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Nor Mai Gai
Food+Drink (Guangzhou) / Creme de Canton
Written by : Ethan Zhou
Mar 11, 2008
Tags :
zongzi
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| A whistlestop guide to those tasty snacks with sticky rice and lotus leaves . . .
A brief history
Nor Mai Gai, or sticky rice with chicken wrapped and steamed in lotus leaf, is one of Cantonese's favorite breakfast dishes and dim sum. Yet, it also comes from Guangzhou as a late night snack but not a breakfast. Before China's Liberation, in 1949, late night snacks were already very popular in the city. People steamed bowls of sticky rice with chicken then sold them on the streets. It was not convenient for selling Nor Mai Gai in the bowls by carrying them on shoulder baskets, so the local barrowmen used lotus leaves instead of bowls to wrap the rice and chicken. These they steamed to keep tasty and fresh. It became an instant favorite with the working people. However, back in those days, the Nor Mai Gai was triple the size than nowadays and could be considered an entire lunch on its own. From the 1980s on, Cantonese restaurants promoted smaller-sized Nor Mai Gai, (which is a ... ... |
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