Simple Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

A truly authentic Buddha Jumps Over the Wall requires the careful selection of dozens of precious ingredients and elaborate cooking to create this peerless delicacy that even the Buddha can't resist jumping over the wall for.

What is the origin of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?

There is an interesting legend behind the name of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. It is said that a monk smelled the aroma of this dish and couldn't help but sneak out and even jump over the wall of the temple. That's why people call it "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall".

This dish was first made by a chef in Quanzhou, Fujian during the Qing Dynasty for the nobility. Later, it gradually became a must - have dish at banquets.

What makes Buddha Jumps Over the Wall unique is that it uses a variety of precious ingredients such as sea cucumbers, abalones, scallops, etc., to simmer an extremely rich soup base. It tastes delicious with a rich texture, and can be regarded as one of the representatives of traditional "seafood feasts".

Instructions for Ingredients of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Sea Cucumber

If you choose dried sea cucumbers, they need to be soaked in cold water 5 days in advance. Change the water every day and store them in the refrigerator. Before cooking, blanch them with ginger slices and rice wine to remove fishiness. Their colloid can increase the thickness of the soup. If your budget is limited, you can use soaked pig tendon as a substitute.

Abalone

For fresh abalones, brush off the black film on the edge, then cook them in cold water with cooking wine until they are set. Take out the meat and keep the shells for plating to enhance the visual effect. If there are no fresh abalones, you can make cross cuts on the surface of thick - cut Pleurotus eryngii to imitate the appearance of abalones.

Scallop

Soak scallops in yellow rice wine for 2 hours, then steam them for 20 minutes until they are loose. Keep the steaming juice to season the soup. In an emergency, you can use dried small fish with oyster sauce as a substitute.

Shrimp

It is recommended to choose tiger shrimps. Make a cut on the back and remove the vein. Rub them with salt and coat with a thin layer of starch to seal the moisture. If you want a more visual impact, you can replace them with shell - on big shrimps and keep the heads to make soup.

Quail Egg

Boil quail eggs in boiling water for 4 minutes, then rinse them with cold water for easy peeling. Deep - fry them until they turn golden like tiger skin to enhance their juice - absorbing effect. Traditional pigeon eggs are more expensive, and you can replace them with halved eggs.

Pleurotus eryngii

Tear Pleurotus eryngii into thin strips along the fiber direction, blanch them and squeeze out the water. Fry them until they have charred edges. They can withstand long cooking times and look like shark fins. You can also replace them with Coprinus comatus, but you need to shorten the cooking time.

Stewed Bamboo Shoots

Fresh bamboo shoots need to be cooked in washed rice water for 15 minutes to remove the astringency. Dried bamboo shoots should be soaked in advance for 24 hours. When replacing them with water bamboo, pay attention to adjusting the order of adding them to the pot to prevent them from getting overcooked.

Pig Skin

Blanch the pig skin, scrape off the fat layer, and rub it with white vinegar to remove fishiness. Deep - fry it into crispy pig skin, and soak it until it becomes fluffy. When replacing fish maw, you need to increase the amount of pig skin to 150g.

Golden Soup Seasoning Package for Chicken with Chinese Prickly Ash

The salt content in this seasoning package is relatively high. Taste it before adding more salt later. You can make it yourself by mixing chicken broth with pumpkin puree to adjust the color, and adding Chinese prickly ash and white pepper powder to replicate the flavor.

Cornstarch Slurry

Mix cornstarch and water in a 1:2 ratio. Slowly stir it clockwise into the soup after turning off the heat until the soup becomes glaze - like. When replacing it with mashed Chinese yam, you need to cook it until it melts and strain it in advance.

Is this dish complicated?

My recipe is a simplified version. It's much easier to make than traditional Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. But if you make it in the traditional way, it's really quite complicated.

The traditional way usually requires several hours of simmering. It also involves more elaborate handling of ingredients. For example, sea cucumbers need to be soaked for a long time, and various seafood ingredients need to be carefully prepared. Moreover, the simmering time is particularly long to ensure that the flavors of each ingredient are fully released.

My method omits many cumbersome steps. I directly use the ready - made golden soup seasoning package for chicken with Chinese prickly ash and some ingredients that can be quickly simmered, which basically reduces both the time and the technical difficulty.

This simplified version enables more people to easily make it at home. It not only retains the essence of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall but also reduces complexity and long preparation time.