Getting To Know Suodium, A Popular Batu Tumis Food In China

Illustration of Stone Tumis in China (Tiktok/Vice)

JAKARTA - Talking about strange and extreme foods from all over the world seems endless. Apart from mud pancakees from Haiti, this time there is a rock stir food from China that has gone viral circulating through videos on social media. Then is it true that the Chinese people are processing stones for consumption?

The answer, yes. The food is known as Suodie (). This is a food made of river stones mixed with several spices and spices. To better understand why Chinese people eat stones, let's first investigate the origin of this unusual food.

Suodie is actually far from what you assume, where the stone is eaten in its entirety. Here, the stone is only used as an additional taste of food. The rocks used in this dish are not ordinary stones. But small stones that are usually found in the flow of the freshwater river, where many fish or marine biota are found.

History originated from ancient boatmen who had to work from home for months. Because instant food and food preservatives are not yet available, these workers only bring makeshift food. If supplies run out, they will hunt for fish. But if fish are difficult to find, they use stones as food because stones are hiding places for fish.

Therefore, over time these rocks acquired the taste of marine biota and began to taste like fish. So, when cooked, the taste of this rock is not fresh or muddy, but there is a taste of fish, cucumbers, or shells.

Stone tumis is processed the same as processing other types of tumis. Stones are cooked with many spices, spices, and other side dishes. The best stone used must come directly from the river floor. If left for too long, the sea taste will disappear. So, it is recommended to use fresh stones for dishes and cook them as soon as they are removed from the river.

First, the rock is fried with pork or other animal fats, so the taste of the stone is transferred to oil. Then add garlic, chili, ginger. You can also add shallots, onions, carrots, cabbage, peppers, and more vegetables to turn it into dishes such as capcay. Finally, you can add a little salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. After all the ingredients are cooked, the typical Chinese stone tumis is ready to be eaten.

How to eat it is quite unique. The rocks are smoked to get the maximum taste. After feeling bargaining, the rocks are thrown away. One by one, all the stones are sucked in and thrown away. Then, then you can eat edible ingredients that were previously cooked with stones.