TOP 10 Best Traditional Foods in China

Psithurism [email protected] April 14, 2021 | 09:16

China is famous all over the world for not only its unique history, but also the tastes of thousands of special food. Today Knowinsiders would introduce you TOP 10 Best traditional foods in China.

Find out what Chinese dishes to try in China (customer favorites): sweet and sour pork, kung pao chicken, fried noodles... See expert intros with pictures.

With a long history, unique features, numerous styles and exquisite cooking, Chinese cuisine is one important constituent part of Chinese culture. Chinese traditional dishes are famous for color, aroma, taste, meaning and appearance.

The following are the 10 most popular dishes among foreigners and Chinese. These dishes are available in most large restaurants in China. For convenience ordering, we also give their Chinese names.

1. Hotpot

Photo: Chinadaily

Hotpot (火锅 huǒguō) is a “dish” to tell apart real Chinese food lovers. If you really appreciate hotpot rather than just ordering fired rice, chow mein, and dim sum all the time, you are truly a Chinese cuisine fan!

The secret of whether a hotpot is good or not lies in the broth, in which all the meat slices and vegetables are cooked. Normally you get to choose your own broth flavor, such as mushroom, tomato, original, or spicy. But still, the flavor can be different according to the sauce you choose to go with the meat. There are hundreds of kinds: a classic one is peanut butter with smashed garlic and chopped onion dressed with sesame oil, Chinahighlights noted.

2. Peking Roasted Duck

Photo: Medium

Peking duck (北京烤鸭 Běijīng kǎoyā) is a famous dish from Beijing, enjoying world fame, and considered as one of China’s national dishes.

Peking duck is savored for its thin and crispy skin. The Sliced Peking duck is often eaten with pancakes, sweet bean sauce, or soy with mashed garlic. It is a must-taste dish in Beijing! Read more about Peking Roasted Duck.

3. Dumplings

Photo: Thespruceeats

饺子, dumpling is the most famous traditional Chinese food, which was invented by medical sage Zhang Zhongjing more than 1,800 years ago. At that time, Chinese herbal medicine was stuffed in with mutton to prevent cold and cure pernio in winter.

Nowadays, dumplings have been a festival food on Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice. The fillings are various including pork, beef, lamb, fish, cabbage, carrots, leek, etc. On the Chinese New Year’s Day, people eat dumplings to say goodbye to the old year and welcome a new year. In addition, dumplings have the auspicious meaning of great fortune and family reunion.

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4. Char Siu

Photo: UK LKK

Technically, char siu 叉燒 is a way to flavor and cook barbecued meat (specifically pork). It literally means “fork roasted,” because the Cantonese dish is cooked on a skewer in an oven or over a fire. Whether it’s pork loin, belly or butt, the seasoning almost always contains honey, five-spice powder, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and red fermented bean curd, which give it its signature red hue. If you’re not already drooling, char siu can be served alone, with noodles or inside baozi.

5. Fish with Sichuan Pickles

Photo: Chinaeducationaltours

The term ‘suāncàiyú’ 酸菜鱼 translates to hot and sour fish with pickled mustard greens”. It’s a classic dish, made with a whole grass-carp or catfish that is thinly sliced then poached in a rich broth made from chicken stock, fish stock, and ‘Sichuan pickles’, which is the main ingredients and fundamental to Sichuan cooking.

The pickled vegetables were originally prepared when there were no vegetables available. They were the main dish for poor families in the old days. Nowadays, they are normally used as appetizers or an ingredient.

If you cannot eat chili peppers, you can tell the restaurant and they will omit them from the dish.

6. Mapo Tofu/Tofu with Chili and Sichuan Peppers

Photo: Thewoksoflife

The name “MaPo Tofu” 麻婆豆腐 (mápódòufǔ) translates to “pockmarked grandma’s beancurd”, and is a classic dish from Sichuan Province. It is one of the popular dishes on many restaurant menus that can be found throughout China.

The dish is spicy, numbing, hot, aromatic and tender, and best served with a bowl of steamed rice. The essential ingredients of the dish are fermented black beans, broad bean and chili paste, Sichuan peppercorn powder, ground meat, and soft tofu. The tofu is braised in the spicy meat sauce. A recommended dish, not to be missed during your travels, cited by Chinaeducationaltours.

7. Braised Pork in Brown Sauce

Photo: Delishar

Chinese people love braised pork belly (红烧肉 hóngshāoròu). It’s a very popular dish, and many versions depending on where you are traveling in China. In Shanghai, the taste of the dish is sweet (made with rock sugar), while in Chengdu, the braised pork belly is made with brown sugar, and tastes slightly spicy. However, if you happen to be in Hunan Province, you’ll find Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly (毛氏红烧肉) dish is heavily flavored with spices, as the local people love spicy food.

8. Yangchow Fried Rice

Photo: Yummy

Yangchow fried rice (扬州炒饭 Yángzhōu chǎofàn) is a classic fried rice you have to try if you travel to Yangzhou. It is in this city that chefs do fried rice the best, and so Yangchow fried rice has distinguished itself from thousands of types of fried rice in China and has gained its own name.

The standard flavorsome ingredients of Yangchow fried rice are peeled shrimp, diced ham, carrot, mushroom, baby bamboo shoots, crumbled egg, and corn. When all the ingredients have been cooked and their aroma has been brought out, they are stir-fried with rice till it becomes golden yellow, Chinahighlights cited.

9. Steamed Stuffed Bun

Photo: Yireservation

Steamed stuffed bun, 包子 bāo zi, is a flour dough wrapper with stuffing, which is a kind of Chinese traditional food. It is said that it was created as sacrifices to dead soldiers in battles by Zhuge Liang, who was an outstanding politician and military strategist in Three Kingdoms Period. The stuffing was originally minced beef and mutton. Later, the stuffing became more and more various. The name we use today was settled in Song Dynasty.

Up to now, the stuffing can be pork, beef, pickled Chinese cabbage, vermicelli, mushrooms, bean paste, eggplant, cabbage, Chinese chives, fried eggs, and tofu and so on. The types are also enriched, including Small Steamed Buns, Soup Infilled Buns, and Pan-Fried Buns.

10. Moon Cake

Photo: Sunnysidecircus

Moon Cake, 月饼 yuè bǐng, is a traditional Chinese food for Mid-Autumn Festival. It is round, which symbolizes family reunion. It is also a sacrificial offering to Moon God on Mid-Autumn Festival. There are many types of traditional moon cakes, and the most common stuffing includes five nuts, red bean paste, roses, lotus seed paste, osmanthus, dried plum, rock sugar, ginkgo, pork floss, black sesame, ham, egg yolk, etc.

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