{"id":1310,"date":"2023-10-24T03:59:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/2023\/10\/24\/12-must-try-chinese-street-foods\/"},"modified":"2024-07-02T12:53:51","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T04:53:51","slug":"12-must-try-chinese-street-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/12-must-try-chinese-street-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Must Try Chinese Street Foods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though one country, China\u2018s vastness has allowed for many different types of Chinese cuisine to develop. We check out the dishes and delicacies you should try at least once.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though one country,\u00a0China\u2018s vastness<\/a> has allowed for many different types of Chinese cuisine to develop.\u00a0We check out the dishes and delicacies you should try at least once.<\/p>\n

Jianbing (Chinese Crepes)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Known as the Chinese crepes,\u00a0jianbing\u00a0is one of the most common street foods eaten for breakfast in China. It is easily accessible around street corners, outside of subway stations and tourist attractions. Though the types of\u00a0Jianbing\u00a0vary by city, the main ingredients are generally the same. The dough is made of wheat and grain flour and fried on a griddle with egg as the base. Meanwhile, the center is filled with scallions, lettuce, cilantro, and rich chili sauce.<\/p>\n

Jiaozi (Chinese Dumplings)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Filled with vegetables and\/or meat,\u00a0jiaozi\u00a0\u2013 or Chinese dumplings \u2013 are common street foods. They are shaped like ancient gold ingots, which were believed to bring you good luck. They are often shallow fried or deep-fried and eaten with a dip of soy-vinegar sauce for flavor. One bite releases a mouthful of hot, juicy broth that reaches every sense on the tongue, creating an explosive mixture of flavors.\u00a0Jiaozis are eaten all throughout the year, but more so on Chinese New Years.<\/p>\n

Pai gu nian gao (Pork Chop with Rice Cakes)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pai gu nian gao\u00a0is essentially a Chinese dish with pork chops and fried rice cakes. Pork chop is marinated and boiled with oil, sugar, sauce and ginger, while glutinous rice flour is ground into a paste, sliced into thin, small segments, wrapped around the pork chop and then fried. The cooking process results in a hot, slightly sticky, compact meal that conceals the juicy flavors of the pork chops as well as the sauce.<\/p>\n

Cifantuan or Ci Faan (Glutinous rice balls)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Cifantuan\u00a0or\u00a0ci faan\u00a0are rice balls filled with various flavorful local ingredients. The most common types are the savory kinds. These include\u00a0aha cai\u00a0(pickled vegetable),\u00a0rousing(pork floss) and\u00a0youtiao\u00a0(long golden-brown strips of deep-fried dough). There are also the sweet variations, which consist of the same ingredients as the savory one but with added sugar as well as sesame.\u00a0Cifantuan\u00a0are one of the most popular breakfast dishes along the streets of Nanyang Lu and Xikang Lu in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

Baozi (Chinese Bread Buns)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Baozi\u00a0are dough buns often filled with juicy meat such as barbecued pork and\/or vegetables, and steamed in steaming trays made of bamboo. They are prepared similarly to the way\u00a0jiaozi\u00a0dumplings are prepared \u2013 the only difference is that\u00a0baozi\u00a0consists of thicker dough, as well as a larger amount of filling. They often appear in two sizes:\u00a0Dabao(\u2018big buns\u2019), which are the most common forms of\u00a0baozi\u00a0sold by street vendors, and\u00a0Xiaobao\u00a0(\u2018small buns\u2019).<\/p>\n

Huo guo (Hotpot)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Huo guo, more commonly known as hotpot, is a Sichuan specialty that has spread its influence throughout the country. Over time, many variations have developed in each region of\u00a0China, using different meat as well as soup bases, sauces and condiments. The most famous of all\u00a0huo guo\u00a0is the\u00a0Chongqing ma la\u00a0hotpot, which adds Sichuan pepper to the boiling meat broth. It is known to leave a burning and spicy sensation on the tongue.<\/p>\n

Rou Jia Mo (Chinese Hamburger)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image: The Woks of Life<\/p>\n

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Rou Jia Mo\u00a0is a Chinese version of the American hamburger, except the buns are thinner and flavored with meat gravy and chili paste \u2013 rather than ketchup and mustard. The meat is shredded rather than a large, circular patty. Each vendor sells\u00a0rou jia mo\u00a0with his or her own special filling of spiced mix. The two most common types are Shaanxi Province\u2019s\u00a0lazhirous jiamo, which is made with pork in gravy, and Ningxia Hui Automonous Region\u2019s\u00a0yangrou roujiamo, which is made with lamb.<\/p>\n

Donkey Meat Sandwich<\/strong><\/p>\n

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According to historical records, donkey meat has been a Chinese delicacy since the Ming Dynasty. Back then, it was eaten for military men\u2019s survival. Today it is an easily accessible, popular, common street food that is simple to carry on the go, particularly in Baoding. The donkey meat is first shredded and then stewed with a mix of various spices and sauces. This results in a juicy, savory batch of meat that is placed in between two sandwich buns.<\/p>\n

Chuan\u2019r (Chinese Kebabs)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Chuan\u2019r, also known as kebabs, are pieces of meat skewered onto thinly cut bamboo sticks. Any kinds of meat or even vegetables are used. The way street vendors prepare them is to coat the meat with salt, dried chili flakes, as well as ground cumin spice, and then mix all three ingredients together before barbecuing the marinated meat over charcoal fires until they are well cooked. Chuan\u2019r are common throughout China, but they are mostly eaten at outdoor night stalls called\u00a0dapaidang\u00a0during the summer.<\/p>\n

Bing Tanghulu (Candied Hawthorns)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image: Confucius Mag<\/p>\n

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Bing Tanghulus are Chinese hawthorns covered with a hardened coat of sugar syrup and skewered onto long thin sticks. They taste both sour and sweet \u2013 similarly to mini candy apples, but more sour, astringent and granular. Though\u00a0tanghula\u00a0come with other fruits such as strawberries or apples, the most common and popular version, which is found in central Beijing, is stuffed with haws. The exterior is crunchy and sweet while the interior is soft, sweet and sour due to the fruit.<\/p>\n

Banmian (Chinese Noodle Soup)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Banmian is a popular Chinese noodle dish that commonly uses fish stock, particularly anchovy stock, as the base for the soup. In most cases, the ingredients include egg noodles that are made of egg, flour, water and salt, mushrooms, and anchovies. However, variations of noodle soups can use substitute or additional ingredients such as sausages, chicken drum sticks, chili or Sichuan peppers. Depending on the vendor, banmian, especially the soup, leaves a flavorful aftertaste that lingers on the tongue for hours.<\/p>\n

Cong You Bing\u00a0 (Fried Scallion Pancakes)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image: The Cultural Dish<\/p>\n

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Cong you bing, more well known as scallion pancakes, are thin flatbreads layered with spiced scallion and deep-fried with oil. They are essentially the Chinese version of Western pancakes, but made with dough rather than batter. Just as pancakes are an essential part of breakfast in\u00a0America\u00a0or\u00a0European\u00a0countries, cong you bing is a regular breakfast item found as a common meal along China\u2019s streets. Though greasy, they are known for their flavorful and juicy initial taste as well as aftertaste.<\/p>\n

Source: Culture Trip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though one country, China\u2018s vastness has allowed for many different types of Chinese cuisine to develop. We check out the dishes and delicacies you should try at least once. Though …","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[60,306,29,559],"class_list":["post-1310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eat","tag-china","tag-hiredchina","tag-jobs","tag-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11766,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions\/11766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}