Top 10 Chinese Cuisine Overseas

There’s no denying that Chinese food is one of the best-known and best-accepted cuisines around the world. Wherever Chinese immigrants settled, they brought their unique food with them as well as the special culinary art, and then it spread wildly and soon won not only the tongue but the hearts of thousands of millions of overseas gourmets. Undoubtedly Chinese restaurants are the most crowded if they’d like to dine out. Scarcely could any one ever refuse the glamour of such an amazing variety of exquisite cuisines outstandingly with inviting colors, aromas and tastes.

In the travel to different countries and areas, the Chinese dishes might have changed the ingredients, forms and flavors somehow, so as to accommodate the tastes of locals and take best advantage of local resources, which stays in line with the principle of Chinese culinary art. Well, the unique Chinese style remains, and what the food reflects is still sensed and speaks well for our special culture though.

There are endless dishes in Chinese Cuisine traditions and it’s hard to narrow them down or pick out the best ones. Personal tastes vary a great deal, and every one has his own favorites in mind. However, a rough research may simply tell what impress foreigners most, and here’s a commonly received list of the top 10 popular dishes. It doesn’t matter if the order is reversed.

#1 Sweet and Sour Pork/Chicken

Sweet and sour pork, also known as Pork in a Sugar and Vinegar Sauce, is initially a Cantonese Cuisine and may be one of the earliest dishes familiar to westerners, also found in Zhejiang Cuisine, Szechuan Cuisine and Shandong Cuisine and now is a favorite in worldwide Chinese restaurants.

The origin of sweet and sour pork can be dated back to 18th century in Canton or earlier. A record shows that the renowned Long Family in the prosperous neighboring Shunde County, used sweet and sour pork to test the skills of their family chefs. It spread to the United States in the early 20th century after the Chinese migrant gold miners and railroad workers turned to cookery as trades. The original meaning of the American term chop suey refers to sweet and sour pork.

Though some specifics of its recipe differ a bit from area to area, so with its flavors, the main ideas and natures are mostly alike. Above all, the materials are strictly chosen from fresh spare-ribs, and sliced into bite sized pieces. They should be deep fried before being stir-fried in a more customized version in sweet and sour sauce, which is the core of this dish, made from sugar, ketchup, vinegar and soy sauce. Additional ingredients and seasonings are usually blended according to different tastes. The point is that those sauces must be accurately counted and carefully coordinated.

#2 Kung Pao (Gong Bao) Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken is one of the most typical Szechuan Cuisine, and easily the best-received one. Not only locals in Szechuan and Chongqing, where lies the fountain of Szechuan Cuisine, love their own food most, but people nationwide and even worldwide may take it as their favorite.

Sichuan people are expert at pungency and spiciness, which is almost manifested in each single dish. Aside from the liberal use of such seasonings with bold flavors as garlic, chili peppers, and peppercorns, all the other ingredients are carefully added to reach a perfect point that is favored by everyone. Diced chickens, combined with special vegetables, peanuts, ginger and sesame paste, are not only the dream of a spicy lover but well accepted to whoever prefer sweet or tart tastes.

#3 Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls, named Egg Rolls too, are a large variety of filled and rolled appetizers. The traditional dim sum, widely seen in broad regions of Southeast Asia, is very delicately made and takes much patience and brilliant techniques. The wrapper is made of very thin pancakes, but still can wrap in various pre-cooked fillings, which vary from area to area. Traditionally, Chinese Spring Rolls are filled with fresh seasonal vegetables, usually including carrots, cabbages, mushrooms and all that, and rice noodles. But there’s no fixed rule, so meat or sea food may be wrapped in as well to the taste of people in different areas.

The way people eat it can also be decided by individual preference. Either fried or non-fried rolls are palatable. Fried Spring Rolls are generally crisp and small while non-fried Spring Rolls relatively bigger and more savory with fresh wrapper.

Spring Rolls in China are also a cultural symbol as they resemble gold bars and people tend to link it with wealth and auspicious meaning. Originally they are eaten during the Spring Festival, hence the name.

#4 Egg-fried Rice

Fried Rice is the most common dish, and perhaps the easiest to cook. However, a yummy dish of egg-fried rice with nice color, aroma and taste still takes a little effort and considerable points. Left-over rice is better here and it should be churned up before frying. Obviously, the order and timing to add different ingredients will influence the flavor as well.

There’s a variety of materials as time and region changes, and the flavors differ a great deal, always finding royal gourmands. It could be as simple as egg only or rich in all kinds of vegetables mixed with diced pork or beef or sausage or shrimp. A wide range of selection is available based on fresh and tasty principle.

Originally from China’s ancient western regions, egg-fried rice has now become part of Chinese people’s daily cuisine. Famous for its aromatic smells, soft textures and handsome presentation, one can easily find this popular dish anywhere in China, from high class hotels to family-run restaurants on the street.

#5 Spicy Tofu (Mapo doufu)

In China, Tofu is a traditional and unique food created by our smart ancients, and the delicacy originated from Sichuan Spicy Tofu can’t be more familiar to every households. Famous for both hot spiciness and numbing spiciness, Mapo Tofu can best exemplify the classic Szechuan Cuisine.

When it comes to the great invention of Spicy Tofu, there goes a story that the hostess of a small restaurant in Chengdu made a kind of delicious tofu which had been highly praised by all customers. Then the dish rocketed to fame but few remembered the real name of its initial restaurant, so they called it Mapo Tofu for the inventor featured pocks on her face, which in Chinese stand for “ma”. And “ Po” usually refers to an aged lady.

