This dish exceeded my expectations immensely. I’m not a fan of green peppers, causing me to assume the worst. The dried tofu isn’t very good at soaking up outside flavors which meant that the tofu was only mildly flavored by the peppers. The flavor of the tofu and the spiciness from the red peppers provided the most punch with only the subdued hint of the bell pepper seeping through. It’s a healthy choice and a nice use of tofu, but more than that it’s vegetarian as well.

The cucumber dish shown above is a classic Chinese appetizer. It’s also one of the few dishes in Chinese cuisine that serves raw vegetables. The cucumbers pieces are mixed with oil, garlic, salt, and red peppers that when combined turn out really tasty.

To make this dish you’ll need:

1-2 cucumbers
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tsps salt
1tbsp oil
1 tsps sesame oil
2 chopped spicy peppers

Cut the cucumbers into pieces then crush them slightly to release the juices. I recommend crushing the cucumber by turning the knife on it’s side on the cucumber pieces and press down firmly with your palm (crushing the cucumber is key to the success of this dish). Add the cucumber, garlic, oil, sesame oil, salt, and peppers to a bowl and stir. You can chill it in the refrigerator or serve immediately.

Tofu manufacturers grind fresh or dried soy beans into a milky pulp to which they then add salts, acids, or enzymes. Through a mixing, heating, and pressing process the soy milk coagulates into a tofu and is further processed depending on the type of tofu being made. Most commonly gypsum is used as a coagulant, that’s right, the same stuff that is used to sheetrock your house is also in your tofu. Other common agents used to coagulate soy milk include a de-icer, a termite controller, and a water hardener.

The dish above tastes great and works well for vegetarians and is an excellent choice on cold days when you need something to warm you up. The silken tofu and mushrooms are boiled together in a stone pot filled with a cornstarch thickened savory broth. One of my favorite ways to eat this is to mix a few spoonfuls in with a bit of rice and making an impromptu porridge of sorts.

Snow peas have been cultivated for over 12,000 years, originating first in near Thailand and now found worldwide. They are an early spring vegetable that signifies the end of winter. Legumes, snow peas included, release nitrogen into the soil by hosting beneficial bacteria. This excess nitrogen is great for leafy green vegetables so peas, snow peas, and related veggies are often grown intermixed with them.

In Chinese cuisine not only are the unripened peas eaten as is common in the west, but the young sprouts and tender leafy materials are also eaten. The sprouts are called “豆苗“ dòumiáo and can be eaten just like spinach or lettuce

The snow peas above were julienned along with some bell peppers. Then lightly sauted in sesame oil and served cold. The dish was crisp and refreshing. The nutty flavors of the sesame oil were pronounced but tempered by the sweetness from the veggies.

Chinese food provides an ample selection of vegetarian appetizers, so you will certainly be able to find something you like. Snow peas aren’t always my favorite thing, but from time to time this dish is a nice way to start a meal.

The dish above is simple to the extreme but it’s still nice. Corn, peas, carrots and pine nuts plus a little salt and the dish is made. The pine nuts add crunch and a unique mild metallic nutty flavor. It should come as no surprise that pine nuts remind me slightly of gin and I’m of the general opinion that a few pine nuts go a long way in the flavor department.

Often used in soups and cooked with other foods, the Enoki above are served alone covered in sesame oil, salt, and spring onions. Cooked first, and then dished out cold as an appetizer the mushrooms are pretty mild tasting, but a little string. The bulk of the flavor comes from the sesame oil with a slight assist by the salt and spring onions. You’ll find this dish widely available and it goes great with beer.

It’s hard to go wrong with tofu and mushrooms. The addition of the bell peppers almost ruined it for me, but they didn’t overpower the dish and the chunks were big enough to avoid. The shiitake mushrooms never fail to appeal to my palette and as usual there weren’t enough to satisfy me. The pieces of very thin dry and firm tofu manage to become coated in the thin cornstarch based salty sauce forming a mild yet desirable reaction on the taste buds.

This vegetarian dish is another one of those foods that isn’t likely to be winning culinary awards, but instead can be found on many dining room tables in homes around China. I’m hoping to hunt this one down soon to add to my arsenal of dishes I can cook.

Cooking oil is reclaimed from restaurants and sewage drains and is then cleaned up and refined. It’s sold back to low-end restaurants that are able to cut their oil costs by about 5o%. Unfortunately recycled cooking oil contains high amounts of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is 100 times more toxic than arsenic.

