Teochew cuisine
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Chiuchow cuisine, Teochew cuisine or Chaozhou cuisine or Chaoshan cuisine (Chinese: 潮州菜; pinyin: Cháozhou cài) originates from Chaoshan, a region of China in the north-easternmost area of the Guangdong Province, which includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang. Teochew cuisine, however, bears more similarities to Fujian cuisine, as which it shares many of the same dishes, than to Cantonese cuisine, under which it is vulnerable to inaccurate categorisation. This is likely due to Chaoshan and Fujian's cultural resemblance and geographic proximity.
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[edit] Background
Teochew cuisine is particularly well known for its seafood and vegetarian dishes and is commonly regarded as being healthy. Its use of flavouring is much less heavy-handed than most other Chinese cuisines and depends much on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavour. As a delicate cuisine, oil is not often used in large quantities and there is a relatively heavy emphasis on poaching, steaming and braising. Chaozhou cuisine is also known for serving rice soup (潮州糜 or mue), in addition to steamed rice or noodles with meals. The Teochew mue is rather different from the Cantonese counterpart, the former being very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl.
Authentic Teochew restaurants serve very strong Oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny cups before and after the meal. Presented as Gongfu cha, the tea has a thickly bittersweet taste, colloquially known as gam gam (甘甘).
A condiment that is commonly associated with Teochew cuisine is Shacha sauce. This popular paste is also used in Fujian and Taiwanese cuisine. It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilis, brill fish, and dried shrimp. The paste has a savory and slightly spicy taste. As an ingredient, it has multiple uses:
- as a base for soups
- as a rub for barbecued meats
- as a seasoning for stir fry dishes
- as a component for dipping sauces, for example as used in hot pot meals
In addition to soy sauce (widely used in all Chinese cuisines), Teochew cuisine is one of the few regional Chinese that makes use of fish sauce due to Chaoshan's coastal land.
Teochew chefs often use a special stock called shang tang (上湯). This stock remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. Portrayed in popular media, some Hong Kong chefs allegedly use the same shang tang that is preserved for decades. This stock can as well be seen on Chaozhou TV's cooking programmes of today.
There is a famous feast in Teochew cuisine / banquet called "jiat dot" (食桌) which literally means "food table". A myriad dishes are often served, which include shark fins soup, bird's nest soup, lobster, steamed fish and braised goose.
Teochew chefs pride themselves in their skills of vegetable carving, and carved vegetables are used as garnishes on cold dishes and on the banquet table.
Teochew cuisine is also known for a late night dinner known as "meh siao" (夜宵) locally, or "da lang" (打冷) among the Cantonese. Teochew people enjoy eating out in restaurants or at roadside food stalls close to midnight before they go to bed. Some dai pai dong-like restaurants stay open till dawn.
Unlike the typical menu selections of many other Chinese cuisines, Teochew restaurant menus often have a dessert section.
Many people of Chaoshan origin, also known as Teochiu or Teochew people, have settled in Southeast Asia during the Chinese Diaspora, especially Singapore and Thailand; influences they bring can be noted in the cuisine of Singapore and that of other settlements. This review article, for example, illustrates a Teochew Noodles House in Singapore. A large number of Teochew people have also settled in Taiwan, evident in Taiwanese cuisine.
[edit] Famous dishes
Some famous Chaozhou dishes include, among others:
- Braised goose (滷鵝)(Lou Gho)
- Steamed goose (炊鵝)(Chue Gho)
- Teo Chew style duck (潮州鹵水鴨)(Teo Chew Lou Zhui Ak)
- Teo Chew style steamed fish (潮州蒸鱼)(Teo Chew Chue He) - Normally makes use of pomfret and has a distinctive clear broth, seasoned and steamed with shredded ginger, preserved plums, preserved salted vegetables, sliced Shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and sometimes tofu.
