As a Chinese-American girl, sometimes it drives me crazy when people don't branch out and try non-Americanized Chinese foods! Some of the best foods are commonly served and in most Chinese restaurants, you just have to look beyond your usual chow mein or fried rice.
1. Dim Sum
Dim Sum is a type of Chinese cuisine, usually for brunch, where food comes in a small basket. Each dish comes with around four pieces of food that have been steamed. Types of food include chicken feet (steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce), shumai (dumpling with pork and shrimp), cheong fun (steamed rice noodles), and more. My personal favorite is lo bak go, a steamed radish cake.
2. Congee
Congee is rice porridge with ingredients such as pork, chicken, century eggs, and scallions. It's usually served as a brunch food as well, or served plain for when you're sick. It's a hot and simple meal that you can eat every morning.
3. Hot Pot
Hot pot is a way of cooking food with a pot of soup stock on a hot plate. While the hot pot is simmering, people around the table will put ingredients into it to cook, such as raw meat, fish balls, tofu, vegetables, dumplings, or seafood. Think of fondue minus the cheese.
4. Peking Duck
Peking duck is a dish typically eaten for dinner. A roast duck is prepared and the skin with some meat is sliced off from the bones (typically in front of you at a restaurant). The skin is then plated and you are given a plate of buns, spring onions, and sweet bean sauce. You put everything in the bun and eat!
5. Xiao Long Bao
Xiao long bao is a type of steamed dumpling, typically made with pork in them, but you also made with shrimp, crab meat, other types of meat, or vegetables. They come with vinegar and ginger that you dip the dumpling in, but when you bite in, be careful of the hot soup that will come out. Known for being served in a bamboo basket, they're both delicious and photogenic.
