Fujian Food

Introduce

Fujian cuisine is one of the eight major cuisines in China, which was formed by the mixture of Han culture in the Central Plains and ancient Yue ethnic culture in Fujian. Fujian cuisine in a narrow sense refers to Fuzhou cuisine, which originated in Minxian County, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and later developed into three schools: Fuzhou, South of Fujian and West of Fujian, that is, Fuzhou cuisine in a broad sense. As the people of Fujian often travel to and from the sea, the eating custom has gradually formed a unique cuisine with open characteristics. Fujian cuisine is famous for cooking delicacies. Soup is the essence of Fujian cuisine, and there is a description of Fujian cuisine: one soup with ten varieties.

Characteristics

Fujian cuisine is characterized by clear soup and dishes, light taste and crispy fried food. It is good at cooking seafood delicacies. Its cooking techniques are characterized by steaming, stir-frying, quick-frying, simmering, oil-frying and stewing.

History

As early as after the "Yongjia Rebellion" in the Jins and Southern & Northern Dynasties, a large number of well-dressed scholars in the Central Plains entered Fujian, bringing the advanced technologies and culture of the Central Plains, which mixed and exchanged with the ancient Yue culture of Fujian, promoted the local development. In the late Tang and the Five Dynasties, the Wang Shenzhi brothers from Gushi, Guangzhou, Henan Province, led troops into Fujian to establish the “State of Min”, which played a positive role in promoting the further development and prosperity of Fujian culinary culture.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Fujian successively emerged a number of famous restaurants with local characteristics and famous chefs with high culinary skills.

Region

Mindong (the Eastern Fujian)

The flavor of Fujian cuisine is represented by Fuzhou cuisine, which is also the main body of Fujian cuisine. Fuzhou cuisine is not only popular between Fujian and Taiwan areas, but also popular in other domestic areas and throughout the Chinatowns overseas.

Minnan (the Southern Fujian)

Mainly refers to the Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou zones. Minnan cuisine is popular in southern Fujian, Taiwan as well as parts of Southeast Asian areas. The taste of Minnan cuisine has the characteristics of freshness and lightness, which is similar to Chaozhou cuisine, but mainly seafood and seafood processed food.

Minxi (the Western Fujian)

Minxi cuisine is also known as the Changting Charm, represented by Longyan dishes, and is mainly popular in western Fujian. Minxi cuisine is similar to the Hakka style of Guangdong cuisine.

Minzhong (the Central Fujian)

Minzhong cuisine is represented by the dishes of Sanming and Shaxian. Minzhong cuisine is mainly popular in Sanming area.

Minbei (the Northern Fujian)

Minbei cuisine is represented by the dishes of Nanping, and is mainly popular in northern Fujian.

Puxian

Puxian cuisine is represented by the dishes of Putian, and is mainly popular in Puxian area.

Famous Food

English	Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Description
Bak kut teh	肉骨茶	肉骨茶	ròu gŭ chá	bah-kut-tê	Literally means "meat bone tea". A soup of pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices including star anise]], cinnamon, cloves and garlic. It is usually eaten with rice or noodles.
Banmian	板面	板面	bǎnmiàn		Flat-shaped egg noodle soup
Braised frog	黄燜田雞	黄焖田鸡	huáng mèn tiánjī		Frog braised in wine
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall	佛跳牆	佛跳墙	fó tiào qiáng	hu̍t-thiàu-chhiûⁿ	Contains over 30 ingredients, including shark's fin, abalone, sea slug, dried scallops, duck, chicken breast, pig's trotters, mushrooms, pigeon eggs and other ingredients. A legend is that after the dish is cooked, the aroma lingers, and upon detecting the smell, a Buddhist monk forgot his vow to be a vegetarian and leapt over a wall to taste the dish.
Clams in chicken soup	雞湯汆海蚌	鸡汤汆海蚌	jī tāng cuān hǎibàng		Clams cooked in chicken stock
Crispy skin fish rolls	脆皮魚卷	脆皮鱼卷	cuìpí yú juǎn		Fried bean curd skin with fish fillings
Dried scallop with radish	干貝蘿蔔	干贝萝卜	gānbèi luóbò		White radish steamed with conpoy (dried scallop) and Chinese ham
Drunken ribs	醉排骨	醉排骨	zuì páigǔ		Pork ribs marinated in wine
Eastern Wall Dragon Pearls	東壁龍珠	东壁龙珠	dōng bì lóngzhū		Longan fruit with meat fillings
Five Colours Pearls	五彩珍珠扣	五彩珍珠扣	wǔ cǎi zhēnzhū kòu		Squid braised with vegetables
Five Colours Shrimp	五彩蝦松	五彩虾松	wǔ cǎi xiā sōng		Stir-fried diced shrimp and vegetables
Fragrant snails in wine	淡糟香螺片	淡糟香螺片	dàn zāo xiāng luó piàn		wine lees
Meat strips with green pepper	青椒肉絲	青椒肉丝	qīng jiāo ròu sī		Pork strips with green pepper. It has been adapted to become "pepper steak" in American Chinese cuisine.
Min sheng guo	閩生果	闽生果	mǐn shēng guǒ		Stir-fried raw peanuts
Misua / mee sua	麵線	面线	miàn xiàn	mī-sòaⁿ	A thin variety of Chinese noodles made from wheat flour
Ngo hiang	五香	五香	wǔ xiāng	ngó͘-hiong	Fried roll in five-spice powder filled with minced pork and vegetables. Also known as quekiam or kikiam (a localised pronunciation in the Philippines) and lor bak in places such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Oyster omelette	蚵仔煎	蚵仔煎	hé zǎi jiān	ô-á-chian	Omelette with oyster filling
Popiah / Lunpiah	薄餅/潤餅	薄饼/润饼	báobǐng/rùnbǐng	pȯh-piáⁿ	Crepe with bean sauce or soy sauce filling
Red wine chicken	紅糟雞	红糟鸡	hóng zāo jī		Chicken cooked in red yeast rice
Stuffed fish balls	包心魚丸	包心鱼丸	bāo xīn yúwán		Fish balls filled with meat
Yanpi	燕皮	燕皮	yàn pí		A thin wrapper made with large proportions of lean pork

Street Food

Special snacks include:

Fish Ball 鱼丸

Taro Paste 芋泥

Guo Bian Hu (pot-edge Baked Paste Soup) 锅边糊

Taro Pastry 芋果

Nine-layered Pastry 九层果

Kompyang 光饼

Dried Meat Floss 肉松

Scallion Meat Pie 葱肉饼

Yan Pi (meat Floss And Vermicelli Made Flat Noodle Pieces) 燕皮

Xian Noodle (hand-pulled Thin Noodles) 线面

Spring Roll 春卷