Posted by When we talk about fast food in Europe, we think of McDonald, KFC, Quick, Burger King, Kebab…
Somehow the fast food more or less equals to junk food in this sense. However, if you are in China, in a hurry to a certain fair, but really want to have a quick bite, there are so many options! I will start from introducing the food existing commonly in China to the regional ones.
1. Fried rice – 炒饭
Fried rice is usually made of cooked rice being stir fried in a WOK together with other ingredients (almost everything), typically smoked bacon, eggs, and soy beans sprouts. I also make fried rice myself if I have leftover rice.
There are some famous fried rice which you can order in a restaurant, but in general, it goes with everything such as eggs, meat, veggies …
2.Fried noodles – 炒面
The same way to be cooked as fried rice, but less common in China, it is somehow rather more popular in Europe.
3. Noodle soup – 汤面
It is the most popular quick lunch or dinner in China and you can make it in so many different ways!
It is very easy to make it but soup needs to be prepared before hand. Usually restaurants make chicken, pork or beef soup in a big quantity, then add it to the fresh cooked noodles, if you are at home, you can also use the bouillon cubes as a quick replacement.
Apart from the soup and cooked noodles, then you also need to make the sauce, typically it contains the red chili oil, soy sauce, fresh garlic, spring onions and vinegar (optional), plus some vegetable of choice.
4. The cross bridge rice noodles – 过桥米线
A specialty from Yunnan province but now you can find it everywhere in China, not only the food is delicious, but also the eating process is quite enjoyable.
When it is served, the soup, the noodles and other ingredients are separate, you put them yourself in the soup bowl and start serving yourself.
5. Rice noodles from Mianyang – 绵阳米粉
#childhoodmemory
People from my region generally eat really really spicy, we eat the spicy rice noodles as breakfast! (also lunch and dinner)
6. Chinese Bolognese / spicy pork noodles 炸酱面
For this dish, instead of preparing the soup, the effort is in the spicy pork sauce.
7. Traditional dumplings 饺子
You can prepare dumplings by steaming, boiling or frying, depending on the regions in China, people eat differently.
8. Soup dumplings 灌汤包/生煎
Dumplings with meat and soup inside will blow your mind if you haven’t tried yet! But be careful not to burn your lips 🙂
10. Liang fen and Liang pi 凉粉，凉皮
Chinese rarely eat cold food, nor drink cold water.
However, 2 cold things in China that is so popular than nobody resists, they are Liang fen, liang pi and ice cream! 🙂
Perfect snack or quick lunch for summer, and the best comes from the street！
Liang fen or liang pi are both made of peas or sweet potato, only differentiate in shapes， also typically in my region, another childhood memory 🙂
11. Chinese hamburger 肉夹馍
Chinese hamburger is typically from Xi’an, the dough is made crispy and the meat inside are cut into small pieces and cooked, it is said that this dish is influenced by Turkish kebab.
12. Lanzhou beef noodles 兰州拉面
If you go to China, you will find it everywhere! A noodles shop with a brand chain called “Lanzhou beef noodles”, you will not miss it because usually the make fresh noodles from the Pasta using hands, they usually have someone doing it in front of the shop.
Quote from an old professor in Leuven: “If you ever go to China, don’t forget to try 1 bowl of 1 euro noodle where you can swim in it”
The most common dish? Tomato with eggs, probably everyone’s first dish ever when trying to learn how to cook. It is so popular in China that each region even has its own version, for instance, from my region it is salty, however, from Shanghai, it is made sweet.
Those are only the ones I tried, they are all fast, delicious and healthy. And there are so much more!
Related Documentary – A bite of China
If you are a foodie, do not miss this documentary – A bite of China, where an insight of Chinese food was given through a serious of documentary, they are available also on Youtube.
All the photos are from the internet.
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