Steamed Yinchen

Overview

Among the spring fresh food, there is one delicacy that many people don’t know about, and that is Artemisia annua, also called wormwood. There is a legend about Yinchen. Legend has it that Hua Tuo was treating a patient with yellow tuberculosis, but he had no good medicine and could not be cured. After a while, Hua Tuo found that the patient suddenly recovered and hurriedly asked him what medicine he had taken. He said he ate a green weed. When Hua Tuo saw that it was Artemisia annua, he went to the field to collect some and gave it to other jaundice patients to try, but he tried several times without any effect. Hua Tuo then went to ask the recovered patient from which month the wormwood seeds had been eaten, and he said they were from March. Hua Tuo realized that in the third month of spring, the yang energy rises and the herbs sprout. Perhaps the mugwort in March has medicinal power. In the spring of the next year, Hua Tuo collected a lot of Artemisia annua from March and gave it to patients with jaundice. As expected, each one was better, but after three months, the Artemisia annua had no effect anymore. In order to find out the medicinal properties of Artemisia annua, Hua Tuo conducted classification experiments on roots, stems and leaves in the third year. Clinical practice has proved that only the young stems and leaves can be used as medicine to treat diseases, and they are named Yinchen. This is the legend of Hua Tuo’s three experiments with mugwort. He also compiled a song for future generations to learn from: "Yinchen in March and Artemisia in April", which should be passed down to future generations to remember. In March, wormwood is used to treat jaundice, and in April, mugwort is used as firewood. Yinchen has the functions of clearing away heat and dampness, reducing jaundice, promoting choleretics, and protecting liver. It also has antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, lowering blood lipids, lowering blood pressure and other effects. Around the Qingming Festival, wormwood is at its tenderest and most suitable for picking and cooking. What I’m making today is a home-cooked dish.

Tags

• hot dishes
• home cooking
• spring recipes
• flour
• light soy sauce
• sesame oil
• vinegar
• yinchen
• garlic
• salt

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Remove roots and yellow leaves from freshly picked wormwood

   

2. 2 Soak for a while, then rinse and drain

   

3. 3 Place in a large bowl

   

4. 4 Pour in some flour

   

5. 5 Stir evenly, then pour some more and mix well. Add flour three times in total so that each wormwood is covered with flour

   

6. 6 Use your hands to separate the wormwood stuck together

   

7. 7 Boil water in a pot, put it into a steamer and steam over high heat for 5 minutes, then open the lid, stir and steam for another 10 minutes

   

8. 8 Add salt to the garlic mortar, peel the garlic, wash it and mash it into a paste

   

9. 9 Put the minced garlic into a bowl, add oil, light soy sauce and vinegar and mix well to make a bowl of juice

   

10. 10 Pour the mashed garlic into the saucepan and start eating