Notable Dishes
| English | Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Pinyin | Teochew transliteration | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braised varieties | 滷味 | 卤味 | lǔwèi | lou be | Teochew cuisine is noted for its variety of braised dishes, which includes geese, duck, pork, beancurd, and offal. |
| Teochew-style steamed pomfret | 潮州蒸鯧魚 | 潮州蒸鲳鱼 | Cháozhōu zhēng chāngyú | Teochew chue chioh her | Silver pomfret steamed with preserved salted vegetables, lard and sour plums. |
| Pork jelly | 豬腳凍 | 猪脚冻 | zhūjiǎo dòng | ter ka dang | Braised pig's leg made into jelly form, sliced and served cold. |
| Steamed goose | 炊鵝 | 炊鹅 | chuī é | chue gho | |
| Teochew chicken | 潮州雞 | 潮州鸡 | Cháozhōu jī | Teochew koi | A dish of sliced chicken |
| Oyster omelette | 蠔烙 | 蠔烙 | háolào | or lua | A dish of omelette cooked with fresh raw oysters and tapioca starch. |
| Salted vegetable duck soup | 鹹菜鴨湯 | 咸菜鸭汤 | xiáncài yātāng | kiam cai ak terng | A soup boiled with duck, preserved salted vegetable, tomatoes and preserved sour plum. |
| Pig's organ soup | 豬雜湯 | 猪杂汤 | zhūzátāng | ter zap terng | |
| Bak kut teh | 肉骨茶 | 肉骨茶 | ròugǔchá | bak kut teh | A hearty soup that, at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic), boiled together with pork bones for hours. Dark and light soy sauce may also be added to the soup during the cooking stages. Some Teochew families like to add extra Chinese herbs such as yu zhu (rhizome of Solomon's Seal) and ju zhi (buckthorn fruit) for a sweeter, slightly stronger flavoured soup. These herbs are known to improve health. The dish is usually eaten with rice or noodles (sometimes as a noodle soup), and often served with youtiao. Garnish includes chopped coriander or green onions and a sprinkling of fried shallots. A variation of "bak kut teh" uses chicken instead of pork, which then becomes "chik kut teh". "Bak kut teh" is particularly popular in South East Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia (famous in the town of Klang) where it was brought over with the Chinese diaspora. |
| Popiah | 薄餅仔 | 薄饼仔 | báobǐngzǎi | po piah | A fresh (non-fried) spring roll usually eaten during the Qingming Festival. The skin is a soft, thin paper-like crepe made from wheat flour. The filling is mainly finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, yam bean (jicama), which has been cooked with a combination of other ingredients such as bean sprouts, French beans, and lettuce leaves, depending on the individual vendor, along with grated carrots, slices of Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, chopped peanuts or peanut powder, fried shallots, and shredded omelette. Other common variations of popiah include pork (lightly seasoned and stir-fried), shrimp or crab meat. It is eaten in accompaniment with a sweet sauce (often a bean sauce, a blended soy sauce or hoisin sauce or a shrimp paste sauce). |
| Teochew hot pot / Teochew steamboat | 潮州火鍋 | 潮州火锅 | Cháozhōu huǒguō | Teochew zuang lou | A dish where fresh, thinly sliced ingredients are placed into a simmering flavourful broth to cook and then dipped into various mixed sauces, usually with Shacha and soy sauce as its main components. Ingredients often include leafy vegetables, yam, tofu, pomfret and other seafood, beef balls, fish balls, pork balls, mushrooms and Chinese noodles, amongst others. Teochew hot pot, like other Chinese hot pots, is served in a large communal metal pot at the center of the dining table. |
| Spring rolls with prawn or minced meat fillings | 蝦卷 / 燒卷 / 五香 | 虾卷 / 烧卷 / 五香 | xiājuǎn / shāojuǎn / wǔxiāng | heh gerng / sio gerng / ngo hiang | Mixed pork and prawn paste (sometimes fish), seasoned with five-spice powder, wrapped and rolled in a beancurd skin and deep-fried or pan-fried. It is sometimes referred to as Teochew-style spring roll in restaurant menus. |
| Yusheng | 魚生 | 鱼生 | yúshēng | her sae | A raw fish salad where typical ingredients include: fresh salmon, white radish, carrot, red pepper (capsicum), ginger, kaffir lime leaves, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers or fried dried shrimp and five spice powder, with the dressing primarily made from plum sauce. It is customarily served as an appetiser to raise 'good luck' for the new year and is usually eaten on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year. This delicacy is known to exist as far back as the Southern Song Dynasty, the original version consisting of a simple salad of raw and julienned vegetables, dressed in condiments. The modern version which is widely known today was developed by a chef in Lai Wah Restaurant in Singapore during the 1960s. |
| Teochew cold crab | 潮州凍蟹 | 潮州冻蟹 | Cháozhōu dòngxiè | Teochew ngang hoi | The whole crab is first steamed then served chilled. The species of crab most commonly used is Charybdis cruciata. |
