Enjoy the Rich Taste of Chinese Seafood

China is famous for its best quality of non-vegetarian food. China offer huge variety of sea food. Chinese products regularly go to the world market. Customers are demanding more and more Chinese products because of their varied quality. Chinese food is famous in all over the world. There are large number of restaurants and hotel which are offering Chinese food.

China has one of the world's largest seafood industries processing and exporting an enormously varied range of both warm water and cold-water products. China has now surpassed Thailand and other countries to become the largest exporter of fishery products. China has an enormous aquatic production. A large part of this production comes to the International market.

China seafood is rapidly gaining a foothold throughout markets in North American, Europe and Australia as well as Asian countries. Its quality and competitive pricing make it an obvious choice for the restaurants, hotels and resorts. In China, small restaurants also keep a tank of live fish for their customers to choose from. Big cities with their higher classed restaurants have tanks with an unimaginable variety of aquatic creatures.

China is rich in seafood, fish and beef. In any Chinese restaurant you will get various varieties of these seafood, fish and beef. China owns many fisheries resources and over 3000 marine species. Chinese seafood, beef and fish have become the most demanded non-vegetarian food since the last five years. The best thing about Chinese seafood is its rich taste and deliciousness.

Chinese Tea Shop – A Place Of Discoveries

Chinese tea has a long and rich history. Chinese tea shops bring us information as well as examples of the beverage that was once brewed exclusively for royalty. Visiting a tea room can take you away from the cares of day to day life. Try a new type of tea, sit and breathe the aromas of the delicate blends. It is the best way to discover your own passion for tea, be it black, oolong, rare white or delicious green.

Tea Villages

Different kinds of tea have their roots in different villages. Although all tea comes from the same plant, camellia sinensis, climate and altitude play a huge role in the taste of the tea. Add to that cultivation and processing methods, and you can understand that a tea grown in the foothills of the Himalayas will be very different from tea grown in a village in Inner Anxi.

A good tea place will have tea that is specific to different regions, and will have the best examples of those regional teas available. Ask for a cup of Tiegunayin tea, and find out just which tea garden it comes from. Once you try these different types and learn about them, you will discover just how varied tea can be.

Quality Tea

The tea you buy at the grocery store may be of varying quality. Tea bags are made with paper which may have all kinds of chemical additives. A Chinese tea shop is a good place to get high quality, fresh tea. They will carry loose tea leaves, which are the best basis for a truly good cup of tea. In addition to having good quality tea available, they should have a wide variety for your tasting pleasure.

Most Chinese tea shops have relationships with specific tea gardens. They will have plentiful information concerning the details of each garden’s methods of picking and cooking the tea leaves. As with other fine things, the more knowledge and information you have about the tea you are drinking, the greater your enjoyment.

Relaxing experience

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the modern world, a moment taken out to enjoy a fragrant cup of tea is increasingly valuable. Tea shops are oases in the desert of today’s stressful environment! Step inside, choose a new kind of tea, and give yourself over to the experience. You will leave feeling refreshed and ready to take on the challenges of the day.

While green tea and black tea are now cultivated throughout the world, exotic high end teas such as rare oolong tea and white tea can still only be found in a well connected Chinese Tea Shop. Sampling such teas could well rank as an experience of a lifetime!

Chinese Style Chilli Prawns and Rice in a Rice Cooker

Owing to health and safety regulations, the only cooking utensils we're permitted are a rice cooker, egg steamer and combination microwave oven (it can do grills and roasts). I try to use these tools to provide our staff with cheap healthy meals. Local dining establishments serve low quality, expensive food, that can have a noticeably negative impact on the afternoon performance of my staff.

This dish involves a delicious combination of chilli prawns and rice. Either raw or pre-cooked prawns can be used. Though raw prawns are better for absorbing flavour from the marinade. The end result is very similar to fried rice, though a wok is not required.

I shall not list quantities in the ingredients list as I just take a guess and chuck things into the pot. Just use a sensible estimate and experiment until you have the balance of flavours that you require.

Ingredients

Prawn Marinade:
ginger
garlic
chilli (powder, flakes or fresh)
sesame oil
light soya sauce

For the rest:

rice
water
onion
mushrooms
sweetcorn
peas
Bouillon vegetable stock
spring onion

Instructions

Prawn Marinade

Chop the ginger, garlic and chilli (if fresh) finely. Mix this with the sesame oil, light soya sauce and ground black pepper. Mix the prawns in the marinade and set aside in a fridge for a few hours. If I'm planning on serving lunch at 12pm, I'll normally prepare the beef at 9am.

