Buddha's delight, often transliterated as Luóhàn zh?i, lo han jai, or lo hon jai, is a vegetarian dish well known in Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. It is sometimes also called Luóhàn cài (simplified Chinese: ???; traditional Chinese: ???).
The dish is traditionally enjoyed by Buddhist monks who are vegetarians, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available as a vegetarian option in Chinese restaurants. The dish consists of various vegetables and other vegetarian ingredients (sometimes with the addition of seafood or eggs), which are cooked in soy sauce-based liquid with other seasonings until tender. The specific ingredients used vary greatly both inside and outside Asia.
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Etymology
In the name luóhàn zh?i, luóhàn - short for ? luóhàn (simplified Chinese: ???; traditional Chinese: ???; pinyin: ? LuóHàn) - is the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit arhat, meaning an enlightened, ascetic individual or the Buddha himself. Zh?i (simplified Chinese: ?; traditional Chinese: ?; pinyin: zh?i) means "vegetarian food" or "vegetarian diet."
The dish is usually made with at least 10 ingredients, although more elaborate versions may comprise 18 or even 35 ingredients. If 18 ingredients are used, the dish is called Luóhàn quánzh?i (simplified: ????; traditional: ????).
In China, Hong Kong and Toronto, when served exclusively using only the most flavor-packed vegetarian ingredients, such as pickled tofu or sweet bean curds, it is known as tián su?n zh?i (simplified Chinese: ???; traditional Chinese: ???; pinyin: tian2 suan1 zhai1; literally "sweet and sour vegetarian dish").
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Tradition
As suggested by its name, it is a dish traditionally enjoyed by Buddhists, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available in Chinese restaurants (though often not including all of the ingredients) as a vegetarian option. It is traditionally served in Chinese households on the first day of the Chinese New Year, stemming from the old Buddhist practice that one should maintain a vegetarian diet in the first five days of the new year, as a form of self-purification. Some of the rarer ingredients, such as fat choy and arrowhead, are generally only eaten at this time of year.
Ingredients
The following is a list of ingredients often used in Buddha's delight, each of which, according to Chinese tradition, is ascribed a particular auspicious significance. As the dish varies from chef to chef and family to family, not every ingredient is always used in every version of the dish.
Main ingredients
Commonly used main ingredients
- Arrowhead (??; pinyin: cí g?)
- Bamboo fungus (??, pinyin: zhúsh?ng or ??; pinyin: zhús?n)
- Bamboo shoots (simplified: ?; traditional; ?; pinyin: s?n)
- Bean curd sticks (??; pinyin: f? zhú; also called "tofu bamboo")
- Black mushrooms (??; pinyin: d?ngg?)
- Carrot (traditional: ???; simplified: ???, pinyin: hú luóbo; or traditional: ???; simplified: ???, pinyin: hóng luóbo)
- Cellophane noodles (??; pinyin: f?n s?; also called "bean threads")
- Daylily buds (??; pinyin: j?nzh?n; also called "golden needles")
- Fat choy (traditional: ??; simplified: ??; pinyin: fàcài; a black hair-like cyanobacteria)
- Ginkgo nuts (traditional: ??; simplified: ??, pinyin: yín xìng; or ??, pinyin: bái gu?)
- Lotus seeds (??; pinyin: liánz?)
- Napa cabbage (???; pinyin: dà báicài)
- Peanuts (??; pinyin: hu?sh?ng)
- Snow peas (traditional: ???; simplified: ???; pinyin: hélándòu)
- Fried tofu (???; pinyin: zhá dòuf?)
- Water chestnuts (traditional: ??; simplified: ??; pinyin: bíqí)
- Fried or braised wheat gluten (traditional: ??, simplified: ??; pinyin: miàn j?n)
- Wood ear (??; pinyin: mù ?r; also called black fungus)
Less commonly used main ingredients
- Bean sprouts (??, pinyin: dòu yá; ??, pinyin: yá cài; or ??, pinyin: yín yá)
- Bracken fern tips (??; pinyin: jué cài)
- Bok choy (??; pinyin: báicài)
- Cauliflower (??; pinyin: cài hu?)
- Chinese celery (??; pinyin: qín cài)
- Other types of fungus, including cloud ear fungus (traditional: ??; simplified: ??; pinyin: yún ?r), elm ear fungus (??; pinyin: yú ?r), osmanthus ear fungus (???; pinyin: guíhu? ?r), snow fungus (??; pinyin: yín ?r), and yellow fungus (??; pinyin: huáng ?r; literally "yellow ear") See also: List of Chinese mushrooms and fungi.
- Red jujubes (traditional: ??; simplified: ??; pinyin: hóng z?o)
- Lotus root (?; pinyin: ?u)
- Other types of mushrooms, including straw mushrooms (??, pinyin: c?o g?), oyster mushrooms (??, pinyin: píng g?), and Tricholoma mushrooms (??, pinyin: k?u mó)
- Dried oysters (??; pinyin: háo shì)
- Potato (???; pinyin: m?líng sh?)
- Quail eggs (???; pinyin: ?n chún dàn)
- Shrimp (traditional: ?; simplified: ?; pinyin: xi?)
- Laminaria
- Cornflower buds
- Baby corn
Seasonings
- Chinese cooking wine (??; pinyin: huáng ji?)
- Garlic (??; pinyin: dà suàn)
- Ginger (simplified: ?; traditional: ?; pinyin: ji?ng)
- Monosodium glutamate (??; pinyin: wèij?ng)
- Oil (usually peanut, ???; and/or sesame, ???)
- Oyster sauce (simplified: ??; traditional: ??; pinyin: háo yóu)
- Pickled tofu (???; pinyin: dòufu r?; both red and white)
- Salt (traditional: ?; simplified: ?; pinyin: yán)
- Soy sauce (??; pinyin: l?och?u)
- Starch (??; pinyin: diànf?n)
- Sugar (?; pinyin: táng)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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