Buddha's delight, often

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

as ''Luóhàn zhāi'' (, Japanese: ), ''lo han jai'', or ''lo hon jai'', is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

dish well known in Chinese and

Buddhist cuisine Buddhist cuisine is an Asian cuisine that is followed by Bhikkhu, monks and many believers from areas historically influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. It is vegetarian or vegan, and it is based on the Dharmic concept of ahimsa (non-violence). Vege ...

. It is sometimes also called ''Luóhàn cài'' (). The dish is traditionally enjoyed by

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monks who are vegetarians, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available as a vegetarian option in Chinese restaurants. The dish consists of various vegetables and other vegetarian ingredients (sometimes with the addition of seafood or eggs), which are cooked in

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

-based liquid with other seasonings until tender. The specific ingredients used vary greatly both inside and outside Asia.

Etymology

In the name ''luóhàn zhāi'', ''luóhàn'' – short for ''Ā luóhàn'' () – is the Chinese transliteration of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

'' arhat'', meaning an enlightened, ascetic individual or the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

himself. ''Zhāi'' () means "vegetarian food" or "vegetarian diet." The dish is usually made with at least 10 ingredients, although more elaborate versions may comprise 18 or even 35 ingredients. If 18 ingredients are used, the dish is called ''luóhàn quánzhāi'' (simplified: 罗汉全斋; traditional: 羅漢全齋; Jyutping: ''lo4hon3 cyun4zaai1''). In

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, when served exclusively using only the most flavor-packed vegetarian ingredients, such as pickled tofu or sweet bean curds, it is known as ''tián suān zhāi'' (; literally "sweet and sour vegetarian dish").

Tradition

As suggested by its name, it is a dish traditionally enjoyed by Buddhists, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available in Chinese restaurants (though often not including all of the ingredients) as a vegetarian option. It is traditionally served in Chinese households on the first day of the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

, stemming from the old Buddhist practice that one should maintain a vegetarian diet in the first five days of the new year, as a form of self-purification. Some of the rarer ingredients, such as fat choy and

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

, are generally eaten only at this time of year. Traditionally eggs and dairy are not permitted.

Allium ''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the world. Many of the species are edible, ...

s and some other vegetables (五葷/五荤, ''wǔ hūn'': garlic, leek, scallion, shallot, asafoetida) are not used in Buddha's delight, as they are frowned upon in

Ingredients

The following is a list of ingredients often used in Buddha's delight, each of which, according to Chinese tradition, is ascribed a particular auspicious significance. As the dish varies from chef to chef and family to family, not every ingredient is always used in every version of the dish.

Main ingredients

Commonly used main ingredients

Arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

(慈菇 or 茨菰; pinyin: cígū) * Bamboo fungus (竹笙, pinyin: zhúshēng or 竹荪; pinyin: zhúsūn) * Bamboo shoots (simplified: 笋; traditional; 筍; pinyin: sǔn) * Bean curd sticks (腐竹; pinyin: fǔzhú; also called "tofu bamboo") * Black mushrooms (冬菇; pinyin: dōnggū) * Carrot (traditional: 胡蘿蔔; simplified: 胡萝卜, pinyin: hú luóbo; or traditional: 紅蘿蔔; simplified: 红萝卜, pinyin: hóng luóbo; Jyutping: hung4 lo4baak6) *

Cellophane noodles Glass noodles, or fensi (), sometimes called cellophane noodles, are a type of transparent noodle made from starch (such as mung bean starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, tapioca, or canna (plant), canna starch) and water. They originated ...

(粉絲; pinyin: fěnsī; also called "bean threads") * Daylily buds (金针; pinyin: jīnzhēn; also called "golden needles") * Fat choy (traditional: 髮菜; simplified: 发菜; pinyin: fàcài; a black hair-like cyanobacterium) *

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

nuts (traditional: 銀杏; simplified: 银杏, pinyin: yínxìng; or 白果, pinyin: báiguǒ) * Lotus seeds (蓮子; pinyin: liánzǐ) * Napa cabbage (大白菜; pinyin: dà báicài) *

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s (花生; pinyin: huāshēng) *

Snow pea The snow pea is an edible-pod pea with flat pods and thin pod walls, in contrast to snap pea pods, which are round with thick walls. It is eaten whole, with both the seeds and the pod, while still unripened. Names The common name snow pea ...

s (traditional: 荷蘭豆; simplified: 荷兰豆; pinyin: hélán-dòu) *Fried

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

(炸豆腐; pinyin: zhá dòufǔ) * Water chestnuts (traditional: 荸薺; simplified: 荸荠; pinyin: bíqí) *Fried or braised wheat gluten (traditional: 麵筋, simplified: 面筋; pinyin: miànjīn) * Wood ear (木耳; pinyin: mù ěr; also called black fungus)

Less commonly used main ingredients

Bean sprout Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

s (豆芽, pinyin: dòuyá; 芽菜, pinyin: yácài; or 银芽, pinyin: yínyá) * Bracken fern tips (蕨菜; pinyin: juécài) *

Bok choy Bok choy (American English, Canadian English, and Australian English), pak choi (British English, South African English, and Caribbean English) or pok choi is a type of Chinese cabbage ('' Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''chinensis'') cultivated as a le ...

(白菜; pinyin: báicài) *

Cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables cultivated from the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. Cauliflower usually grows with one main stem that carries a large, rou ...

(菜花; pinyin: cài huā) * Chinese celery (芹菜; pinyin: qín cài) *Other types of fungus, including cloud ear fungus (traditional: 雲耳; simplified: 云耳; pinyin: yún ěr), elm ear fungus (榆耳; pinyin: yú ěr), osmanthus ear fungus (桂花耳; pinyin: guíhuā ěr), snow fungus (银耳; pinyin: yín ěr), and yellow fungus (黃耳; pinyin: huáng ěr; literally "yellow ear") See also: List of Chinese mushrooms and fungi. *Red jujubes (traditional: 紅棗; simplified: 红枣; pinyin: hóng zǎo) * Lotus root (藕; pinyin: ǒu) *Other types of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s, including straw mushrooms (草菇, pinyin: cǎogū), oyster mushrooms (平菇, pinyin: pínggū), and '' Tricholoma'' mushrooms (口蘑, pinyin: kǒumó) *

Potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

( 马铃薯; pinyin: mălíngshǔ) * Laminaria *

Cornflower ''Centaurea cyanus'', commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button (among other names), is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "co ...

buds * Baby corn

Seasonings

Ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

(simplified: 姜; traditional: 薑; pinyin: jiāng) * Monosodium glutamate (味精; pinyin: wèijīng) *

Vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

(usually

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

, 花生油; or

sesame Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for ...

, 芝麻油) * Vegetarian oyster sauce (simplified: 斋蚝油; traditional: 齋蠔油; pinyin: zhāi háoyóu) * Pickled tofu (豆腐乳; pinyin: dòufu rǔ; both red and white) *

Salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

(traditional: 鹽; simplified: 盐; pinyin: yán) * Dark soy sauce (老抽; pinyin: lǎochōu) *

Starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

(淀粉; pinyin: diànfěn) *

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

(糖; pinyin: táng)

References

External links

Recipe
, chinesefood.about.com
"What is Buddha's Delight?"
by Chelsie Vandaveer

from ''

Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honol ...

''
Buddha's delight recipe
(Chinese) {{Portal bar, Food, Asia Buddhist cuisine Hong Kong cuisine Chinese New Year foods Vegetarian dishes of China