Cooking

Rinse the rice in the rice cooker a few times, and fill with water until there's about a finger nail's breadth of water above the top of the rice. Add about half a teaspoon of vegetable stock to the rice,Chop the onion and mushrooms into small pieces.
Add all the vegetables (apart from the spring onion) to the rice.Add the marinaded prawns to the rice. Mix everything up. Turn on the rice cooker start cooking.
Chop up the spring onion.When the food is cooked (this normally takes about 30 minutes), turn off the rice cooker, add the chopped spring onion, and give it all another good stir.

Chinese Food

Dim Sum, a wonderfully tasty Chinese tradition goes as far back as the ancient Silk Road. In those days, dim sum was associated with another tradition called yum cha, or a tea tasting. Yum cha came about when weary travelers atop camels needed a place to rest and replenish themselves. Because of this, many teahouses were soon established all along various roadsides. Yum cha originally did not come with food, because it was believed that tea combined with food would cause disproportionate weight gain. However, when tea was later discovered to actually help with digestion problems, teahouses began to add many different types of snacks for people who stopped by. Although dim sum originally started off as snack food, it quickly popularized and became a unique, and most often times loud experience.

The actual emergence of dim sum as a culinary feat originated in southern China with the Cantonese. In China, dim sum can be served as early as six in the morning, and many people wake up this early to be first in line to try the tasty treats that they offer. Dim sum restaurants usually close by mid afternoon and do not reopen for dinner, as was the tradition many, many years ago. The style of dim sum restaurants is very unique because instead of one waiter taking our order, many waiters push carts with various dim sum items around the restaurant, and you pick and choose from these carts.

Salty and savory snacks like shu mai, dumplings of every flavor imaginable, and cha siu bao are offered. Shu mai (literally "cook and sell dumplings") can be vegetarian or made with meat, and they are wrapped with gyoza wrappers and steamed. Dumplings come in pork, shrimp, crab, and vegetable flavors, and are either made with a thick, rice flour dumpling wrapper or a translucent wheat starch wrapper.

These translucent dumpling wrappers are very difficult to cook precisely, but their flavor along with the dumpling filling is quite satisfying. Cha siu bao are buns with cha siu pork, a sweet and salty barbecued pork cooked into them. For dessert, you can indulge in egg custard tarts, a creamy and delicious treat, mango pudding, sesame seed balls, or red bean paste buns. An exceptionally delicious Chinese dessert is the dou fu hua, which is a soft tofu served in a sweetened ginger flavored soup. For the more adventurous, a dish called "Phoenix Talons" is also served at dim sum restaurants. These are in actuality chicken feet. They are deep-fried, boiled, and sometimes marinated with black bean sauce. They are very tender, and many people enjoy them once they get over the initial shock factor of the chicken feet.

This Asian delicacy has spread across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and is now available in various countries throughout the world. It is an especially popular type of food in America, where Americans can get a taste of the delicacies and oddities of the Chinese cuisine. Just remember to get to a restaurant early, because they get busy fast!

Chinese Beef in a Rice Cooker

In this article I shall describe a Chinese beef recipe that I cooked a couple of weeks ago. The seasoned strips of beef provide a tasty source of protein. While the rice and vegetables complete the meal to make it healthy and balanced. It cost under £5 to feed 3 hungry workers. And one of them ate enough for two. I shall not list quantities in the ingredients list as I just take a guess and chuck things into the pot. Just use a sensible estimate and experiment until you have the balance of flavors that you require.

Ingredients

For beef:

rump steak
ginger
garlic
sesame oil
light soya sauce
ground black pepper
Chinese 5 spice

For the rest:

rice
water
bean sprouts
mushrooms
bell pepper
Bouillon vegetable stock
chopped coriander

Instructions

Beef Marinade

Slice the beef into thin strips about 1 inch with.
Chop the ginger and garlic finely, and mix with the garlic, sesame oil, light soya sauce and ground black pepper to form a delicious marinade.
Mix the sliced beef with the marinade and set aside in a fridge for a few hours. If I'm planning on serving lunch at 12pm, I'll normally prepare the beef at 9am.