- Popiah (潤餅) (Bo-BEE-a) - A fresh non-fried spring roll. It is essentially a soft, thin paper-like crepe made from wheat flour and is typically filled with finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama and carrots along with fresh lettuce leaves, shredded omelette, Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, crushed peanut or peanut powder and sweet bean sauce. However, there are many variations of popiah, with some including pork (lightly seasoned and stir-fried), shrimp or crab meat. Other condiments may include fried shallots, hoisin sauce and sweetened soy sauce. The name "popiah" means "thin wafer" in the Teochew dialect.
- White radish cake (菜头粿) (Chai Tao Kueh) - A savoury fried 'cake', made of white radish and rice flour. It is a popular dim sum commonly stir fried with soy sauce, eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally dried shrimp.
- Steamed dumpling (粉餜) (Hung Gue) - 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 'Chew Zhao Fun Guo' (潮州粉果), where the character used is 'fruit' (果) instead of 'dumpling' (餜).
- Steamed chives dumplings (韭菜餜) (Gu Chai Gue) - They are sometimes sauteed to give it a crispy texture.
- Ngoh Hiang (虾卷) (Heh Geng) - 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 Teo Chew style spring roll in restaurant menus.
- Oyster omelette (蠔烙) (O Luak) - This dish is actually a kind of omelette which is cooked with fresh raw oysters.
- Yee sang (鱼生) (He Snge) - A lavish 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 appetizer to raise 'good luck' for the new year and is usually eaten on Renri, the seventh day of 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 master chef in Lai Wah Restaurant in Singapore during the 1960's.
- Thin noodles (面薄) (Mee pok) - A popular noodle dish served with minced pork, braised mushrooms, fish balls, dumplings, sauce and other garnishings.
- Flat rice noodles (粿汁) (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.
- Bak kut teh (肉骨茶) - 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 flavored soup. These herbs are known to be health-giving. The dish is usually eaten with rice or noodles (sometimes as a noodle soup), and often served with youtiao (Chinese fried dough sticks). Garnshings include 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 Klang where it was brought over with the Chinese diaspora.
- Chao Zhou chicken (潮州鸡) (Teo Chew Koi) - A dish of sliced, crisp-skinned marinated chicken served with fried spinach leaves. The leaves are fused with a five-spice and Shaoxing wine fragrance.
- Fish balls (鱼蛋) (He Ee) - These fish balls can be cooked in many ways but are often served in Teo Chew style noodle soups.
- Fishball noodle soup (鱼丸面) (He Ee Mee) - Any of several kinds of egg and rice noodles may be served either in a light fish-flavoured broth or "dry" with the soup on the side with fish balls, fishcakes, beansprouts and lettuce.
- Cold crab (潮州凍蟹) (Teo Chew Ngang Hoi) - The whole crab is first steamed then served chilled. The species of crab most commonly used is Charybdis cruciata of the genus Charybdis (genus).
- Chao Zhou style Congee (粥) (Teo Chew Mue) - A rice soup that has a more watery consistency than its Cantonese cousin.
- Yam dessert (芋泥) (Ou 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.
- Crystal balls (水晶包) (Zhui Jin Bao) - A steamed dessert with a variety of fillings such as yellow milk (奶黃)(Ni Ng), yam paste (芋泥) (Ou Ni) or bean paste (荳沙) made from mung beans or red beans. They are similar to the Japanese mochi.
- Oolong Tea (乌龙茶) (Ou Leng Teh) - Iron Guan Yin Goddess (鐵觀音) (Ti Guan Yim) is one the many renowned Teo Chew Tea. However, Chao Zhou people prefer their own Oolong tea which is the 'Single Phoenix Flying' tea (鳳凰單丛茶) (Hong Wang Dan Cong Teh).
Note: Words shown in brackets after the Chinese characters are the pronunciation of the words in the Teo Chew dialect.
[edit] Gallery
 Shui Jing Bao (水晶包) |
 Steamed fish (炊鱼) |
 Oyster omelette (蚝烙) |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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