| Fishballs / fishcakes / fish dumplings | 魚丸 / 魚粿 / 魚餃 | 鱼丸 / 鱼粿 / 鱼饺 | yúwán / yúguǒ / yújiǎo | her ee / her kueh / her kiaw | This fish paste made into balls, cakes and dumplings can be cooked in many ways but are often served in Teochew-style noodle and soups. |
| Fishball noodle soup | 魚丸麵 | 鱼丸面 | yúwán miàn | her ee mee | Any of several kinds of egg and rice noodles may be served either in a light fish-flavoured broth or dry, along with fishballs, fishcakes, beansprouts and lettuce. |
| Mee pok | 麵薄 | 面薄 | miànbáo | mee pok | A popular noodle dish served with minced pork, braised mushrooms, fishballs, dumplings, sauce and other garnish. |
| Bak chor mee | 肉碎麵 | 肉碎面 | ròusuì miàn | bak chor mee | Boiled noodles, dried and mixed with variety sauce such as soy sauce, chilli sauce and lard topped with vegetables, chopped onion, minced pork and mushroom, and fishballs or fishcakes. |
| Kueh chap | 粿汁 | 粿汁 | guǒzhī | kueh chap | A dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made from dark soy sauce served with pig offal, braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables and braised hard-boiled eggs. |
| Teochew rice noodle soup | 潮州粿條 | 潮州粿条 | Cháozhōu guǒtiáo | Teochew kuay teow | A quintessential Teochew-style noodle soup that is also particularly popular in Vietnam and Cambodia (known respectively as hu tieu and kuy teav), through the influx of Teochew immigrants. It is a dish of yellow egg noodles and thin rice noodles served in a delicate, fragrant soup with meatballs, other various meats, seafood (such as shrimp), fried fish cake slices, quail eggs, blanched Chinese cabbage and sometimes offal. The soup base is typically made of pork and/or chicken bones and dried squid. Just before serving, the noodle soup is garnished with fried minced garlic, fried shallots, thinly sliced scallions and fresh cilantro (coriander) sprigs. For those who enjoy their noodle soup with added depth, the solid ingredients may be dipped into Shacha sauce or Teochew chili oil. |
| Teochew-style congee | 潮州粥 | 潮州粥 | Cháozhōu zhōu | Teochew mue | A rice soup that has a more watery texture as compared to the Cantonese congee. It is commonly served with various salty accompaniments such as salted vegetables (kiam chai), preserved radish (chai por), boiled salted duck eggs, fried salted fish and fried peanuts. |
| Yam dessert | 芋泥 | 芋泥 | yùní | orh ni | Yams are steamed, mashed and then sweetened to form the dessert which resembles yam dough. It is often served with gingko seeds. This dessert contains fried onion oil to give it a nice fragrance. |
| Chai tao kway | 菜頭粿 | 菜头粿 | càitóu guǒ | chai tau kueh | A savoury fried cake, made of white radish and rice flour. It is commonly stir fried with soy sauce, eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally dried shrimp. |
| Fun guo | 粉餜 | 粉馃 | fěnguǒ | hung gue | A type of steamed dumplings. This is usually filled with dried radish, garlic chives, ground pork, dried shrimp, Shiitake mushrooms and peanuts. The dumpling wrapper is made from a mixture of flour or plant starches mixed together with water. In Cantonese, these are called chiu chow fun guo (Chinese: 潮州粉果; pinyin: Cháozhōu fěnguǒ), in which the Chinese character 餜 is replaced by 果. |
| Steamed chives dumplings | 韭菜餜 | 韭菜馃 | jiǔ cài guǒ | gu chai gue | They are sometimes sautéed to give them a crispy texture. |
| Crystal balls | 水晶包 | 水晶包 | shuǐjīng bāo | zhui jia bao | A steamed dessert with a variety of fillings such as yellow milk (simplified Chinese: 奶黄; traditional Chinese: 奶黃; pinyin: nǎihuáng; Teochew: ni ng), yam paste (Chinese: 芋泥; pinyin: yùní; Teochew: ou ni) or bean paste made from mung beans or azuki beans. They are similar to mochi. |
| Chwee kueh | 水粿 | 水粿 | shuǐguǒ | chwee kueh | Cup-shaped steamed rice cakes topped with chopped preserved / salted radish. |
| Oolong tea | 烏龍茶 | 乌龙茶 | wūlóng chá | Ou-leeng teh | Tieguanyin is one of the most popular Teochew teas. However, the Teochew people prefer their own brand of Oolong tea, which is the hong wang dan cong teh (simplified Chinese: 凤凰单丛茶; traditional Chinese: 鳳凰單丛茶; pinyin: fènghuáng dāncóng chá). |
Read more about this topic: Chiuchow Cuisine
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or dishes:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Rice and peas fit into that category of dishes where two ordinary foods, combined together, ignite a pleasure far beyond the capacity of either of its parts alone. Like rhubarb and strawberries, apple pie and cheese, roast pork and sage, the two tastes and textures meld together into the sort of subtle transcendental oneness that we once fantasized would be our experience when we finally found the ideal mate.”
—John Thorne, U.S. cookbook writer. Simple Cooking, “Rice and Peas: A Preface with Recipes,” Viking Penguin (1987)