Chaoshan emcompasses the prefecture-level cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang.
The region's cuisine is often mistakenly labelled as "Cantonese cuisine".
Chaozhou cuisine is particularly well known for its seafood and vegetarian dishes and is commonly regarded as being healthy. Its use of flavoring is much less heavy-handed than most other Chinese cuisines and depends much on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavor. 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 in addition to steamed rice or noodles with meals. The Chaozhou mue is rather different from Cantonese porridge or congee. The former is very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl.
Authentic Chaozhou restaurants serve very strong Oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny cups before and after the meal. This is and is a very strong tea which has a bittersweet taste, called gan gan .
A condiment that is commonly associated with Chaozhou cuisine is Shacha sauce. This popular paste is also used in 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
Chaozhou chefs often use a special stock called shang tang . This stock remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. One Hong Kong chef allegedly has used the same shang tang for over fifty years. You will see this stock on Chaozhou TV in their cooking programmes, even today.
There is a famous feast in Chaozhou cuisine / banquet called "jiat dot" which roughly means "eat table". A myriad dishes are often served, which include shark fins soup, bird's nest soup, lobster, steam fish and braised goose.
Chaozhou chefs pride themselves on their skill in vegetable carving, and carved vegetables are used as garnishes on cold dishes and on the banquet table.
Chaozhou is also known for a late night dinner called "Da Leng" . Chaozhou people enjoy eating out in restaurants or at roadside food stalls close to midnight before they go to bed. Some restaurants stay open till dawn.
Unlike the typical menu selections of many other Chinese cuisines, Chaozhou restaurant menus often have a dessert section.
Many people of Chaozhou, also known as Teochiu or Teochew, heritage have settled in Southeast Asia during the Chinese Diaspora, especially Singapore; influences can be noted in the cuisine of Singapore. This review article illustrates a .
A large number of Teochew people have also settled in Taiwan, evident in Taiwanese cuisine.
Famous dishes
Some famous Chaozhou dishes include, among others:
* Braised Goose, or Lou Gho in the .
* Steamed goose
* Teochew-style duck
* Teochew-style steamed fish , which 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, and tomatoes.
* Popiah , a fresh spring roll. It is essentially a 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 , shrimp or crab meat. Other condiments include fried shallots, hoisin sauce and sweetened soy sauce.
* Chai tao kway , a 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.
* A steamed dumpling called '''' in the usually filled with dried radish, garlic chives, ground pork, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms and peanuts. The dumpling wrapper is made from a mixture of flours or plant starches mixed together with boiling water. In Cantonese, these are called ''Chiuchow fun guo'' , where the wrong character for dumpling is used. It is instead the fruit character guo .
* Steamed chives dumplings called gucai gue 韭菜餜. Sometimes, they are sauteed to give it a crispy texture.
* Prawn roll, noted for being wrapped in a crisp tofu skin, called heh geng in the Chaozhou language . It is sometimes referred to as Teochew-style spring roll in restaurant menus.
* which is called O Luah in Chaozhou language
* Yusheng , a raw fish salad. Typical ingredients include: fresh salmon, daikon , carrot, red pepper , ginger, kaffir lime leaves, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers , five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce. It was a delicacy invented 1,500 years ago during the Song Dynasty.
* Mee pok , a popular noodle dish served with minced pork, braised mushrooms, fish balls, dumplings, sauce and other garnishings.
* Kway chap , a dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with pig offal, braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables, and braised hard-boiled eggs.
* Chaozhou Chicken, a dish of sliced, crisp-skinned marinated chicken served with fried spinach leaves. The leaves are fused with a and Shaoxing wine fragrance.
* Fish balls and beef balls , which can be cooked in many ways but are often served in Chiuchow-style noodle soups.
* Fishball Noodle Soup . 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 fishmeat balls, fishcake, beansprouts and lettuce.
* Cold crab . The whole crab is first steamed and served chilled. The species of crab most commonly used is ''Charybdis cruciata'' of the genus Charybdis .
* Chaozhou-style Congee , a rice soup that has a more watery consistency than its Cantonese cousin.
* Ou ni which is a yam dessert.
* Crystal balls which is a steamed dessert with a variety of fillings such as 奶黃, yam paste , bean paste made from mung beans, or even unusual crèmes and fruity gels. The crystal balls are called Zuizian bao 水晶包. They are similar to the Japanese mochi.
* Tieguanyin . However, Chaozhou people prefer their own Oolong tea which is Feng Huang Dancong cha .
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