Traditional Food in Beijing

Beijing(北京), the capital of P.R. China is located in northern part of China. Beijing is the second largest city in China and it has a large population of 17 million people. It is the political, educational, and cultural center of China. In china's over 5000-year history, Beijing served as the capital city for majority dynasties. It has rich culture heritage-palaces,temples,royal gardens,stone walls and gates. It is also called "Forbidden City" (紫禁城) where the emperor lived. After the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, there are many modern architecture. It is a "must" destination for all tourists: it demonstrates both the historical and modern aspects of China. Its food culture is also very special due to its "royal root". There are so many great dishes and snacks to introduce. Let's discover and try the most representative ones!

1.Preserved Chinese cabbage with mustard (芥末墩)

I still remember the first time when I ate this dish,I almost cried! I did not expect the cabbage was so spicy. The cabbage leaves are preserved with mustard and made into a roll when serving. Since it is a roll, you must eat a whole roll at one time. Image the feeling of eating mustard. The first feeling is definitely spicy! If you can't stand spicy, you probably will cry. You may ask now: "Then why this dish is so popular in Beijing?" Because the spicy taste will fade soon and afterwards you will feel your breathe moves smoothly.It is a great appetizer and especially recommended in summer.





2.Fermented soybean drink (豆汁)

It is a "magic" drink that will surprise you the first time you drink it. It smells stinky and the soybean seems has rotted. Nearly all people don't like it for the first time, but will gradually love it. It is always local seniors' favorite drink.It has a great taste afterwards: kind of sweet and it is very difficult to express in words. Just like coffee, some people like it and are addicted to it, but some people don't like the bitter taste. Anyway, it is a great experience to taste it and you probably can't find a suitable word to describe it.




3. Peking Duck (北京烤鸭)

Peking is another name of Beijing used by foreigners.It is translated from the Chinese pronouciation of Beijing to English.Peking duck is regarded as the trademark of Beijing and also China's national food. The duck used in this dish requires special way of raising: newborn ducks are raised in a open field for the first 45 days and then forced fed 4 times a day for the next 15-20 days, resulting a duck weighting around 7 kg. This special way leads a both al dente and fatty meat. When cooking, the duck is stuffed with dried jujubes and and roasted in a closed oven. When serving, different parts of the duck are cut into small pieces and then eaten seperately. The skin tastes best when eating directly without any other sauce.It is very thin and crispy. The meat is usually eaten with pancakes, spring onions and sweet bean sauce. Meat,onion and sauce are put in the center of the pancake and then the pancake is made into a roll shape. The bone with meat left is usually made into duck soup. The most reknowned restaurant that serve this dish is called "Quanjude" (全聚德). It has two centuries-old history and now developed into chain stores that can be found in many cities of China.





4. Soy bean paste noodles (炸酱面)

This is a typical traditional Beijing cuisine. Soy bean paste noodles consists of four main ingredients: wide hand-tossed noodles, vegetable pieces as well as minced pork and bean paste sauce. According to different seasons, vegetable pieces are served in various types but always no less than seven kinds. Minced pork and soy sauce paste are first fried together and the noodles are cooked separately in hot water until done. Finally, the paste, sliced vegetables and noodles are mixed together.Local people, especially seniors like to eat hot noodles in the cold days and to eat cold noodles in hot weather.



5.Crispy sugar-coated berry on a stick (糖葫芦)

It is a very popular dessert in Beijing. You can find them on the street corners in autumn and winter. They are made of various kinds of small fruits: haws,apples,jujubes or oranges etc. First the fruits are trimmed and cleaned, they are then stringed one after another on a thin bamboo stick and coated in a bath of rock-sugar syrup. As soon as the toffee hardens, the "sugar coat" become crispy. It has different colors: yellow, red or green etc. It look bright and inviting, and it generally tastes sweet and sourish.





6. Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour (驴打滚)

This is another representative local dessert. Its basically a glutinous rice roll that contained sweet red bean paste in the middle and wrapped with soybean flour.The dessert tastes soft, smooth, sweet, and savory. This dessert has a interesting Chinese name "驴打滚" meaning "donkey rolling on the ground". The origin of its name is not clear, probably when dipping the glutinous rice rolls in bean flour, just looks like a donkey rolling on ground!

Yummy Food in Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港) is a special administrative region of the PR China.Located on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea,it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. It is one of the world's leading financial centers. Besides, it is also a top international destination. Hong Kong is frequently described as a place where "East meets West", reflecting the culture's mix of the territory's Chinese roots with the culture brought to it during its time as a British colony. This is also reflected on its food culture. Many visitors came to Hong Kong just for the food: there are abundant yummy dishes and snacks!If you are visiting Hong Kong, be sure to try these:

1.Sweetheart/ Wife Cake (老婆饼)

A sweetheart cake or wife cake is a traditional Chinese pastry that with thin skin made from flour and inside with winter melon, almond paste, sesame and pork lard etc. There are also modern Wife Cake that with various inside like jam. Sweetheart cake is the literal translation of Low Paw Bang from Cantonese dialect. The sweetheart cake has a long history and there are different versions of stories behind the name.The origin of the cake is about about how a husband loves his wife and makes this cake to show his thankfulness and love. It is still popular among many in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The traditional British Eccles cake is similar in appearance and flavour to the sweetheart cake, though its filling is currants.




