Top 10 Symbolic Chinese Foods : From Fish to Fowl

Is there any major holiday that isn't celebrated with a special festive food? Given the important role food plays in Chinese culture, it is not surprising that many foods have symbolic meaning. The symbolic significance of a food may be based on its appearance or on how the Chinese word for it sounds. Here are several symbolic Chinese foods:1. EggsEggs hold a special symbolic significance in man...

Chinese New Year Veggie Platter

Chinese New Year dishes come early this time round. For those of you who will be preparing reunion dinner next February may want to give this recipe a go. It has all my favourite ingredients all in one platter. Here I have chosen the pre-soaked sea cucumber which is springy in texture, not the hard and dried ones. Mainly because the hard dried ones need a long time to braise until edible. Truthf...

Huangjiu, A Chinese Traditional Alcoholic Beverage

Huangjiu (literally "yellow wine" or "yellow liquor") is a type of Chinese alcoholic beverage brewed directly from grains such as rice, millet, or wheat. Unlike baijiu, such liquors are not distilled, and contain less than 20% alcohol, due to the inhibition of fermentation by ethanol at that concentration. These wines are traditionally pasteurized, aged, and filtered before their final bot...

Chafing Dish Tofu

ngredients250 g (9 oz) extra firm tofu80 g (3 oz) preserved pork belly, sliced thinly (bacon is a good substitute)4 leek stems, cut into 3 cm (1") lengths 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into chunks1 large chilli pepper, sliced diagonally into 3 or 4 pieces 2 teaspoons vegetable oilSauce1 cup chicken stock1 tablespoon soy sauce1 tablespoon Taiwan rice wine1/2 teaspoon of white sugar1/2 teaspoo...

Drunken Chicken in Shaoxing Wine

Enjoying this cold dish always make me feel like I’m eating in a decent Shanghainese restaurants. I can’t properly explain why, perhaps because I believe this should be one of their signature dishes. Pale-looking though, I must say it does not give much hints about the taste. Shaoxing wine is one of the most famous varieties of Chinese yellow wine fermented from rice. It originates from t...

Chinese Yam and Minoru Thorns Porridge

The spleen and stomach provide the material basis of the acquired constitution, the source of the qi (vital energy) and blood. Therefore, to gain good health with adequate energy and blood, it is principal to keep the spleen and stomach nursed well. I would like to introduce a kind of healthy porridge with the effect of tonifying spleen. Ingredients:Chinese yam, minoru thorns, pearl barley, wa...

Congee in autumn has many benefits

WITH autumn coming, it's time to nourish the organs and keep them moist in the cool, dry season. Experts in traditional Chinese medicine suggest congee cooked with various ingredients, from chrysanthemum to chestnuts. As the season changes and the temperature drops, the body must adjust, and digestive upsets, diarrhea and constipation are common. Foods that are easy to digest and easily absorbed...

Recipe:Taibai Duck

It is said that duck has association with the great poet Li Bai (also Li Taibai), who lived in the Tang Dynasty (618--907). He lived in Sichuan Province for almost twenty years and became infatuated with a local steamed duck. Later he was summoned to the capital for royal service by the emperor. Having found not to be politically promising, the poet found a way of getting close to the emperor ...

The Legend of Eating Mooncakes

Mooncakes symbolize the gathering of friends and family and are an indispensable part of the offerings made to the Earth God, Tu Ti Kung. According to popular belief, the custom of eating mooncakes began in the late Yuan dynasty. As the story goes, the Han people of that time resented the Mongol rule of the Yuan Dynasty and revolutionaries, led by Chu Yuan-chang, plotted to usurp the throne. C...

Monastery vegetables

Monastery vegetables refer to the vegetable dishes in the Buddhist and Taoist temples which are in the "complete-vegetable style" of the Chinese vegetable dishes. As recorded in the literature of the Qing Dynasty, the Fayuan Temple in Beijing, the BaiyunTaoist Temple in Shanghai and the Yanxiadong in Hangzhou were all famous for their vegetable dishes. It is recorded that the Shaolin Temple ha...