你算哪顆蔥?—Scallion, Ginger & Garlic (I) (food)

Scallion, ginger and garlic, 蔥(cong)、薑(jiang)、蒜(suan4) are indispensable in Chinese kitchen. Not only do you see them in almost every course of Chinese cuisine, you hear them a lot as well.

When fighting with someone, for example, you want to say to him, “Who do you think you are” in Mandarin, just say你算哪顆蔥(ni3 suan4 na3 ke cong)? Literally it means “Which scallion are you?”

In a traditional market, 傳統市場( chuan2 tong3 shi4 chang3) , scallion is never really for sale (except after a typhoon when the supply of the greens is in short temporarily), but complimentary from the vendor to please the housewives. And on the dinning table, though seen a lot, it seldom plays the main role in a course. Mostly it’s of subordinate and minor status. This is my guess why we use this expression to belittle someone.

But scallion is also used as a compliment, for a woman’s fingers. When reading, I often encounter a sentence describing a woman’s long and slim and white and tender fingers that goes as 青蔥般的手指(qing cong ban de shou3 zhi3), green-scallion-like fingers. If you’ve ever seen a fresh scallion with its end and beads of stew on it, you know what it means. Too bad that I couldn’t find a picture of scallion with their ends. ( I’m moving tomorrow and my camera is packed.)

   (from foodsubs.com)

In my previous writing, “Obsessive with names and words,” I talked about how some food are associated with different meanings due to their pronunciations. These days when going to a temple of Wenchang Dijun文昌帝君, or God of Culture and Literature, to pray for their children to be blessed with luck in exams, many parents will prepare scallion as an offering, since the word 蔥 is a homophone of 聰, which means clever.

The most famous and expensive scallion in Taiwan is produced in 宜蘭, Yilan, which is called 三星蔥. The other day when I was surfing the TV and turned to TLC Chanel, I saw Janet, the host of the show “Fun Taiwan,” interviewing some scallion farmers in Yilan. She picked up a scallion and took a bite directly as the farmer told her. It was very spicy, according to her.

On the streets of Taiwan, you often see a stand selling 蔥油餅(cong you2 bing3), scallion pancake, with the scallion as the main ingredient. In my home management class in high school, the first cuisine our teacher taught us was this. You put flour, lard, salt together with the scallion, plus some labor of handling the dough and frying, you get a yummy snack.

 alina28.pixnet.net    

 oldout.com

According to the experts, scallion helps you sweat and get rid of your phlegm or parasite. It whets your appetite and prevents colds. When catching a cold, one of the remedies would be chopping up the white part of the scallion, adding some miso and boiling water and drinking it. It also works for a stuffy nose.  

You might not get cleverer by eating scallion, but you get fewer colds. And next time when someone says to you, “你算哪顆蔥?” You may reply, “I’m三星蔥, blue blood of the scallion!”

  

你算哪顆蔥=你算哪颗葱

蔥、薑、蒜=葱、姜、蒜

傳統市場=传统市场

聰=聪

宜蘭=宜兰

蔥油餅=葱油饼