Cooking

Rinse the rice in the rice cooker a few times, and fill with water until there's about a finger nail's breadth of water above the top of the rice.
Add about half a teaspoon of vegetable stock to the rice,
Chop the mushrooms and bell pepper. I normally chop them into lumps between 0.5cm and 1.0cm in diameter.
Add all the chopped mushrooms, bell pepper and unchopped bean sprouts to the rice.
Add the marinaded beef to the rice.
Mix everything up.
Turn on the rice cooker start cooking.
When the food is cooked (this normally takes about 30 minutes), turn off the rice cooker, add the chopped coriander, and give it all another good mix.
Serve!

Char Siu – the Charm of Chinese Barbecue

Char siu, the other name for Chinese Barbecued pork is in fact Cantonese-style barbecued pork. The primary requirement for cooking up this delicacy is a long stretch of boneless pork mainly taken from the shoulder. Char siu is characteristic in its own type due to its coating of seasonings which makes the meat look dark red. The seasoning ingredients of this red devil include red food coloring, sugar or honey, sherry or rice wine and five-spice powder.

How the dish is prepared and served ?

This BBQ variety involves a conventional cooking process. Forks are used to hold the meat within covered oven or barely over the fire. This Chinese barbecued pork is never eaten alone. It is in fact a form of accompaniment to other food preparations like Cha Siu Baau. Here the barbecued pork is stuffed in buns with Char Siu rice and is deliciously served. However, its list of accompaniments does not end over here. Char siew can be eaten with other cookeries like salted duck egg, chicken with Soy sauce and sliced steamed chicken, roasted duck and roasted pork. Not only rice, noodles such as Lai fun, Shahe fen, and Wonton noodles too seem great with Char Siu. In Singapore, Char Siew looks brilliant with Hainanese chicken rice.

Cantonese-speaking people including Southern China, Malaysia and Singapore enjoy this dish full-flegedly and whole-heartedly. This BBQ specialty also makes its appearance in Chinese restaurants and several notable food markets of the world. Japan has however specialized in this art of barbecuing, which is known as Chashu without the red sugar and five-spice preparation but obviously with sweet honey and soy sauce coating.

The art of cooking Char Siu

The preparation of this barbeque is a unique combination of mixing, marinating and roasting. After the mixing has been properly done, sliced pork of about 2 inches in width and 5 inches in length are applied to the marinade and kept in the condition from two hours till overnight. The oven should gain a heat of 425 degree and the rack should be added to the roasting pan before it is filled with water in order to make the rack lower down. The excess marinate from the pork should be wiped off and made to stand in a line in the roasting pan. The roasting should go on for ten minutes. Now the next step would be to reduce the heat to 325 degree and allow the pork to be roasted for another thirty to forty minutes. As you turn the meat from side to side with sesame oil, peanut oil and marinade, the finishing is provided with a dash of honey for ten minutes. Then it is time for you to cut the pork into bite size pieces to make others enjoy each munch with fun and contentment.

Though the seed of Char Siu was sowed in China but the flavor of its harvest has spread to various parts of Asia. In fact, this dish of Chinese barbecued pork is tastefully striking enough to gain universal appreciation.

Beijing Roast Duck, the Most Famous Dish in Beijing, China

Beijing Roast Duck is widely acknowledged as the most famous, popular dish in Beijing, China. The mainly ingredient of Beijing Roast Duck is the rare-breed duck. The recipe for cooking the world-famous dish was first developed during the Ming Dynasty. It is a must-try dish if you take a tour to Beijing, China.

How Beijing Roast Duck is Cooked

First, ducks are spilt open, dressed, scalded and then dried. When roasting ducks, it's better to use fruit tree branches (jujube tree branches particularly) as firewood to lend more unique flavor to the ducks.

Second, a steady temperature should be always kept in the oven. Ducks must be rotated in order to be evenly roasted. It takes roughly 50 minutes to roast them. When the duck skin turns crisp and golden brown, the duck is done.

Third, the duck is sliced into approximately 120 thin pieces, each of which is with both skin and meat.

How to savor Beijing Roast Duck

First, dip each piece of duck meat into the sweet sauce and/or mashed garlic according to your preference.

Then, wrap the meat together with stalks of shallots, cucumber or turnip in the thin pancake and eat it with your hands.

