淡菜 (dàncài) · dried mussel meat, mussel

Meanings

1 dried mussel meat
2 mussel

About the ingredient

水产 Fish and seafood

Mussel meat that has been boiled, shelled and dried. Soaked soft in warm water, it goes into soups, congee, stir-fries and braised pork, giving them a savoury taste of the sea.

Contains shellfish

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9

淡菜泡软以后可以用来煲汤。

Dàncài pàoruǎn yǐhòu kěyǐ yònglái bāotāng.

Once soaked soft, dried mussels can go into a slow-cooked soup.

HSK 7-9

在舟山，人们爱吃刚捞上来的淡菜，清水一煮就很鲜。

Zài Zhōushān, rénmen ài chī gāng lāo shànglai de dàncài, qīngshuǐ yì zhǔ jiù hěn xiān.

In Zhoushan, people love mussels fresh from the sea; just boil them in plain water and they taste wonderfully fresh.

Tips

mistakes

Not a "bland vegetable": 菜 is food in general here, and 淡 "unsalted" is said to come from cooking and drying the meat without salt. The live shellfish is 贻贝 in textbooks, 海虹 in the north and 青口 in the south; on the Zhejiang coast 淡菜 names the fresh mussel too.