This tofu is fried, but I’m guessing I got fresh oil. I ordered this vegetarian dish one night when I was eating alone. Silken tofu pieces were deep fried and then a selection of mushrooms with asparagus and carrot slices was added in. A sweet yet savory sauce was stirred in while cooking and the dish presents well. Unfortunately the sauce was a bit too watery making the flavors muted. This dish has a lot of potential but something is needed to spice it up.

Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:

500g Firm tofu
200g Shitake mushrooms (fresh)
1/2 Carrot (small)
1/2 Green Pepper
1 Scallion (diced)
1 small chunk Ginger (sliced)
2 cloves Garlic (minced)
3 tbsp Bean paste
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1tbsp water
Vegetable oil

Directions:

Prepare the tofu by delicately cutting it into chunks and frying in oil and set aside.

In a clean wok add a bit of oil then add the garlic, ginger, and bean paste and stir fry for a minute. Next, put the carrots, green peppers, mushrooms, tofu, and cornstarch/water mix into the wok and stir. Cover and allow to cook several minutes until the carrots are tender. Finally add the diced scallion and serve.

Rutabaga has a long history in European cuisine and makes appearances in many traditional dishes, but in China it is rarely used and even less often used fresh. The dish pictured above uses sweet pickled rutabaga that’s been julienned and tossed with supple amounts of cilantro and mixed with peanuts and sugar in a vinegar sauce.

Served as an appetizer at Chinese restaurants throughout the city, it provides an opportunity to eat a bit and drink beer in the process, pleasing even vegetarians. The rutabaga is a little sour but sweetened thanks to the sugar in the dish, in fact sometimes the sugar is overbearing, but popping an extra peanut in the mouth can take care of that. Of course a big part of this dish is the cilantro, which can be a galvanizing ingredient, either endearing people to the dish immediately, or inspiring disgust at first sight so be sure to use care when ordering, but otherwise enjoy and experience.

Two kinds of celery are found in Shanghai, standard celery as found in Europe and North America, and another type of celery commonly called Chinese celery. Chinese celery can be easily distinguished by it’s paler color and thinner stalks and is regarded as being closer in nature to wild celery.

The celery and tofu stir fry is a fine example of a home cooked vegetarian dish found throughout China. The ingredients are simple and combine into a wholesome healthy food. The textures of the celery and tofu keep my tongue from getting bored. The salt and other spices are plenty to flavor the tofu and temper the stronger flavors found in Chinese celery, without being overbearing. The celery does taste more like celery than the European kind, so be prepared.

Here’s a recipe so you can have a crack at it in your kitchen:

400 g dried tofu
400 g celery
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
1-2 chopped scallions
2 slices of ginger
4 sliced dried peppers

1. Prepare the celery by removing the leaves and washing the stalks. Cut the stalks into 4-6cm pieces and set aside.
2. Prepare the celery by washing and then slicing into strips similar in size to the celery.
3. To cook, add a tablespoon of oil to a hot wok and coat all sides. Add the peppercorns, peppers, ginger, and spring onion and stir fry for a few seconds then add the celery strips and salt then stir for half a minute and add the tofu. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed and let cook for a few seconds before serving.

Thousands of different varieties are available with countless variation in size, taste, growing climate, and even color. Today tomatoes are one of the most common garden vegetables in America, but China vastly out produces the USA in total tomato productions having produced over 33 million tons in 2008 compared to just over 12 million tons for the USA. California produces 90% of the US tomato crop which amounts to 35% of global production.

In 1753 the tomato was classified in the same family as the potato, but was later moved into it’s own family. Later scientists decided that the original classification was correct and tomatoes have been restored to their proper location in the Nightshade family of plants that include potatoes, eggplant, and even chili peppers. In a bit of Frankenstinian science tomatoes have successfully been cross bred with potatoes and produced viable offspring.

A tomato is considered to be a fruit and more specifically it’s a berry. A fruit by definition develops from the ovary of the plant and the flesh of the fruit will contain chambers where the seeds are located. By this definition, cucumbers, eggplants, and all squash are also fruits rather than vegetables.

Scrambled eggs with tomato is a classic dish that is likely to be one of the first dishes you are introduced to upon arriving in China. The eggs are scrambled in a wok with oil, sugar and salt. Once the eggs are about half cooked the sliced tomatoes are mixed in and then the whole thing is covered for a short while and then served hot. Here’s a detailed recipe.

It’s not a dynamic dish and it’s not fine dining. It’s very much a home style dish that nearly anyone can cook at home. The eggs taste like eggs and the tomatoes taste like tomatoes, the whole mixture is slightly sweet because of the added sugar.

