China has a number of tourist attractions and a lot of delicious food for you to eat. Chinese cuisine is probably the most important constituent of its culture. The dishes there are popular for their taste, aroma, color, appearance and meaning. So we’re going to look at 5 of the best Chinese dishes among the locals and visitors. If you’re ever in China, you can’t afford to miss out on any of these:
Sweet & Sour Pork
This dish has a bright orange color to it. It is delicious because of its sweet & sour taste. At the beginning, it was only cooked with pork, but with the high demand for the dish, there have been a number of changes made over time. The pork can now be substituted with a number of ingredients including beef, pork ribs and chicken.
Gong Bao Chicken
This is a very famous specialty which is very popular among both the locals and visitors. It is a Sichuan style dish and is made using diced chicken, fried peanuts and dried chili among other things. For people who live in the West, they have created a unique Western style for this dish which has the diced chicken covered with cornstarch and also included vegetables, mashed garlic and some sweet & sour sauce. They call it Kung Pao chicken.
Ma Po Tofu
This is probably the most popular dish from the Chuan cuisine and has a history which is more than one hundred years long. It has a spicy and very hot taste which comes from the large amount of pepper powder used in it. This is a condiment which is used widely in most Chuan cuisine. The tofu is also enriched with some ground beef and green onions. It is very tasty.
Wontons
They have been around for over a thousand years, since back when the Tang Dynasty ruled China. There is a custom in China where people eat wontons during the winter solstice. The most popular shape for wontons is the simple right angled triangle which resembles a tortellini. They are usually boiled and then served with soup. They may be deep fried too. They can be filled with diced shrimp or minced pork.
Dumplings
They have been a part of Chinese cuisine for more than 1800 years and are very popular in the northern parts of the country. They have chopped vegetables and minced meat wrapped in a thin piece of dough. Some popular fillings include diced shrimp, minced pork, ground beef, chicken, etc. They can be boiled, steamed or fried.