The Top Three Roast Duck Restaurants in Beijing, China

Beijing offers numerous restaurants where you can feast on authentic Beijing Roast Duck, but the top three restaurants to try the world-renowned dish include Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, the time-honored Bianyifang Restaurant, and DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant.

Beijing Roast Duck looks golden brown and tastes crispy, fatty but never greasy. It's no wonder that Beijing Roast Duck is often acclaimed as the World's Top Delicacy. Don't miss Beijing Roast Duck if you take tours to Beijing China.

Beijing is China's political, cultural and transportation hub and second largest city. It is also a world-renowned tourist city which is home to numerous world-famous tourist attractions, include the grand Great Wall of China, the enigmatic Forbidden City, the magnificent Temple of Heaven, and the gorgeous Summer Palace, etc. Beijing, with its unique personality, receives over thousands of millions of visitors from every part of the world. More information about Beijing China tour packages.

Americanized Chinese Food That Was Not Created in Asia

What most Americans are familiar with as "Chinese cuisine" may actually have some Chinese chefs scratching their heads in amazement with when ordered in the authentic restaurants on mainland China and Hong Kong. The foods served in the US were not created in Asia, but are Americanized Chinese foods that were developed to suit the tastes of Americans.

Lots of what would be considered in America as "classic" Chinese food actually isn't. The traditional Chinese chefs base their food on contrasting textures as well as contrasting taste. This goes a lot farther than the "classic" thick, sticky, gooey sweet-and-sour sauce that seems to drape over everything that is deep fried, especially chicken. Traditionally, there are actually five basic flavors that must be represented in Chinese cuisine to make the taste complete: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and pungent. It's definitely more complicated and not a taste that the typical Western palate is used to.

But like any adaptation, the origins come from the mother country but have been tweaked a bit in order to make them tastier to the natives and also to make use of the indigenous ingredients of the new country. This adaptation to the local tastes make both the food and the immigrants more palatable to the natives.

That's why food like chop suey (adapted from a traditional braised vegetable dish but using Western cabbage, carrots, onions, and broccoli), General Cho's Chicken (which is non-existent in China where the real-life general is only known for his war tactics), and the very famous fortune cookie (which has its origins in Japan, not China, and was first served in Los Angeles in 1916) have come to be known as comfort food and classics.

Fried rice in China isn't brown, it's white. Apart from the fact that it's got little bits of vegetables and meat in it, it in no way looks like the fried rice you get in those cardboard boxes. To this day, brown fried rice means that it's burned; a common mistake when mostly men were immigrating to the New World and were forced to work at jobs which didn't threaten the local men, which was washing clothes and cooking food.

Much of Chinese-American food was concocted by these thrifty Chinese cooks who had to make use of the leftover food. The most famous of these is a story about miners barging into a chow-chow, the old term for a Chinese restaurant and demanding to be fed after the restaurant was closed. Not wanting a riot or to lose money) the cook just mixed together all the leftovers he had, seasoned them with soy sauce, and served it. He named the dish "tsap seui," which actually means "mixed or chopped pieces."

Chow Mein, literally "fried noodles" are stir-fried crunchy or soft noodles usually topped with Chop Suey. Sesame Chicken, Egg Foo Yung, and barbecued spareribs were also American Chinese concoctions. But, it doesn't really matter if the food is authentically Chinese or not - what most of these diners care about is that it's delicious.

A Guide to the Symbolism of Food at a Chinese Wedding

Forget the egg drop soup and the chicken chow mein. The food at a Chinese wedding is carefully chosen, because every morsel has a meaning. Even the number of courses is significant. The Chinese culture is one of the oldest and most complex on the planet. It seems that everything they do, and the way they do it, has depth and meaning. With almost 5,000 years of recorded history, the Chinese have had quite a while to learn what symbolism works and what doesn't, especially when it comes to couples starting their lives together. For example, a Chinese wedding feast always consists of eight courses. And we, as westerners, ask why? I found the answer through the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project.