Thanks to its rapid popularity, it traveled far and fast, and soon a few reformed versions with little change in flavor came into being. The feel of the particular dish is often described by cooks as tongue-numbing, spicy hot, hot temperature, fresh, tender and soft, aromatic, flaky, and these are seven key characteristics to judge an authentic Mapo Tofu. The distinctive flavor come out of a couple of most necessary and essential ingredients like  chili broad bean paste (salty bean paste) from Sichuan’s Pixian county, fermented black beans, chili oil, chili flakes of the heaven-facing pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, green onion, and rice wine, supplemented with water or stock, sugar and starch.

#6 Dumplings

It is said that the dish was invented by Zhang Zhongjing, one of the finest Chinese physicians in history. Dumplings have a 1,800 year long history which is why it is one of the most popular traditional foods in China and extremely popular in Western countries.

Dumplings are another traditional food specially eaten during the Spring Festival, hailing from North China, and now are common dishes in most restaurants served all year round. Featuring thin, soft stuffing, variously including pork, beef, cabbage, carrots, onions or other vegetables, and unique shapes of golden ingots, the dumplings are associated with deep cultural meanings. Its Chinese name Jiaozi sounds like the word for earliest paper money invented in Yuan Dynasty, so either the shape or the name is linked to good wishes for wealth, fortunes and prosperity. But still Chinese people view them as a cultural symbol and take them as a must for family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve. And the custom has it that a clean coin will be hidden in one for the luckiest to find it.

Dumplings can also be cooked in various ways if you’d like have an alternative once in a while. Boiling, steaming, simmering, baking or frying will offer you a fabulous treat. There’s also a wide selection of sauce to dip in tune with your own taste.

#7 Won Ton Soup

Won Ton Soup, called “Hun Dun” in Mandarin, is a highly welcoming dish in China. Since China is a nation of diverse ethnic groups and different cultures, each region has their own shapes for won tons. Won tons are usually boiled and served in soup, but they can also be deep-fried.

The most versatile shape for won tons is a simple right triangle. Made by folding the won ton in half and pulling together to two opposite corners, this versions flat profile allows it to be pan-fried like a pot sticker in addition to it being boiled or deep-fried.

Many people mix up won tons and dumplings, but there are three major differences. First, they have different starting shapes; won tons make use of a 6cm square or isosceles trapezoid base while dumplings us a 7cm diameter circular base. Second, the “skin” used for won tons is much thinner than the “skin” used for dumplings. Such exquisite delicacy is never easy to make and we could only amaze at the brilliant skills of our great chef. Finally, won tons are always found in soups while dumplings are dipped in condiments and sauces. And in the soup, onions, seaweeds, small shrimps and sesames are often mixed to add fresh flavor.

#8 Peking Roast Duck

Now considered to be one of China’s National Foods, the Peking Duck is prized for its eloquent taste and stunning presentation. This famous dish can be found at restaurants all around Beijing. Upscale restaurants take this dish so seriously that some even have their own duck farms and use only a special kind of duck for their specific Peking Roast Duck dish. Today, travelers to Beijing, whether foodie or not, will put the duck on their must list. But there’s one point to mention that only those newly roasted in restaurants keep the true best flavor rather than the ones served at stores or supermarkets.

The Quanjude Restaurant, one of the largest roast duck restaurants in Beijing, if not the world, opened its door in 1979. Filled to capacity, Quanjude can serve as many as 5,000 meals a day. Peking Roast Duck is famous for its thin, crispy skin, and its delectable and aromatic meat, which is highly popular among all foreigners, including foreign celebrities and leaders.

The legend has it that it was due to the first emperor of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang who appreciated the certain dish very much that it became a widely served cuisine and popular in folks.

#9 Chow Mein

         Chow Mein is a rich source of nutrition and has many health benefits including improving digestion, anemia and immunity. Extremely popular in China and all over the world, this stir-fried noodle dish comes in many varieties. Cantonese Chow Mein is the most famous in Western countries.
In American Chinese cuisine, Chow Mein consists of noodles, meat, onions and celery. It is served as a specific dish at westernized Chinese restaurants. The East and West Coasts of the United States do have some differences in preparation of this dish. On the East Coast, Chow Mein is almost always prepared in the “Hong Kong” style and crispy.       On the West Coast, Chow Mein is almost always steamed and soft.
Most restaurants in China cook this dish by deep frying the noodles; the fastest way to obtain the beautiful golden yellow noodles associated with this aromatic dish. Actually, the noodle culture is far more profound and fried noodles is just one basic dish, but already reflect hundreds of aspects of Chinese people’s creativity and preference of flavor blending. And ShanxiProvince, seen as the hometown of noodles, is believed to product the best wheat and noodles and its people can conjure up a thousand different forms and cooking methods of noodles.

 #10 Fried Shrimps with Cashews

Compared with the heavy tastes of Spicy Tofu, this dish, a typical Cantonese cuisine, is relatively light. Known for being nutritious, good-looking and tasty, Fried Shrimp and Cashews is said to protect the cardio-cerebral-vascular system and prevent cardiovascular disease, which may be based on the theory of TCM. The shrimp is usually soft and easily digestible and accented by the cashews.
The dish is easy to cook at home. There are two very important tips that you should follow. First, if the shrimp is a bit too hard, one can put flour inside of them to soften them up. Second, one knows when the cashews have been in long enough once they start to sink in the hot water. They should then be fried until golden yellow.

You must be drooling now and just can’t help yourself at the very first glimpse at such a mouth-watering image. Is your stomach rumbling? You bet! Then go ahead to imagine what will happen if a real dish is in front of you.