2.Barbecued pork bun (叉烧包, Pinyin: chā shāo bāo):

It is called cha siu baau in Cantonese and the buns are filled with barbecue-flavoured cha siu pork. "Cha siu" refers to the pork filling; the word "bau" simply means "bun." They are served as a type of snacks during afternoon tea time. There are two major kinds of cha siu bau: steamed and baked. Steamed cha siu bau has a white exterior, while its baked counterpart is browned and glazed. Although visually similar to other types of steamed bun, the dough of steamed cha siu bau is unique since it makes use of both yeast and baking powder as leavening. This unique mix of leavening gives the dough of cha siu bau the texture of a slightly dense, but fine soft bread.Encased in the center of the bun, there is tender, sweet, slow-roasted pork tenderloin called cha siu. The char siu is diced, and then mixed into a syrupy mixture of oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, roasted sesame seed oil, rice vinegar, shaoxing wine or dry sherry, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch.



3. Chinese Radish Cake (萝卜糕 luó bo gāo)

This is another traditional snack during afternoon tea time. It is usually cut into square-shaped slices and sometimes pan-fried before serving. It is made of shredded Chinese radish and plain rice flour. It can be steamed or fried: fried cake has a thin crunchy layer on the outside from frying, and soft on the inside. The steamed version is soft overall.The key ingredients are Chinese radish and rice flour, additional ingredients include ham, carrots, fried shrimp etc.




4. Wonton noodles (云吞面）

Wonton noodle is very popular in Hong Kong. Basically it is Wonton mixed with noodles, vegetables, serving in a hot soup. Wonton is similar to dumpling that has a wrap made from flour and inside such as shrimp, pork mince and vegetables. The noodles are usually smooth thin noodles. The Wonton is cooked first, and then placed in a bowl. The noodles are put in hot water for only 10 seconds,and then rinsed under cold water and place in the same bowl with wonton. The aim is to get rid of the "noodley" taste and make it al dente. Finally hot soup is scooped into the bowl.



5. Hong Kong-style milk tea （丝袜奶茶）

Hong Kong-style milk tea is a beverage originating from Hong Kong. It consists of black tea sweetened with evaporated milk, and is usually part of an afternoon meal in Hong Kong tea culture. Although originating from Hong Kong, it is also frequently found overseas in restaurants serving Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style western cuisine. Hong Kong-style milk tea originates from British colonial period. The British practice of afternoon tea, where black tea is served with milk and sugar, grew popular in Hong Kong. Milk tea is similar, except with evaporated or condensed milk instead of ordinary milk. The use of condensed milk instead of milk and sugar, gives the tea a richer feel.

To make the tea, water and tea are simmered for about 3-6 minutes. The tea is usually put in a sackcloth bag before the water is added to the pot to filter it out. The key feature of Hong Kong-style milk tea is that a sackcloth bag is used to filter the tea leaves. As a result of repeated use, the bag becomes brown color and together with the shape of the filter, it looks like a pantyhose, giving Hong Kong-style milk tea the nickname of "pantyhose" or "silk stocking" milk tea (丝袜奶茶). This nickname is used in Hong Kong but less so in mainland China and overseas communities.




6. Sweet and Sour Pork (咕嚕肉)

Since Hong Kong is close to Guangdong province,its food culture is greatly influenced by Cantonese cuisine. Sweet and Sour Pork is a very popular dish in Cantonese cuisine and it is also very popular in Chinese restaurants oversea. As demonstrated in its name, the dish tastes both sweet and sour. Its main ingredients include frying pork, sugar, rice vinegar, ketchup, and soysouce. Different kinds of vegetables and fruit can also be added such as peppers, carrots and pineapples. The unique part of this dish is the balance of sweet and sour.

Chinese New Year Food

2010 is a special year, since the Chinese lunar new year meets the Western Valentine's Day. To celebrate the new year with family or the Valentines' day with boyfriend/girlfriend is a question. No matter who you celebrate with, food is always able to enhance the festive atmosphere. So, what do we eat in New Year？

1. Dumplings (饺子）

The most popular Chinese snack-dumpling is regarded by foreigners as a "must" new year dish. However, the truth is dumpling is much more popular in the north part of China than in the south.

The inside of the dumplings can be all kinds of vegetables, meat and always with Tofu. There are many different ways to eat dumplings: you can boil, steam and fry it.

Dumplings with Soup



Dumplings without Soup



Steamed Dumplings



Fried Dumplings



No matter how you eat, be sure with vinegar and if you like spicy food, add some chilli sauce! Yummy, Yummy~

Dumplings also have different shapes:

Normal One:



Four Happiness Dumplings (四喜饺子): the shape is similar to the Chinese character for happiness-喜 (xi) and you can put four different insides!



Triangle Dumplings



Odd-shaped Dumplings: this shape is similar to the money used in ancient China which is made by gold or silver.



Fan-shaped Dumplings



Dumpling can also have different colors! If you add different ingredients when making the wrap, the dumplings can be colorful. For example if you add carrot juice, the dumplings will be orange!




2. As I mentioned before, in the south part of china, dumpling is not a "must" dish, but fish is! The pronunciation of fish (鱼)in Chinese is the same as the word 余 which means surplus. Thus, eating fish in the end of a year means people always have extra money or goods left.

Braised fish with soy sauce (红烧鱼):



Steamed Fish (清蒸鱼)



Fish Fillets in Hot Chili oil (水煮鱼): this dish is the trademark of Si'chuan Province and its feature is spicy, spicy and spicy! It will definitely makes you sweat and thus highly recommend in winter.



3. Rice Cake (年糕)



Rice cake is made by glutinous rice. It is considered good luck during the New Year , because its pronunciation is a homonym for "higher year." As such, eating rice cake has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng). It is usually made to tablet or strip. There are various ways to cook rice cake.

Fried rice cake:fry the rice cake with vegetables, eggs and meat.




Rice Cake Desserts: add sesame, sugar and fruit jam, rice cake can be made into all kinds of desserts!






So much food to eat in New Year! It is really nice to have the whole family together and enjoy those yummy food. We usually sit at a round table with more than 10 dishes and eat and talk! We call it "年夜饭"-the most important dinner of a year!