With Spring Festival over, it’s time to embrace the dishes of the season. Stir-fry hecai (合菜, mixed vegetables) is a popular option, as it provides freedom of choice. It is considered Beijing cuisine, which was developed through absorbing many different aspects of other regional cuisines.

As a typical Beijing home-cooked dish, it’s pretty easy to prepare. There aren’t strict lists of ingredients, so there is a lot of room to mix and match according to personal preferences. Usually, people choose fresh, seasonal vegetables like carrots, garlic chives, bean sprouts and red chili peppers. But feel free to replace garlic chives with spinach or celery. Some also like to include glass noodles (粉丝). Meat lovers can also feel free to throw some meaty chunks in there. Due to its flexible style, it has been dubbed “stir-fry whatever” (炒随便).

There is also a special version of this dish, called “stir-fry hecai with a hat” (炒合菜戴帽). The “hat” is actually an omelet. Fully stir an egg, add some water to dilute it, fry it into an omelet, and put it onto the dish. Voila, your “stir-fry whatever” has a hat.

In northern China, people eat hecai with a spring pancake (春饼), another Chinese traditional snack. The “pancake” is baked or steamed from wheat flour, which is a little thicker than those used for roast duck. People eat the spring pancake on the day of Lichun (立春, Spring Begins), the first of the 24 Solar Terms, as a customary way to celebrate the beginning of spring, which is also known as “bite the spring” (咬春). No one eats the spring pancake separately; they wrap the hecai into it.

The spring pancake rose in the Jin Dynasty (265 – 420) and has prospered since the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). In the past, Lichun was valued by both Chinese emperors and civilians. The kings held great celebrations, but ordinary people could only celebrate it by “biting the spring.” Biting the spring implies that the commoners prayed for a good harvest year.

In some regions, the vegetables in hecai have special meanings. People believe eating spring pancakes with celery and garlic chives will make them diligent and live longer, as Chinese “celery” (芹 qín) has similar pronunciation with “diligence” (勤 qín) and “garlic chives” (韭) is pronounced like “久” (jiǔ, long time).

So, if you want to have a good harvest this year, please open your fridge now. Just take out all the vegetables you have, and stir-fry them together for a special spring treat.

Ingredients (serves 1-2 people):

• 4 eggs 鸡蛋
• 100g red chili 红尖椒
• 60g carrot 胡萝卜
• 50g garlic chives 韭菜
• 60g dried glass noodles 粉丝
• 100g bean sprouts 绿豆芽
• 20g ginger 姜
• 1 tbsp cooking wine 料酒
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce 生抽
• 1 tsp sugar 糖
• 6 tbsp vegetable oil 植物油
• 1/2 tsp salt 盐
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder 白胡椒粉
• 1 tsp sesame oil 香油

Cut the carrots and ginger into strips; the garlic chives and red chili peppers into short, thin strips, and cut the glass noodles into pieces.

Break four eggs in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and beat it well.

Add three tablespoons of vegetable oil to the wok.

Stir-fry the ginger strips on a low heat until fragrant. Add carrots and give it a good stir. Then add the rest of the veggies.

Season with light soy sauce, cooking wine, and sugar. Then, add in the drained glass noodles and mix well. Add a pinch of white pepper powder and salt to taste.

Switch off the heat and drizzle in one tea spoon of sesame oil. Transfer to a plate.

Add three tablespoons of vegetable oil into the wok on a high heat; add the eggs and cook evenly.

Transfer the omelette from the wok and cover the earlier fried vegetables. Serve hot.

“Stir-Fry Spring” is a story from our newest issue, “Internet Celebrity”. To read the whole piece, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the iTunes Store.