Preserved mustard greens
Mustard greens salted and then sun-dried, sold in dark brown bundles. It comes in two packets: the sweet kind is steamed three times over, darker and faintly sweet, and has its own record; the salty kind is never steamed and takes far more salt. Steamed fish and steamed pork want the sweet one. It must be soaked and washed first or it is both salty and gritty.
TCM properties
Nature · neutral Flavour · sweet、salty Meridians · spleen、stomach
Traditional food therapy
The tradition holds that it opens the appetite and cuts richness, which is why it sits under fatty meat.
Cautions: read first
- High in sodium even after soaking.
- Pickled vegetables carry nitrites; not an everyday dish.
Preparation
Soak for at least half an hour, rub and rinse repeatedly until no grit is left, then chop.
Origin
Huizhou and Meizhou in Guangdong are the old producing districts. Bagged at Australian Asian grocers; check whether it is the sweet or the salty kind
Availability in Australia
Easy to find