Guokui

Guokui
	Guokui from Sichuan
Place of origin	China
Main ingredients	Flour, Water, Yeast, Sugar,
Variations	Chicken, beef
	Cookbook: ;

Guokui (simplified Chinese: 锅盔; traditional Chinese: 鍋盔; pinyin: guōkuī),^[1] literally "pot helmet", is a kind of flatbread made from flour originating from Shaanxi cuisine and Sichuan cuisine.

Variations[]

A statue including Shaanxi/Guanzhong style Guokui

The dish is said to have been invented during the Tang Dynasty by a laborer who cooked flatbread in his iron helmet over a wood fire.^[2]

There are many different versions including Jingzhou (Hubei), Henan, Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi.

Jingzhou style[]

Hailing from Jingzhou, Hubei, in this style the dough of flour, water, yeast and sugar is stuffed with either a savoury filling like chicken, beef, and pickled vegetables, or a sweet filling like red bean paste.^[3] It is then flattened and cooked until crispy inside a cylindrical charcoal oven. Since the preparation resembles making Indian naan in a tandoor oven, the dish is sometimes called "Chinese naan"^[2]

Shaanxi style[]

In Shaanxi, a guokui is round in shape, about a foot long in diameter, an inch in thickness, and weighs about 2.5 kg. It is traditionally presented as a gift by a grandmother to her grandson when he turns one month old (满月, a traditional custom in Han Chinese). Along with biang biang noodles, they are considered one of the "Eight/Ten Oddities of Guanzhong".^[4]

Gallery[]

Cooking Jingzhou-style guokui in the traditional cylindrical oven
Jingzhou-style guokui flatbread with red bean paste, broken into pieces

References[]

^ Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed. (1 September 2016). 现代汉语词典 [A Dictionary of Current Chinese] (in Chinese) (Seventh ed.). Beijing: The Commercial Press. p. 496. ISBN 978-7-100-12450-8. 锅盔 guōkuī
^ ^a ^b "This 1,000-Year-Old Chinese 'Naan' Was Once Cooked in a Hat, and It's Yummy".
^ 飘零星. "荆州锅盔".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "The Eight Oddities of Guanzhong – Xianease".

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[adocc7-1] Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed. (1 September 2016). 现代汉语词典 [A Dictionary of Current Chinese] (in Chinese) (Seventh ed.). Beijing: The Commercial Press. p. 496. ISBN 978-7-100-12450-8. 锅盔 guōkuī

[8days-2] "This 1,000-Year-Old Chinese 'Naan' Was Once Cooked in a Hat, and It's Yummy".

[3] 飘零星. "荆州锅盔".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[4] "The Eight Oddities of Guanzhong – Xianease".

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