Recipes of Chinese cuisineChinese beanThe family is really big - these are mung beans, azuki beans, broad beans, peas, and many other species, all of which are used in some way in Chinese cooking. But none of the family of legumes can be compared in value with soya, which the Chinese call it - the Great Bob. And this is not an exaggeration - in the Chinese food system, soybean takes an honorable third place after rice and wheat. From its bean relatives, soy is characterized by a low carbohydrate content, but at the same time it is much richer in protein and oils, which in terms of dietary nutrition makes soya a democratic source of nutrients. After all, the content of protein and calcium in it is much higher than in natural meat or natural dairy products. The largest consumption of soybeans falls on the share of vegetarians, but people with other principles of nutrition eat soya in one form or another every day. Soy sauce alone, a seasoning that plays a key role in Chinese cuisine, is consumed in rather large amounts per capita. But there are still soy milk, soy flour, soy cottage cheese ... At the dawn of its history, three thousand years ago, soy was just a modest stepdaughter with wheat and millet. It was considered a kind of fertilizer that improves the nitrogen-poor soils to which the crops were sown. It took people a whole millennium to open the princess in this cinderella and understand her true nutritional value. A long soybean story, which has not ended, but is still being written today, has given the world many soybean varieties that can grow in almost any soil and carry almost any weather conditions. Like grain crops, soybeans are harvested when its seeds (beans) fully ripen, become dry and firm. Soybeans are divided into several main subspecies depending on the color of the beans: green, black and yellow soy. During the Zhou Dynasty (1050 - 256 BC), soy was named one of the five sacred grains, among which were wheat, barley, rice and millet. At that time soy was known as "shu" (shu), mature beans were fried and consumed whole, and also used leaves. But then soy was not considered a delicacy, at that time millet was considered to be the preferred grain, after it - rice and wheat, and already on the fourth place was soy. 
Initially soybean was grown in the northeastChina - in Manchuria, the spread of the rest of China was relatively slow. By the first centuries of our era, soybean reached central China, then - its southern provinces, crossed the border and took root in Korea. Shortly before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, soybeans were grown in Japan and Southeast Asia ... Soya contains unique full-fledged proteins that are almost as good as nutritional and nutritional value for animal proteins, an unusual oil that includes components close to fish lipids and a magnificent ensemble completely unique biologically active components, including the irreplaceable in nutrition of lecithin and choline, vitamins B, B and E, macro- and microelements and a number of other substances, and there are no cholesterol and lactose. Poche have it taken such a long time to notice and appreciate all these advantages uncrowned queen? There were at least two obstacles. First, the taste of cooked beans. Even after a very long cooking, soybeans remain stiff and bitter. Secondly, whole soybeans are poorly digested by the stomach. This fact explains why today in comparison with other beans, beans and peas, soya is rarely used for food in its entirety. Only after generations did people learn how to extract all useful substances from soya, and especially protein, but this required improving the methods of processing soy. And one of the first such methods was the receipt of soy milk. Soymilk is essentially a welded and syrupy soy bean. To this day in China, continue to receive this product in a simple "great-grandfather" way, except that it is sweetened or podsalivaya it. Soy milk, although it resembles cow's milk (or other animal milk), but the tastes are completely different, and certainly, in no case can soy milk replace natural, and even more so, maternal milk. Typically, in China, soy milk is served for breakfast. Another method of pre-treating soy, which improves its digestibility for the human body, is fermentation or fermentation. The first known in the history of fermented soy products are salted black beans. It was really a major achievement in human nutrition, which, moreover, allowed to improve the taste of soybeans. It is not known exactly how the discovery of this method was made - accidentally or not, but it happened in the period between 206 BC. and 220 AD. Salted black beans (in this case, black color - the result of the fermentation process), which are used today in Chinese cuisine, by the method of production very little differ from the original method, which originated at the dawn of our era. 
Fermented black beans werepredecessors to another unusually widespread soy product - soy sauce. In fact, soy sauce is their liquid equivalent. In China, there is an expression: "Without which a person can not do a single day - it's without wood, rice, vegetable oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea." Such great importance in everyday life of a person still needs to be earned, and the fermented soy in the form of a sauce is successfully succeeded. At least in the life of the Chinese people. If you buy soy sauce directly in China, then on a bottle with sauce you will see such an inscription - "Jiang you", which literally translates as ... butter sauce. But if you have ever tried soy sauce, you can say with certainty that it does not look like oil, and its structure is not buttery at all. To understand this seeming confusion, one must turn to Chinese history and Chinese etymology at the same time. The word "jiang" in ancient times called absolutely all fermented sauces, regardless of what product they were cooked from. However, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), the word "jiang" began to be called exclusively soy sauces. The word "you" in Chinese usually means vegetable oil, any vegetable oil. BUT ... The ancient sauce producers meant by this word what we know as an extract, an extract in a general sense. Thus, it turns out that "Jiang you" is not just some butter sauce, but a fermented sauce extracted from soybeans. The exact date of receipt of soy sauce is unknown. But history shows that already during the Song Dynasty, soy sauce was one of the most important condiments in Chinese cooking, it was during these times that the above expression for everyday things was born. And it is certainly known that the invention of soy sauce once and for all changed the Chinese cuisine. The process of obtaining soy sauce is very complex, it can take from six months to two years. It is worth remembering that the soy sauce is very salty, so if you are preparing a dish in which it is included, then the use of salt will be superfluous. By the way, for this reason salt in Chinese cuisine is of less importance than in other national cuisines. Soy sauce in Chinese cooking is often used and as a preservative. Daily eating soy sauce, the Chinese daily provide their body with riboflavin, vitamin B6, magnesium, copper, protein, iron, phosphorus, manganese and niacin. So, maybe it's worth following the example of wise Chinese and partially replacing salt with soy sauce? 
