pigs not only has the excellent quality of Tibetan fragrant pork but also has the characteristics of Pipa meat. It can be said to be a very special main dish. Steamed Pipa meat of Tibetan wild pigs has transparent meat color, delicious taste and unique flavor. It is an excellent dish for entertaining guests and for home use.

Nixi earthenware pot chicken, a delicious food in Shangri-La, Yunnan, is an old hen raised by Tibetans. Tibetan chickens are a natural green poultry, rich in nutrition and delicious in taste. The pot for stewing chicken is the black pottery of the thousand-year-old Tibetan handicraft in Shangri-La. Nixi earthenware pot simmered chicken is original in flavor and delicious. It is a rare popular delicacy in Shangri-La.

Nixi is a township in Shangri-La. In Tibetan, it means the place where the sun rises. It is also said to mean the place full of light. More than 2,000 years ago, here was a must-pass place on the old tea-horse ancient road.

In 2016, “Nixi earthenware pot chicken” was featured on the special food column “A Bite of China” of CCTV, making the audience’s mouths water.

Nixi chicken is one of the three famous chickens in Yunnan. It is the chicken with the farthest flight distance in China. At night, it will fly to the tree to sleep and is also called Nixi “flying” chicken. Nixi chicken mainly feeds on wild grass, pasture and insects on the mountain, supplemented by an appropriate amount of agricultural products such as corn and rice. The water source is all from the clear spring in the mountains, free from pollution and harm.

Tibetan fragrant chicken – “The nature of grassland chickens, the nourishment of black-bone chickens, the delicacy of guinea fowls. Taking the essence and gathering the great achievements, on the roof of the world, this chicken is bred like the Mount Qomolangma in the chicken world.”

Nixi chicken can see snow-capped mountains when looking up and drink sweet spring water when looking down. Living in Shangri-La at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, it is cold-resistant and hypoxia-tolerant. It can adapt to the local high-altitude and cold climate natural environment, making Nixi chicken tender and unique in flavor.

Butter tea is a daily essential drink for Tibetan people. It is necessary for life on the Tibet Plateau. Firstly, it can treat altitude sickness. Secondly, it can prevent lips from cracking due to dry weather. Thirdly, it can play a very good role in keeping out the cold. When it is cold, it can drive away the cold. When eating meat, it can remove greasiness. When hungry, it can satisfy hunger. When tired, it can relieve fatigue. When sleepy, it can also clear the mind. Tea leaves contain vitamins, which can reduce the damage caused by the lack of vegetables on the plateau. Butter tea is similar in color to thick cocoa tea. Take a sip of tea. The tea is very fragrant and the milk fragrance is tangy. It has a special aftertaste.

Making butter tea is simple and convenient: first pour earthy tea into the tea cylinder, add butter, salt and refined spices. Stir up and down repeatedly with a stirring stick until it becomes a milky emulsion. Then it can be poured and drunk. Drinking it, it has beautiful color, fragrance and taste, leaving an endless aftertaste. Drinking butter tea occupies a very important position in the dietary structure of Tibetans. Tibetan families drink tea at least three times a day, and some even up to more than ten times. Butter tea can not only generate a lot of heat and keep out the cold after drinking, but also have the functions of promoting fluid production and quenching thirst. Many people who have never drunk butter tea will find it difficult to tolerate the strange taste at the first taste. But after gritting their teeth and drinking it several times, they will truly taste its wonderful taste of full mouth fragrance and long aftertaste.

Shangri-La highland barley is a specialty of Shangri-La County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Shangri-La highland barley has an erect stem, smooth and hairless. The leaves are flat and long lanceolate. The lemma is oblong lanceolate and smooth. Shangri-La highland barley is sweet and salty in taste, slightly cold and not dry-heat. It has the functions of replenishing qi and strengthening the middle, nourishing the five internal organs and strengthening the stomach and intestines. It is no less than rice. Eating it for a long time can make the skin smooth. It can broaden the chest and lower qi, eliminate stagnation and promote eating. It can treat weakness of the spleen and stomach, indigestion, vomiting, etc.

When Tibetan people grow highland barley in Shangri-La, they generally do not use pesticides and fertilizers. Therefore, Shangri-La highland barley is one of the cleanest grains on earth. Highland barley has the characteristics of “three highs, two lows and rich in selenium” (high protein, high fiber, high vitamin, low fat, low sugar and rich in selenium). Shangri-La highland barley is a national geographical indication protection product for agricultural products.

Tsampa is the staple food of Tibetans. Tibetans have tsampa in three meals a day. Tsampa sounds fresh. In fact, it is roasted barley flour. It is roasted barley flour that is roasted and ground finely without sieving. It is somewhat similar to stir-fried flour in northern China. But stir-fried flour in northern China is ground after roasting, while Tibet’s tsampa is ground after roasting without removing the husk. When neighbors or relatives and friends come to pay a New Year call, the host will bring over “Zhuxuo Qima.” The guest grabs a little tsampa with his hand, scatters it into the air three times in a row, then grabs a little and puts it in his mouth. Then he says, “TashiDelek” (auspiciousness and happiness) to express blessings.

When eating tsampa, put some butter in the bowl, pour in tea, add roasted flour and stir with your hand. When stirring, first gently pound the roasted flour to the bottom of the bowl with the middle finger to prevent tea from overflowing out of the bowl. Then rotate the bowl and press the roasted flour into the tea with your fingers close to the edge of the bowl. When the roasted flour, tea and butter are well mixed and can be kneaded into a ball with your hand, it can be eaten.

Tsampa and butter tea are traditional Tibetan foods. Tibetans have tsampa and butter tea in three meals a day.

When visiting the homes of Tibetan compatriots, the host will definitely bring you fragrant butter tea and roasted barley flour with both hands. Butter is cream extracted from milk. Tsampa is powder made by drying and roasting highland barley and then grinding it with a hand mill. Industrious Tibetan people dry and roast highland barley, then grind it into fine powder, and thus make edible tsampa. When eating tsampa, first pour butter tea into the bowl, then add a little tsampa flour and continuously stir with your hand. A full mouth is full of fragrance and leaves a long aftertaste.

In Tibetan, tsampa means “stir-fried flour.” It is an important food for Tibetans. It is very simple to make. Dry and roast highland barley and grind it into fine flour. This becomes tsampa ready to be eaten.