The beauty of this dish is it’s simplicity and near universal appeal, it’s even vegetarian. It can be found at nearly every Chinese restaurant in Shanghai and it’s something that you can easily create in your own kitchens. While certainly not an adventurous dish, the Chinese have created a unique dish using rather mundane ingredients that is familiar enough to appease even those with a more conservative palette. Try this one and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t make it to your dinner table more than once.

Calcium Oxide, also know as quicklime is used as in mortar, in the production of glass, as a fertilizer, and it has even been used as a weapon. It is a strong base that reacts with water and can cause extreme irritation and burns if exposed to it. It also happens to be a key ingredient in the production a few types of food including corn hominy, tortilla dough, and Chinese preserved eggs.

Chinese preserved eggs, more commonly called century eggs, or thousand year eggs are created by coating a regular egg in a clay, wood ash, quicklime, and salt mixture. After coating the egg in the clay mixture they are allowed to cure for three months before they are ready to eat, the process has changed very little in the five centuries since it’s discovery.

In Thailand and Laos these eggs are commonly called horse urine eggs, which is probably one reason for the frequent myth that these eggs used to be produced by soaking them in horse urine. More likely this myth and the name came about because century eggs have an intense ammonia and sulphur odor.

The aging process allows the quicklime to transform proteins in the egg turning the egg whites into a brown translucent jelly that often contains crystalline like patterns, while the egg yolk takes on the bulk of the ammonia and sulphur flavors while turning green and adopts a creamy texture.

The appetizer pictured above is found in many Chinese cuisines and is readily available at restaurants. The silken tofu is often chilled and sliced or cubed. The century egg is then cut and placed on top. Soy sauce mixed with sesame oil and in this case pepper oil is drizzled on top and further enhanced with a liberal helping of cilantro. I enjoy the tofu and soy sauce mixture in this dish but I often find the century eggs a little overwhelming. The ammonia and sulphur never sit right with me and I choose to avoid the bulk of the eggs.

If you are in Shanghai or China for any significant amount of time you will undoubtedly be exposed to this dish. The concept of aged eggs has always been a bit strange and off-putting to me, but everybody has different tastes and I didn’t hesitate to give this dish a try. Once I figured out century eggs weren’t for me I avoided them easily enough and stuck to just the tofu.

Found throughout Asia, when you are visiting China or some place nearby be sure to try this dish. Even if it’s not something you’d go back for second servings on, it’s an adventure and a story to take back with you. Besides you might find that you like it.

Wheat is primarily composed of wheat gluten and wheat starch. Separated from the starch by rinsing in cold water, the gluten contains 80% of the wheat’s protein. Gluten is responsible for the chewiness found in bagels and other baked goods.

Throughout China and Japan and more recently into the Western world, wheat gluten, know also as seitan, is used in the creation of vegetarian foods and particularly vegetarian meat. In China wheat gluten is commonly fried, steamed, or baked resulting in widely varying textures and shapes.

Kǎo fū (烤麸）as shown in the dish above is a baked version of wheat gluten that is first leavened (most likely using baking powder) and then baked or steamed. The wheat gluten takes on a spongy texture littered with air bubbles. The sauce in this dish is made using sugar, soy sauce, and star anise. Boiled peanuts cloud ear mushrooms and shitake mushrooms are then added to the mix to make this Shanghai appetizer. Here’s a recipe to try at home.

Often served warm, but just as likely to be served cold or at room temperature, the wheat gluten cubes absorb the sauces during the cooking process. The spongy texture is unique but not off putting, and when combined with the soft mushrooms and slightly crunchy peanuts a whole array of textures serve to stimulate the mouth. When the dish is served warm, the sweetness explodes, but when served cold the flavors are more subdued. Think of it as the difference between eating warm chocolate cake and eating chilled chocolate cake, both are good but in different ways.

This is a great dish for kids, and those with a sweet tooth. Appealing to a wide audience, especially a Western audience, this makes for a great appetizer when finicky eaters are likely.

Sometimes eating is an adventure and other times adventure isn’t really what’s called for. On those less adventurous days consider this dish as an option. Enjoy.

Originally a South American vegetable with origins in Peru and Chile, it wasn’t until the 1600s near the end of the Ming Dynasty that potatoes were introduced to China. Originally a vegetable reserved for the rich and royal it became an important crop during the Qianlong reign in the late 1700s. Today China produces over a third of the world’s potato crop and is the world’s largest potato producing country even though per capita consumption of potatoes in China remains low.

Potatoes contain a selection of vitamins and minerals that are important for human health including thiamine and several phytochemicals. Potatoes also contain glycoalkaloids which are toxic to humans though there haven’t been any potato related poisonings in the USA in over 50 years.

