New Year dishes such as Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and smoked chicken…who is the calorie demon? Nutritionist Zhang Yizhen: 3 tips for eating Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to avoid obesity

The Chinese New Year is coming soon. In addition to exchanging auspicious words with relatives and friends and receiving red envelopes, gathering around the fire is also a major custom of the Chinese New Year. I believe that many households have already pre-ordered a table of New Year dishes. The most popular New Year dishes that symbolize reunion are Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, smoked chicken, braised lion head, pork knuckle, etc., all of which are "hard dishes" with high precious meat content. Nutritionist Zhang Yizhen said, be careful about the calorie count after a New Year's Eve meal! Do you know which one of the New Year dishes has the highest calorie count?

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is one of the classic dishes for New Year’s Eve dinner. What does Buddha Jumps Over the Wall mean? Why is Buddha Jumps Over the Wall called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is known as the "first of Fujian cuisine". The unique cooking technique that combines the delicacies of mountains and seas in one pot makes it one of the signature dishes of the Manchu-Han Banquet. It is said that after this dish became a delicacy in Juchun Garden, scholars and writers often came here. After tasting it, these scholars were amazed and could not help but write poems to cheer themselves up. One day, a group of scholars took turns to compose poems after a banquet. One of them wrote a poem: "When the pot is opened, the aroma of meat spreads to the neighbors, and the Buddha hears Qi Chan jumping over the wall." It means that the aroma of this dish is so tempting that even the Buddha will be tempted. Another story goes that after the dish was opened, the aroma filled the air. There happened to be a temple across the wall, and the aroma made the monks salivate, so he ignored all the rules and regulations, climbed over the wall and asked to be seated.

The characteristic of this dish is the fusion of eighteen main ingredients and more than ten auxiliary ingredients. Its raw materials include chicken, duck, pork tripe, hoof tips, tendons, ham, chicken and duck gizzards; shark fins, sea cucumbers, abalone, scallops, fish tripe; pigeon eggs, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, razor clams, etc., a total of more than 30 raw materials and auxiliary materials are processed and prepared separately. Almost all of them are high-fat and high-protein foods. For example, a jar of about 2,000 grams of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall has about 2,300 calories, which is very amazing. This is mainly because the production process requires high-temperature frying, so both the fat and cholesterol content are very high.

For example, a jar of about 2,000 grams of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall has about 2,300 calories, which is quite astonishing. This is mainly because the production process requires high-temperature frying, so both the fat and cholesterol content are very high.

Calories of 15 common dishes during Chinese New Year

Nutritionist Zhang Yizhen sorted out the calories of the following 15 common dishes during the Chinese New Year so that you can understand them all at once:

Calories of New Year dishes: All calculated based on a full portion sold in the market

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall: One jar weighs 2000 grams and contains about 2300 calories.

Smoked chicken: The Taiwanese pronunciation of chicken sounds like "home", so eating a whole chicken during Chinese New Year also symbolizes family reunion. A whole 1,200-gram smoked chicken has 2,200 calories.

Braised Lion's Head Meatballs: This New Year dish contains meatball-like ingredients, symbolizing perfection in everything. Eight balls weigh about 800 grams and have 1,900 calories.

Pig's trotter: One 850-gram pig's trotter has about 1870 calories.

Sakura Shrimp Rice Cake: An 800-gram portion (about 4 servings) of rice cake contains 1,820 calories.

Sweet and Sour Fish: There must be a fish during the Chinese New Year, which symbolizes abundance every year. One fish weighs 950 grams and has 1710 calories.

Sweet taro paste: One piece is 600 grams, usually with a lot of sugar added, and has 1400 calories.

Red bean rice cake: Eating rice cake during the Chinese New Year also symbolizes promotion year by year. One piece is 450 grams and has 1080 calories.

Dongpo pork: 400 grams per piece, 780 calories

Radish cake: Radish cake symbolizes good luck and also means promotion. A palm-sized piece of radish cake contains about 100 calories, and 6-7 pieces contain about 660 calories.

Shaoxing Drunken Chicken: 550 grams per serving, 590 calories.

Pork dumplings: Dumplings are shaped like ingots. Eating dumplings during Chinese New Year symbolizes bringing in wealth. 10 dumplings contain about 550 calories.

Drunken Shrimp: 10 pieces, 230 calories.

Mullet roe: 10 grams per bite, about 40 calories.

Sashimi: One piece is 20 grams, with about 10-40 calories.

(Photo courtesy of Good Food Class)

3 tips to avoid obesity by eating Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Although, a jar of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall contains 2000 grams and has a calorie content of 2300 calories. However, if you want to eat Buddha Jumps Over the Wall without worrying about obesity, here are 3 tips:

1. Ingredients substitution:

The calorie king of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is the fried spare ribs. The intake of high-fat ingredients must be reduced. It is recommended to replace the fried spare ribs with grilled spare ribs and taro. The taste is the same, crispy on the outside and loose on the inside, and 500 calories can be reduced instantly. If the ribs are replaced with lower-fat tenderloin, the calories can be reduced by another 100 calories.

2. Drink less soup:

The soup of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a high-fat, high-salt food. One bowl of 2.2 kg of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall has a sodium content of up to 6094 mg. The thicker the soup, the higher the calories. Therefore, try not to drink the soup at the bottom of the pot. If you really want to drink the soup, you can wait until the soup cools down before drinking it. It is best to drink the soup on the top because many high-salt ingredients will dissolve in the high-temperature soup and will settle to the bottom of the soup after cooling.

3. Drink sugar-free tea to lose fat:

After eating a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, it is best to drink some sugar-free, fat-reducing tea drinks, such as oolong tea, green tea, etc. The catechins contained in green tea can inhibit the proliferation of adipose tissue and reduce fat accumulation. Oolong tea contains theaflavins and thearubigins, which help lower blood fat levels.

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