Kǔqiáo Bāba

the dense, dark, nutty griddle cakes of bitter Tartary buckwheat that are the daily bread of the Yi people of the Liangshan mountains, eaten with cured pork, sour soups, or a drizzle of mountain honey

Origin: China (Liangshan, Yi homeland)

From the journey of Buckwheat.

For the Yi people of the high Liangshan ranges of southern Sichuan, bitter Tartary buckwheat (kǔqiáo) is not a fallback but the foundation of the diet, and its simplest and most essential form is the bāba, the buckwheat cake. Coarse Tartary buckwheat flour is mixed with water into a thick batter or soft dough and cooked on a griddle, a hot stone, or in the embers of the hearth into a dense, dark, satisfying round, faintly bitter and deeply nutty. It is the bread of the mountain table, torn and eaten with the Yi's salt-cured pork, with sour vegetable soups, with chilli, or simply with a little of the dark buckwheat honey the mountain bees provide. Frugal, sustaining, and ancient, the buckwheat bāba is the everyday taste of one of the oldest grain cultures of the high country of southwest China.

Ingredients

The Cakes

300 g Tartary buckwheat flour (or common buckwheat flour)
0.5 tsp salt
0.25 tsp baking soda (optional, for a lighter cake)
300 ml warm water, approximately
2 tbsp lard or vegetable oil, for the griddle

To Serve

dark buckwheat honey, to serve (optional)

Method

Mix the buckwheat flour, salt, and baking soda, if using, in a bowl. Add the warm water a little at a time, stirring, until you have a thick, smooth, pourable batter or a very soft dough; the exact amount depends on your flour.
Let the batter rest for 10 minutes while you heat a heavy griddle or frying pan over a medium heat and grease it lightly with lard or oil.
Ladle or spoon the batter onto the griddle and spread into rounds about 1 cm thick. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the underside is set and dark golden and the edges look dry.
Flip carefully and cook the second side for a further 3 to 4 minutes, until cooked through and firm. Keep warm under a cloth while you cook the rest.
Serve the cakes warm, torn and eaten with cured or roasted meats and a sour soup in the Yi manner, or simply drizzled with dark buckwheat honey.

Notes

Common buckwheat flour makes a milder, sweeter cake if Tartary buckwheat is hard to find. The baking soda is a modern touch for lightness; the most traditional bāba is simply flour and water, dense and close. The cakes reheat well on a dry griddle and were carried as field food and travelling rations across the mountains.

The Gastrographer

Name: Kǔqiáo Bāba
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 300 g Tartary buckwheat flour (or common buckwheat flour); 0.5 tsp salt; 0.25 tsp baking soda (optional, for a lighter cake); 300 ml warm water, approximately; 2 tbsp lard or vegetable oil, for the griddle; dark buckwheat honey, to serve (optional)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control