Potatoes are easy to cultivate and do well in cool damp weather. Unfortunately, potatoes are prone to a number of pests and even organic potatoes are often sprayed with a copper pesticide. Potatoes have a tendency to spoil easily if mishandled or stored incorrectly, as a result nearly all potatoes are grown domestically which means they are less susceptible to global price fluctuations and overproduction.

The string bean and potato dish above combines two common vegetables found throughout the Western world and puts them together in a very Shanghai fashion that has a unique and appealing flavor. The dark brown soy sauce and sugar mixture that is common in Shanghai food is added to the wok after the vegetables have had some time to cook in a bit of oil. As the sugar cooks it releases caramelized flavors that help to tame the sweetness. Meanwhile, the soy sauce adds a savory element and a deep dark color that enhances this vegetarian dish.

This isn’t an exotic dish made with bizarre ingredients that you didn’t even know existed, rather it is made out of ingredients that are likely in your kitchens right now. Chinese food is inventive and creative, but it isn’t scary, this dish is a great way to break into the world of Chinese food and it can even be done right from your home. Give this one and try and enjoy it in it’s simplicity.

Preferring to grow in cool weather Chinese chives make an ideal Spring or Autumn vegetable. The leaves are used to flavor dishes with their mild garlic flavor, while the tall white flowers can be eaten or used as an ornamental decoration. Chinese chives can be used in many of the same ways that scallions might be used.

Containing Vitamins A, B, C, iron and calcium Chinese chives are nutritious vegetables and they are also a valuable tool in Chinese medicine. They contain many of the same compounds as garlic and their oils help to aid in healing bruises, and easing mild food poisoning.

The Chinese chives and scrambled duck eggs dish above is an excellent example of what can be done with a rather ordinary vegetable. This is also a great example of a simple dish that can be considered part of Chinese home style cooking. The slight garlic flavors of the chives come through and mingle with the salty flavors of the scrambled eggs. The duck eggs provide a rich full bodied taste that feels thicker than chicken eggs. Of course chicken eggs could have easily been substituted without a substantial difference. The chives wilt upon cooking, but are often stringy, though not in an displeasing manner.

Trying this dish at home is quite simple. Mix the eggs together with a bit of salt pour them into a heated oiled wok and scramble till they are cooking but still runny, then add the Chinese chives and mix them until the eggs are cooked and the vegetables are wilted. Use a medium heat and be careful to not overcook the eggs.

This is a simple dish that uses ingredients not so unusual from what might be found in any Western kitchen, but they are put together in an unexpected way that delivers a fresh perspective on what could otherwise be a dull meal. Get out there and try this dish, cook it, eat it, enjoy it.

There are over a dozen different kinds of jelly fungus and most of them are edible, a few of them are delicacies, and a few of them are commonly found in dishes throughout Asia.  Jelly fungi have earned their name because they have the consistency of jelly or something a bit more rubbery.

Cloud ear fungus and wood ear fungus are two closely related types of jelly fungus that are commonly seen in Asian food.  Their names come from the fact that without too much imagination they look very much like clouds or ears.  They are found in forests throughout Asia and much of the world growing on a variety of trees and are often found attached to Mango, Kapok and Elder trees.  Recently scientists have discovered that they have some blood thinning/anti-coagulating properties, Chinese medicine has been using them for hundreds of years for those same properties.

Snow fungus looks very similar to cloud ear/wood ear fungus with the exception that it is white or translucent.  However it is an entirely different species of mushroom that can be found throughout most of the subtropical world growing on a variety of hardwood trees.

Cloud ear/wood ear and snow fungus are generally sold dried in supermarkets throughout China.  They can be soaked in water for a few hours at which point they retake their former shape and texture.  They are mostly tasteless absorbing the flavors of the food they are cooked in.  Traditionally snow fungus is used in sweet dishes and the others are used in savory dishes.

The dish pictured above was served as an appetizer.  The mushrooms were tossed in a wasabi, vinegar and oil mixture with julienned strips of carrot, cabbage, cilantro and Chinese radish.  It wasn’t spicy as the name implies, rather it was tangy, the wasabi was very mild and I give credit to the chef for knowing how to balance the flavors nicely.  The small cloud ear mushrooms were delicate and crispy and the added vegetables provided flavors and textures that really benefited the dish.  I especially noticed that the sweetness from the carrots brought the flavors to the next level.  I’ve had this same dish at other restaurants and hot peppers were used as a substitute for the wasabi, personally I enjoyed the wasabi as it is so rarely used in Chinese cooking, but both variations are pleasant.

