The Life of Garlic: A Must-Have in Every Chinese Kitchen | Liziqi
About this video
In this video, Li Ziqi takes viewers through the entire life of garlic, from planting cloves in the rich Sichuan soil to harvesting, drying, and finally using it in the kitchen. The pace is unhurried, with close-up shots of hands working the earth, garlic bulbs being braided into strings, and the sizzle of oil in a wok. The atmosphere is meditative, accompanied by natural sounds and soft music. What makes this video stand out is how it transforms a humble ingredient into a story of patience and skill. You will see traditional methods like fermenting garlic in jars and grinding it into pastes. It is a celebration of self-sufficiency and the deep connection between food and daily life in rural China.
Video transcript
Fall 2019 Are you finished with your work? Almost finished We can eat garlic sprouts soon. Stir-fried tofu and pork with garlic scapes Taste this dried tofu, grandma. Spring, 2020 Bolting the garlic stems Pickle the garlic scapes Fried bacon with garlic sprouts Grandma, you don't need to do it yourself, I'll help you. These dishes smell delicious, hahaha... The garlic sprouts are very tender for you to chew, try some Grandma Eat slowly, grandma, don’t choke hahaha you eat so quickly... I must be a good chef Grandma, come over here and have a look. You
are a lady, can't you have a softer voice tune? Come here, help me and check out these garlics. These garlics look ripe enough. Can you verify for me? I think it's ripe as well. Are they ready for air-drying? Yeah, okay. Left salted overnight Drying them Brown sugar, rock candied sugar, water Add white vinegar and let it cool down The garlic is put into the pickling/fermenting jar with other spices Ferment for more than a month Add Chinese white wine and seal the jar with water Ferment for more than two months in a dry place away from sunlight I'll trim
them.. this looks fine Blanch the chicken feet in water with sliced ginger and green onions Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies, cinnamon stick, star anise, rock sugar, fresh coriander seeds Celery tips, lemon peels, chives, and sliced ginger Lemon juice, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, fermented glutinous rice Passion fruit vinegar, spices water Marinate overnight Houttuynia - Fish Mint (Fish Leaf) White Acacia Flower Grandma, the flowers on the mountain are blooming. So many of them. See this is full of bloomed branches. You are very fortunate. This furnace
is ready, grandma, no need to heat it any more. Dressing: minced garlic, chopped green onions, soy sauce, chilli oil + paste, and oyster sauce Fish mint leaves salad with garlic dressing Celtuce Sliced Pork Belly with Garlic Sauce Add oil and flour Add rock sugar in oil, stir fry the pork until caramelised Garlic cloves, sliced ginger, bay leaf, star anise, spring onions Add water until ingredients are half-submerged in water, add soy sauce Chicken feet with garlic sauce Pickled garlic and veg fermented from before Picked sweet garlic fermented last year
Braised pork with garlic cloves Steamed flower rice Grandma, hurry up, come over here so you can have them Let me peel you a clove of roasted garlic Here you go Let me try a clove of picked sweet garlic Wow, there is nothing more happier than this. "This one is not spicy." (Her grandma can't eat spicy food) You may not eat those chicken feet, it is hard (for you to chew) Let me try some flower rice Haha, they are soft...