The eight courses don't include dessert, and the reason for that particular number of courses? In Chinese, the word "eight" sounds like "good luck." Like most wedding receptions, the Chinese reception begins with appetizers, but they're somewhat different from what we're used to, like "dragon-phoenix" plates, which are cold platters serving sliced meats, jellyfish and a variety of nuts shaped like dragons and phoenixes. Lobster and chicken feet are served, too. Lobster in Chinese is literally "dragon shrimp" and they call chicken feet "phoenix feet." In a marriage, the male role is represented by the dragon and the female role by the phoenix, and together they represent yin and yang—the balance in a new relationship.

Here are a few (but not all) traditional Chinese wedding foods and their symbolism:

Shark's Fin Soup is usually served after the appetizers. Because shark's fin is a very expensive delicacy, the soup indicates wealth.

Next guests are treated to an assortment of entrees. Roasted pork, in the form of roast suckling pig, is a symbol of virginity. In fact, the groom gives a whole roasted pork to the bride's family at the engagement party.

A fowl dish like pigeon, squab or quail is also included. It is said the pigeon has tender meat, symbolizing peace. Most often, two pigeons are served to wish the newlyweds peace in their new life. Guest might be offered quail to express the hosts' wish for a peaceful life for everyone. Even fried chicken wishes the couple a "good life," because in Chinese, "red chicken" sounds like "good life."

Peking Duck and Lobster are meaningful favorites, also. To signify completeness, the duck and lobster are served whole (head, legs, etc.) Their red color is significant, because in Chinese culture, red is the color of happiness. That's why Chinese wedding dresses are red.

Because "fish" sounds like "plentiful" in Chinese, fish is often served to wish the couple a life of abundance. Crustaceans like crab, are served whole, again to assure completeness.

A variety of vegetables is served with sea cucumber - a sign of selflessness - because sea cucumber in Chinese sounds like "good heart," and the hope is that this dish will encourage the couple to avoid conflict by embodying a good heart.

It's believed that desserts, like sweet red bean soup and sweet buns wish the couple a sweet life. To wish the newlyweds a hundred years of togetherness, the hot bean soup should have lotus seeds and bak hop (a bark-like vegetable.) Lotus paste in sweetened steamed bread symbolizes fertility.

You'll usually find tea, alcohol, and believe it or not, 7-Up at a Chinese wedding banquet. Tea is a sign of respect, alcohol celebrates the occasion, and in Chinese, 7-Up sounds like "seven happiness." Clearly, all the symbols are not ancient, but like "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue," Chinese wedding symbols give the newly married couple a meaningful start in life.
Asian Themed Wedding Favors
Planning an Asian wedding? Our unique selection of favors are perfect for a Chinese wedding.

A Beginners Guide - Getting To Know Various Chinese Cooking Techniques

Stir-Frying

A popular Chinese cooking technique is stir-frying. Normally, meat and vegetables are cut in thin strips uniformly for even cooking. Some long thin vegetables such as carrots, asparagus and spring onions are sliced diagonally to expose more of their surface for quick cooking. Measure the ingredients accurately such as sauces and other liquids and if all of them are added at the same instance, you can mix them all in a small bowl.

Stir the corn flour properly before adding it if it is included in the ingredients. As you start cooking, make sure that you evenly spread the oil in the wok and it should be hot before putting the ingredients to prevent the food from getting oily. The key to this is to toss properly to ensure that no ingredients get burned. Always check on your recipe book for the series of ingredients to be added.

Deep Frying

In deep frying, you can use wok but less oil is needed in this case. Prevent the food from getting greasy by heating the oil adequately. You will know if it’s already hot enough because it bubbles when you drop some bits of ingredients. The food that you will deep fry should be first dried well enough on kitchen paper or drained before cooking to prevent it from splitting.

Shallow Frying

Using a normal frying pan, this is just like the Western technique. From one side, fry the food and then keep it drained from excess oil before adding in the sauce.

Steaming

Simmer 2 inches of water when you use a plate in wok or bamboo steamer. You don’t need to use a rack if the bamboo steamer is large enough to stay on the sides of wok without dipping in the water. But if the bamboo steamer is small, you can put a rack into the wok and put the steamer or plate evenly to balance. Put a lid to cover the steamer or wok and occasionally check if you still need to add water (hot water should be used).

Braising

Braising is all about subtle cooking of meat and vegetables in a flavored stock as with the Western style of cooking. The technique that involves braising food in dark-colored liquid like soy sauce giving it a brown or red color is termed as red-braising.

Lastly, serve your delicious Chinese cuisine on the Chinese dining table.