This dish can be found at various restaurants around the city, it is almost always available at higher end restaurants, but can also be found frequently at more reasonably priced establishments.

Sometimes a name is strong enough to make a dish unappealing, and this dish is a prime example of a unique treat on a Chinese menu that might be passed over simply because of it’s name.  So take a moment to forget the name and venture just a bit into the unknown with this dish.  Enjoy it, Devour it.

Cabbage is a plant in the Cruciferae family. This is a large family of plants that includes many vegetables. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and several Chinese vegetables including Chinese flat cabbage call Cruciferae their home.

Chinese flat cabbage also known as Chinese flat headed cabbage is a variety of cabbage that grows only a few inches high but spreads out flat like a plate and can be over a foot in diameter. It is mostly prevalent in Shanghai especially during the winter since it is able to withstand frost.

Not only is cabbage cheap and prevalent, it also provides you with a healthy dining option. It’s a great source of riboflavin (a B vitamin), vitamin C, and glutamine. Cabbage is also low in calories but high in fiber which makes it an excellent choice for dieting.

Chinese flat cabbage has a more prominent taste than regular cabbage. The leaves are also smaller and a bit tougher than a usual cabbage. The leaves near the center of the plant are the youngest, best tasting, and most delicate leaves on the plant.

Chinese flat cabbage with bamboo is a dish that is only available in Shanghai and surrounding areas. Both the cabbage and the bamboo are more prevalent in the winter months, so be aware that during warmer parts of the year this dish may be unavailable. This is one of the most typical ways to eat Chinese flat cabbage and it’s very simple to create, the cabbage and bamboo slices are stir-fried together with oil and salt, then served steaming hot.

This dish is an amazing example of the strong history in Chinese food and culture in making use of what’s available and providing balance. The crunchy bamboo contrasts the tougher leaves of the flat cabbage. The deep green color contrasts with the yellow/white color of the bamboo. The mild taste of the bamboo balances the stronger flavors of the flat cabbage. Even though this dish is basic, the balance makes it come alive.

I think anyone will be able to enjoy this dish, not just the culinary adventurists. Unfortunately this dish is something you are only likely to see in Shanghai. It would make a great vegetable selection at a “family style” meal, but it’s also a basic enough dish that you can make it at home if you are lucky enough to have access to fresh bamboo and Chinese flat cabbage. So go out there and give it a try, you’ve got no excuses now.

A common street food in Shanghai that you may not be able to see, but you can certainly smell from a mile away. The premise behind the dish is that the tofu has been aged much like say brie cheese. The moldy tofu is then deep fried and served. Dipping sauce, almost always spicy and often times sweet is provided. When served on the street it cost a couple of Kuai for about four pieces, restaurants are of course more expensive.

The key to this dish lies in the name though, because it is stinky, stinky and nasty smelling is more accurate. Think rotting gym socks, or boiling sewage, or very strong well aged cheese. If you aren’t careful and can ruin your appetite. Shanghai locals rave over the stuff, in my opinion it’s just OK. If you are in Shanghai it’s a must at least once, but eat it fast and then get it off the table so you can enjoy the rest of your meal.

A classic Shanghainese style dish. Tofu, and a green vegetable minced together, throw in a bit of sesame oil, and presto, a pretty decent vegetarian dish is created.

Every time I’ve had this it’s always been served cold, and is one of the first things out on the table. Also most of the time they serve it molded into some shape, either a cup or some fancy bowl.

It’s quite a kick to actually watch somebody mince vegetables. I’ve often seen young chefs standing outside of a restaurant with a big plastic bowl full of vegetables and two butcher knifes just whacking away at the vegetables in the bowl. Seems to work better than a blender, lol.

Oh ya BTW, this is one of the few vegetables I haven’t figured out the English name for. It’s something that’s native to Shanghai, but that’s about everything I know about it.

There’s a lot of tofu here, and that’s great if you are a vegetarian. Of course you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy this dish, and eggs are included to spice it up a bit.

With that in mind though, those chunks of tofu, lean on the large size, which can be a little daunting. Luckily this isn’t the mushy tofu you might be used to, rather it’s the rubberized version that is the primary component of fake meat.

I know you might not be thrilled about this dish yet, but really it isn’t too bad. The tofu is a bit salty flavored thanks to the soy sauce and the quail eggs are fun just cause they are a bit unusual. If you weren’t aware quail eggs are also a little chewy.

The chewy eggs and rubbery tofu all soaked in soy sauce end up making a decent but not great appetizer.