Guilin Pingle Eighteen Stuffed Dishes

Guilin Pingle Eighteen Stuffed Dishes are the "epitome" of Guilin's food culture, known as a "treasure chest on the tongue." The term "eighteen stuffed dishes" doesn't refer to a fixed 18 types but a series of dishes made by the "stuffing" method, commonly including stuffed tofu, stuffed chili peppers, stuffed eggplants, stuffed bitter melons, stuffed bamboo shoots, etc. The core method is to mince pork, fish, or tofu, mix with ingredients like scallions, water chestnuts, and mushrooms to form a filling, stuff it into hollowed-out vegetables or soy products, and then cook by steaming, frying, or boiling. For example, stuffed tofu uses tender tofu cut into cubes, hollowed out in the middle and filled with meat stuffing, fried until golden, then braised in high soup—the outer skin is crispy, the filling is tender, and the soup absorbs the freshness of tofu and meat. Stuffed chili peppers use green peppers filled with meat stuffing, steamed to retain the chili's sweetness and the meat's savory flavor, with rich layers. Most ingredients for Pingle Eighteen Stuffed Dishes are locally sourced seasonal vegetables and Lijiang River fish and shrimp, reflecting both Guilin people's wisdom in "using local ingredients" and respect for the natural flavors of the ingredients. Foreign visitors are often amazed by the diverse flavors of the same filling in different vegetables when they first try it. A "stuffed dishes platter" is highly recommended to experience multiple flavors at once and feel the culinary magic Guilin people create with ordinary ingredients.