Preserved duck eggs are a traditional Shanghainese delicacy, and although known as “1000-year-old eggs” they are rarely more than 100 days old. It is done using a traditional method. Pidan is now very common in China, and is sometimes consumed with congee.
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Chou Dou Fu (Smelly Tofu)
When first smelled, one would naturally hold their nose, not to mention give it a try and swallow a piece. The smelly tofu is a popular local food mainly found on Shanghai streets. The tofu is fermanted with many ingredients before fried. Old ladies usually serve them on their liltte trolley. Dispite their odour, most foreigners love it after tasting it. It is dirt cheap too!
Crawfish
Crawfishes usually come into season during the summer. In Shanghai, the spicy crawfish are a particular favorite among local people. A plate of crawfish and a bottle of beer are absolutely the best choice for summer night snacking. Fumao Crawfish is a famous restaurant in Shanghai. It has a number of chain stores throughout the city. The crawfish sold at their restaurants are handpicked from Taihu Lake, a big lake near Wuxi City, in the southern part of Jiangsu province. Before the crawfish are cooked, the heads are removed making them easier to eat. The crawfish are unsalted, and spicy.
Wonton (dumpling) soup with three fresh delicacies
Different from the wonton soup in Wuxi, a city nearby, Shanghai’s wonton is filled with freshly minced pork. Before serving, the wonton soup is added with three fresh delicacies – egg pancake slices, dried small shrimps and dried laver.
Fried tofu soup
The soup is a traditional companion for most Shanghai snacks, fried tofu soup is one of the most commonplace. The soup has little salt or oil, and it perfectly matches the greasy snacks like pan-fried buns stuffed with pork. Fried tofu, bean starch noodles and minced pork wrapped in bean sheets cooked together in soup is a very popular combination among locals.
Shrimps and spring onion braised noodles
Noodles are served with spring onion and fried shrimps. Locals say that eating a bowl of delicious noodles while having some other flavored snacks is a great way to enjoy life.
iaotou cake and mint cake
People all over China like Shanghai’s specialty cakes. Tiaotou cake, mint cake and double-filling cake are the most popular choices among a wide variety in Shanghai. Mint cakes are made of sticky rice flour mixed with mint, taste of which helps locals fend off the summer heat. The Tiaotou cake is made of rice flour mixed with bean paste, garnished with dried rose petals at the top. The cake is soft in the mouth and moderately sweet.
Begonia cake
Begonia cake is one of the snacks popular among the older generations in Shanghai. Bean paste is wrapped in flour dough and coated with slices of preserved fruits, sunflower seeds, sesame and barley sugar. The cake is baked in a mould shaped like a Begonia flower, giving the cake its name. It tastes sweet and soft and is best served hot. Because of its beautiful shape, it is as much of an enjoyment to eat the cake as it is to watch it cook.
Pork ribs with fried New Year cake
The pork ribs with fried New Year cake is a specialty snack from Shanghai and has a history of over 50 years. Pork ribs are coated with flour, five-spicy powders and eggs, soaked with soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, chopped spring onion and ginger, then wrapped with New Year cake strips. Lastly, it is deep fried until the surface becoming golden brown. The New Year cake is made of glutinous Songjiang rice flour after pounding and kneading. It tastes tender, sticky and has high nutritional value. The two famous snack restaurants in Shanghai serving this specialty are called Xiaochangzhou and Xiandelai.
LeiSha Dumpling
It is the glutinous-rice dumpling covering ground adzuki bean.
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