Taiwanese Cuisine - Night Market Dishes

Night Market Dishes

Taiwan's best-known snacks are present in the night markets, where street vendors sell a variety of different foods, from finger foods, drinks, sweets, to sit-down dishes. In these markets, one can also find fried and steamed meat-filled buns, oyster-filled omelets, refreshing fruit ices, and much more. Aside from snacks, appetizers, entrees, and desserts, night markets also have vendors selling clothes, accessories, and offer all kinds of entertainment and products.

• Small cakes - batter is poured into hot-metallic molds and gets quickly cooked into small cakes of various shapes. Countless variations exist. Sometimes the cakes have fillings ranging from cream, red bean paste, to peanut butter.
• Various drinks are also often sold, ranging from bubble tea stands to various juice and tea stands.
• Stinky tofu or Fermented Tofu (Chinese: 臭豆腐 Stinky to-fu is a popular local food in Taiwan and many other Chinese regions such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is called as “Stinky to-fu” because of its strong unpleasant odour. Back in the Qing dynasty, Stinky to-fu was already a dish in the royal family’s meal. Besides, it is also one of the favourite food of the Empress Cixi (慈禧太后). Stinky to-fu can generally be classified into two main kinds, which are soft stinky to-fu (臭豆腐乳) and dried stinky to-fu (臭豆腐乾).
• Ba-wan (Chinese: 肉圓; pinyin: roùyuán; literally "meatballs") - a sticky gelatinous tapioca dough filled with pork, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and served with a savory sweet and spicy sauce.
• Corn - Vendors may specialize in one type of corn or they could offer varieties between savory/salty and sweet corn. Sometimes the corn is steamed, grilled, boiled, and etc.
• Taiwanese sausages - fatty pork sausages with a sweet taste. There are several different kinds. Kaoliang is sometimes used in the sausage recipe. In night markets they are often served on a stick with many different condiments. Sometimes, they are wrapped in glutinous rice. In the very early 1980s, when resources were still relatively scarce, the standard serving is one sausage link on a toothpick garnished with a clove of garlic.
• Cong you bing (scallion pancakes) - (蔥油餅, cōngyóubǐng) flour pancake with many thin layers, made with scallions (chopped green onions). A snack originating in the Chinese mainland.
• Candied Crabapples - red candy coated bite-sized fruits served on a stick. Sometimes the crabapples are stuffed with preserved plums, and then candied. Cherry tomatoes and strawberries are also used.
• Squid or fish on a stick - often marinated, then grilled.
• Bao bing - (also known as tsua bing; 剉冰 cuòbīng / 刨冰 bàobīng) finely shaven ice with a variety of toppings (peanuts, fruit, azuki beans, sweetened corn, and so on). Sometimes served drizzled with condensed milk.
• Tempura (甜不辣 tiánbùlà) - Battered and deep fried vegetables or meat.
• Popiah (潤餅, jūn-piáⁿ, rùnbǐng), also known as Lunpiah or Taiwanese Crepes, is a semi-crispy super-thin flour crepe filled with a variety of filling, such as powdered sugar, peanut powder, egg, vegetables, pork and even seafood. Taiwanese crepes are the made from the same dough as popiah (spring rolls) (春捲, chūnjuǎn) in Taiwan .
• Crêpe - Adapted from the original French version, a very thin cooked pancake, it has a much crispier texture, rather like a cracker. Very popular in the early 2000s.
• Fruit or bean smoothies - milk or ice is blended on the spot with fresh papaya, mango, watermelon, azuki bean, or mung bean.
• Fried glutinous rice balls - slightly sweet in flavor.
• Fried chicken pieces - thumb-size chunks of deep-fried chicken sprinkled with white pepper, chilli and fried basil.
• Shawarma (Mandarin Chinese: 沙威馬 shāwēimǎ) - A sandwich usually made from spiced, grilled chicken and served on a leavened, white flour bun with julienned cabbage, a slice of tomato, sliced onions, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Brought over from Turkey decades ago, the seasoning is quite different from the seasoning used in making shawarma in Turkey.