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These stir-fried stones are literally the world's hardest dish!
Looking to hop onto China's newest street food trend? Then, perhaps, the world's hardest dish (literally) is a must-try! This traditional stir fry uses stones as its main ingredient.
The dish, which originated in the eastern Chinese province of Hubei, is cooked with small stones that are meant to be sucked on to relish in the flavours of the stir fry and then disposed of. Hence, the dish's name 'suodiu', which translates to 'suck and dispose'.
Videos of stones being stir-fried are circulating in Chinese social media platforms, along with people hopping on the trendy dish and trying it out. Street vendors have been documented frying the stones in a teppanyaki-style grill with chilli oil, garlic sauce, garlic cloves and diced peppers.
According to videos on Xiaohongshu, China's equivalent platform of Instagram, the street vendors sometimes narrate their every move as they prepare the ingredients using rhymes.
In one video, a chef says, "A portion of spice brings the passion alive," adding that the dish is as popular as alcohol.
The flavoured stones are presented to customers in boxes the size of palms. According to the video, each portion costs approximately $2.30 (BHD 0.800).
In the same clip, a customer asks, "Do I have to give you the pebbles back when I'm done?"
The chef jokingly replies, "Bring them home as a souvenir."
Suodiu is believed to be a dish that dates back hundreds of years.
According to a local media report, boatmen's oral history passed it down through the generations. When boatmen used to deliver goods, they would be stranded in the middle of a river and run out of food so they would look for stones to cook with other condiments to "find happiness in the bitterness".
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