#Chinese food and cuisine

[lionheartlr]

Travel Guide to China: Everything You Need to Know

China is a land of contrast and wonder, offering a blend of ancient traditions, modern innovations, and natural beauty. Whether you’re exploring historic landmarks or vibrant cities, this guide will give you an essential overview to prepare for your journey. Brief History of China China’s history stretches over 5,000 years, marked by the rise and fall of dynasties. The most notable early…

[yumkitchen]

[koobiie]

hotpot!

[daily-deliciousness]

Caramelized black pepper chicken

[niteshade925]

April 16-18, street food and home cooking:

An interesting regional specialty from Baoding called lürouhuoshao/驴肉火烧, otherwise known as "donkey burger". It's really good, a little like Xi'an's roujiamo, but with a baked crispy flatbread on the outside and braised donkey meat on the inside that is actually pretty tender, unlike what many have said.

More home cooking. Left is a humble stirfry of shrimp and a type of napa cabbage? (not sure) Right is kourou/扣肉, basically steamed pork belly

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Chinese Desserts

There's quite a large variety of treats and desserts in China (more than you can imagine), so here are some of the most common ones!

Almond jelly/tofu - 杏仁豆腐 - xìngréndòufu Despite the name, almond jelly doesn't actually have almonds in it. Almond jelly is made from gelatin and almond milk, although some recepies use dairy milk instead.

Glutinous rice balls - 汤圆 - tāngyuán These rice balls are made from glutinous rice balls with a sweet filling, such as red bean paste (a pretty popular filling in desserts, I've been fooled more than once when purchasing what I assumed to be a chocolate filled pastry).

Red bean buns - 豆沙包 - dòushābāo One of my favorite desserts so far. These are steamed buns with a sweet red bean paste filling that I'd definitely recommend.

Egg custard bun - 流沙包 - liúshābāo A sweet and savory bun, with a lava-like egg yolk filling. A pretty interesting dessert, as it's both sweet and savory.

Pumpkin cake - 南瓜饼 - nánguābǐng I haven't tried this yet, but it definitely looks good. A fried and crunchy cake with a sweet filling such as red bean paste.

Eight treasure rice pudding - 八宝饭 -bābǎofàn This is a pretty popular dessert, especially during the Lunar New Year. It gets this name becase of the toppings, which are eight or more different types of dried fruits and nuts arranged on top of the sweet rice, with (once again) red bean paste.

Hawthorn stick/ Candied Haws/ Sugar coated haws/ Bingtanghulu - 冰糖葫芦 - bīngtánghúlu This treat has quite a few translations and you may have probably already seen it. This is basically candied fruit covered with a sweet, crunchy and sugary syrup. Traditionally, Hawthorn is used but other fruits such as grapes, strawberries and oranges are also popular options.

Sachima - 沙琪玛 - shāqímǎ I haven't tried this snack yet, but it looks quite fascinating. Sachima is made from fried batter stuck together with a sugary syrup, with an interesting texture.

Sesame balls - 芝麻球 - zhīmaqiú Similar to the rice glutinous balls, this treat is also made from glutinous rice flour with varying fillings including lotus seeds, mung bean and red beans, and sesame seeds.

Water chestnut cake A sweet pan-fried cake made from chinese water chestnut, with a unique semi-transparent appearance.

Wintermelon puff/ Wife cake/ Sweetheartcake - 老婆餅 - lǎopóbǐng This cake has many names, mainly because it has several different origin stories, each more fascinating than the next. This dessert is a flaky pastry with wintermelon, almond (not red bean this time!) paste and sesame filling.

Fortune cake - 发糕 - fāgāo Not a fortune cookie! This is a spongy steamed cupcake cake commonly made for the New Lunar Year celebrations and occasionally other events. They're usually a white-ish or brown-ish color, but they're often dyed bright colors to add extra festivity.

Mooncake - 月饼 - yuèbǐng This is a pretty well-known dessert, commonly prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes are smallish steamd/fried (depends on the region) cakes with a sweet filling that can also sometimes have an egg yolk inside.

Osmanthus cake - 桂花糕 - guìhuāgāo This is a unique traditional pastry made from glutinous rice flour, honey and osmanthus. This cake has a really interesting texture, as it's quite dense but also airy in a way? I'd definitely recommend trying it, as it's not super sweet and goes really well with tea.

[zhongguochic]

Chinese desserts

Àiwōwo (艾窝窝)

Sōnghuā gāo (松花糕)

Zǎo gāo (枣糕)

Bīngfěn (冰粉)

[thelcsdaily]

Beef and Broccoli

Broccoli and beef go well together, and this quick and simple stir-fry makes the most of it. There are several of recipes for broccoli beef, but my favorite is the one that calls for sesame oil. This is a basic stir-fried dish that is enhanced by the sweet taste of the nutty sesame oil. You can customize this stir-fry dish to use any protein or vegetables you have in your kitchen, and it still gives a fantastic mix of flavors and textures. This meal offers a flavor of traditional Chinese takeout. One of my mother's favorites.

“I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food” ― Erma Bombeck

[violent138]

Hal goes by a "try anything once" food mentality, and he often forces Barry to try new things with him, which Barry reluctantly and politely does while asking Hal why they can't just have dinner at Barry's house.

[wikipediapictures]

Shrimp toast

“A dish of shrimp toasts served at teahouse in Hong Kong.” - via Wikimedia Commons

[ronycore]

recipes/photography via Souped Up Recipes

After graduating from college in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, with a major in Chinese herbology, Mandy Fu first worked for a medicine company and then a food ingredient supplier. Inspired by her boyfriend (now husband), an American fascinated by Chinese cuisine, she decided to share her passion for cooking with others via YouTube in English.

(article via South China Morning Post)

[sikfankitchen]

Chinese Honey Walnut Shrimp Recipe 🍤

[daily-deliciousness]

Sweet and spicy turkey and pumpkin dumplings

[niteshade925]

Remembering when I posted this (I think; it's been a while)

But now I finally had the real stuff again after years:

Jianbingguozi/煎饼果子:

Doufunao/豆腐脑 (the salty/northern version):

Shaobingliji/烧饼里脊 (Tianjin version):

The thing about Chinese food is that most of the time they don't look all that fancy, and may even look unappetizing to people who never had good Chinese food, but when you taste it, you will be surprised