Soybeans are rich in protein, many beneficialвеществами и витаминами, но чего в них не хватает для исключительного набора полезности, так это витамина С. Впрочем, природа совсем не обделила сою этим витамином, только дала его не бобам, а росткам, которые, кстати, очень легко получить в домашних условиях. Способ проращивания сои следующий: берут глиняный сосуд (можно взять обыкновенный цветочный горшок или банку с отверстием в дне), где постилается кусок полотна. В этот сосуд помещается требуемое количество бобов, предварительно вымытых и замоченных в течение 6 часов в холодной воде, и сверху закрывается ветошкой для защиты от света. Далее бобы поливаются два раза в сутки, а в летнее время 3 раза. Зимой поливать хорошо более теплой водой и держать в теплом месте. Проращивание заканчивается летом через 3-5 дней, а зимой до 15 дней. Готовыми считаются ростки, когда они достигают длины 4-5 см. При употреблении семядоли ростков удаляются, они в пищу не идут. Слишком длинные ростки волокнисты и не столь питательны и вкусны. Ростки бобов идут в пищу как приправа к супам, иногда варятся в небольшом количестве воды с добавлением соуса сои или поджариваются. Из соевых ростков можно приготовить различного сорта салаты с разными приправами. Соевые ростки всегда предварительно обдаются кипятком. Тепловая обработка увеличивает питательную ценность ростков и, к тому же, делает их более приятными на вкус.Соевые ростки полезны в любое время года, но зимой они становятся практически незаменимы, особенно в тех регионах, где зимы продолжительные и холодные. Например, в районах северного Китая, где даже сегодня зимой бывает сложно достать свежие фрукты и овощи, соевые ростки помогают поддерживать баланс витаминов.Но сою выращивают не только из-за того, что это дешевый способ получить большое количество высококачественного белка. Соя – столь же хороший источник растительного масла. Соевые бобы содержат на несколько процентов больше масла, чем их ближайшие родственники, например, в горохе содержится всего 5% масла, а в сое – около 18%. довольно популярно во всем мире, в китайской же кулинарии оно занимает второе место после рапсового (третье место отдано арахисовому маслу).Как уже было сказано, китайцы обычно не едят соевые бобы целиком. Но это относится только к зрелым, высохшим на стебле и в стручках бобам. Зрелые, но все еще зеленые бобы, которые не успели высохнуть, могут употребляться в пищу в целом виде, поскольку более приемлемы для желудка, чем полностью вызревшие бобы. Но не все сорта и виды сои подходят для этих целей. Бобы, которые без ущерба для самочувствия можно употреблять в пищу, называют едамаме (edamame), словом японского происхождения. Едамаме жарят, тушат как обычные овощи, едят как закуску прямо в стручках. Пряная версия такой закуски (с черным перцем, чесноком и анисом) очень популярна в тайваньских чайных магазинах.Ну и, конечно, говоря о сое, нельзя не сказать хотя бы несколько слов о тофу, или доуфу, – соевом твороге. Подробнее мы поговорим о нем в другой раз, а сейчас лишь скажем, что доуфу окончательно утвердил сою в качестве одного из важнейших элементов китайской кухни. Ученые полагают, что первый доуфу был получен в результате добавления соли в соевое молоко. В китайской кулинарии доуфу играет ту же роль, что мясо и молочные продукты в других национальных кухнях. Любой китайский повар знает, как приготовить большое разнообразие восхитительных блюд из этого шелковистого белого творога.
Another amazing product, his birthdue to the ingenuity of the Chinese, - soy meat. When two Indian Buddhists arrived in China two thousand years ago and brought forth the doctrine of the virtue of fasting, they found grateful listeners in the face of the Chinese people. Meat in China was a luxury, and peasants rarely could afford it. It was on this basis that the great Chinese art of gastronomic deception was born - soy in the hands of skilled chefs can easily "turn" not only into meat, but also into fish. Vegetarian in China almost does not feel in some way infringed. He can, without remorse, enjoy delicious chicken legs or cutlets, knowing that there is nothing chicken besides taste in these cutlets. False meat is very popular in the east, in vegetarian restaurants and temple kitchens in China and Taiwan, it is one of the main components of nutrition. Soy in Chinese culture is not just a culinary ingredient, but also a medicinal product. About its medicinal properties, the Chinese learned almost immediately after they turned their attention to it, because one of the principles of Chinese cooking is the health benefits of any food you eat. Soy was treated with the heart, liver, kidneys, intestines and other organs. Compared with other countries, and especially with Europe and the Americas, the percentage of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and other diseases in China is much lower.
