A Hakka steamed centerpiece from Xingguo county in southern Jiangxi: thin slices of grass carp, dressed in spiced rice and laid over a bed of soaked rice noodles, steamed golden in a round bamboo basket and ringed by four small side dishes. The basket is read as the moon and the four plates as stars — hence 'four stars facing the moon.' It carries a celebrated piece of Red-Army lore, and ranks among the ten great Hakka dishes of the Gannan region.
From Xingguo, a Hakka county in Ganzhou, southern Jiangxi, where steaming fish over rice powder in a bamboo basket is old country cooking — the dish is also known plainly as 兴国粉笼床, the 'Xingguo powder-basket.' Local Party history holds that in 1929, while the Red Army was campaigning through Gannan, Mao Zedong tasted it in Xingguo and gave it the name 'four stars facing the moon,' reading the basket as a full moon and the four side plates as stars; the account rests on the recollections of those present and has become the dish's defining story, though the details of where the meal was held differ across the records. The 'Xingguo Sixing Wangyue custom' was listed as a Jiangxi provincial intangible-cultural-heritage item in 2017.
The fish comes up golden and tender, the slices set but still slippery, the rice powder around them gone soft and faintly sticky with the fish oil it has drunk in. Beneath, the rice noodles are saturated with the drippings, savory and slack. The seasoning is fresh-hot — chili and ginger run through the powder — and there is no fishy edge left at all. A thin ladle of stock-and-chili sauce is poured over at the end, scallion and white pepper scattered on top. The four side plates around it round out a small Hakka spread.
The rice powder is the device. Spread under and over the fish, it drinks up the oil and juices the carp gives off as it steams, so nothing leaks away and the fish stays moist rather than poaching dry; soaked full, the powder itself turns soft and savory. Toasting raw rice before grinding it coarse lends a nutty, roasted aroma and keeps a little grain to the texture. Chili, ginger and wine work the fishiness out. Steam — gentle, indirect heat — sets the thin slices without toughening them; over-steaming is the one fault, since it dries the carp and dulls its freshness.
Variations
The four side dishes are not fixed; the most often cited set runs Xingguo fish floss, plain-fried snow peas, cured pork with spring bamboo, and mei-cai braised pork, but different sources list different plates, so the four are best taken as 'a quartet of Xingguo home dishes.' Many cooks first dust the carp in sweet-potato starch to keep the slices silky, and lay taro or vegetable leaves under the noodles to catch the drippings. A Hakka finish grinds chili, ginger and sesame into a paste poured over the top in place of the thin stock sauce.
On the Palate
Where Sixing Wangyue sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
5 steps · 40 min
- 140 min
Toast raw rice in a dry pan over low heat with star anise and a pinch of chili flakes until golden and fragrant, then grind coarse. Soak rice noodles until soft and drain.
Watch outToast the raw rice until golden and fragrant before grinding — that roasting is what gives the powder its nutty aroma; ground raw it just tastes chalky.
- 220 min
Split the grass carp and slice it thin; marinate with Shaoxing wine, light soy, ginger, chili paste and a little oil, then dust in sweet-potato starch.
- 33 min
Line a round bamboo basket with vegetable leaves, spread the soaked noodles, and steam 2-3 minutes to set.
- 413 min
Toss the fish slices with the toasted rice powder, lay them over the noodles, and steam over high heat about 12-15 minutes until just cooked.
Watch outSteam over high heat only until the fish just turns opaque — over-steam and the thin slices dry out and go tough.
- 53 min
Pour over a thin sauce of stock, soy and chili, scatter scallion and white pepper, and bring to the table ringed by four small side dishes.
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