“Sapie”, a cold dish of the Dai ethnic group, have many variant kinds according to sauce and ingredient. The major ones are “Sapie with bitter sauce”, “Sapie with lemon juice sauce” and “Sapie with eggplant sauce”, and some improved dishes are Sapies with fish, pot-stewed pork as main ingredients. The ingredients of “Sapie with bitter sauce” include rice noodle, cooked beef slice, cooked beef slice, cooked tripe slice. The sauce is very distinctive. First, pick a section of ox intestine near the stomach just after the beast is slaughtered, simmer it with water. Then, put minced raw beef, leek, cilantro, willow bud and buya (Dai word), rice-sized chilli, and “shuanshuan chilli” into the soup and keep stirring until the soup becomes very thick. Now, diners can dip the rice noodle, cooked beef slice and cooked tripe slice in the sauce, and then eat them. 

The food is tasty and refreshing. Since it is very hot, diners should eat a little at first. The dish is believed can help get rid of summer heat, so it is very pleasant to have it in summer. The Dai people like “Sapie” so much that they cook fish in the cooking way of “Sapie”. First, chop the fish into pieces, splash lemon juice in it. Put the minced leek, cilantro, willow bud and buya, rice-sized chilli, and “shuanshuan chilli” to make the sauce. Then, prepare a plate of fried fish bones, minced lettuce or cabbage. Diner can dip the food in the sauce. It tastes sour and sweet, but very delicious.

There are two kinds of traditional Dai Nationality nosh called Bitter Sapie and Lemon Sapie. To beat the lean beef to get rid any of the fibers, then pinch and mix up the special wild parsley and chives and the beef together. The liquid ingredient of Lemon Sapie is watered by the fresh squeezed local lemons, which whets the appetites quite a lot and can be enjoyed with rice noodles, shredded tripe or meat slices touching the ingredient.

Lower left corner is Lemon Sapie and lower right one is Bitter Sapie.