Popular Chinese dishes for foreigners
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the Chinese dishes that foreigners hate, according to a QQ article. Today I want to talk about the other side of the same topic: Chinese dishes that foreigners find yummy!
I will start by saying that I chose these dishes based on my own experiences with the majority of foreigners I met in China. I am well aware that many expats boast about not eating any Chinese food at all, but usually I am not best friends with that kind of people.
So these are some dishes that (I think) many foreigners enjoy eating! Let’s have a look:
– Scrambled eggs with tomatoes 番茄炒蛋 or 西红柿炒鸡蛋
This is a very simple dish, easy to make at home and also a favourite among Chinese people. Even the pickiest of foreigners can eat it because what is there not to like? It’s just eggs and tomatoes! There are two versions, sweet and not sweet. I prefer the sweet one. C. often cooks it for dinner.
– Kung Bao chicken 宫宝鸡丁
I am not sure if this one’s everybody’s favourite, or just that it is the first dish we all learn so we order it in restaurants from the beginning. Either way, it is very popular among foreign students and a classic that doesn’t get old. It has chicken, it has peanuts (or cashews), it has veggies, it is a bit spicy… check! I have also eaten vegan versions with the chicken being replaced by tofu. Equally delicious!
– Dumplings 饺子
Everybody loves dumplings, right? They can be boiled or pan fried; they can be filled with meat, veggies, shrimps or eggs. They are supposed to be dipped in spicy vinegar, but I prefer dipping them in soy sauce. Or in vinegar with sugar (Suzhou style, everything is sweet here!). When I was working in Shanghai and we had lunch in a nearby Dongbei restaurant, several rations of dumplings were always in our order.
– Eggplant in any of its delicious varieties 茄子
That is a bit wide, right? But it is true. Chinese people have the secret for cooking delicious eggplant in many different forms. It can be quite oily, but so good! I didn’t like eggplant before coming to China. Now I love it.
– Broccoli in any of its delicious varieties 西兰花
I have talked about this with several other foreigners and we all agree. Broccoli is usually the food that your mother threatens you with when you have been a bad child, but in China this would be a reward more than a punishment. Sauteed broccoli with garlic? So simple, so tasty.
– Anything with potatoes 土豆
Potatoes are not widely used in Chinese cuisine, but we foreigners love when they make a guest appearance. One of my favourite dishes from the northern cuisine is 地三鲜, which is potatoes, eggplant and green pepper. I don’t even eat green pepper, but the other two are superb.
地三鲜
– Mandarin fish 松鼠桂鱼
This dish is always a big success with our visitors. It looks kind of odd, but try one bit and you won’t be able to stop. It is very, very sweet. It feels almost like a dessert! The Chinese name includes the word for “squirrel” and I wonder if it is because it resembles a squirrel’s tail?
It does look a bit scary…
– Fried rice 炒饭
Chinese people usually prefer pairing their food with white rice, but many foreigners opt for ordering fried rice to have more flavour. There are many varieties as you can fry rice with basically anything, but one of the most famous is Yangzhou fried rice.
Have you tried these dishes? What do you think of them? What other Chinese foods foreigners usually like?
I so agree with this list. I have tried all of these foods – naturally because I am Chinese :D Tomato sauce – I don’t know, but I find that some Chinese like to eat tomato sauce with everything. Or maybe I’m mistaken. Here in Australia, Chinese restaurants like to serve tomato-sauce flavoured foods to appease the Western palate :D
Tomato sauce? I haven’t seen that a lot in here! Some of the sweet and sour dishes use it, but not other dishes. However C. will put tomato or barbecue sauce on many of my Western dishes… it’s like he thinks the flavour is not strong enough!
Here in Australia, fried Maggi Goreng always has a strong tomato taste to it – this is not the case in Malaysia. Same goes for some kinds of fried vermicelli and flat rice noodles.
Oh my God, YES!!! Eggplant in any form, right now and maybe we can order seconds. I was like you and hated eggplant back home but will order any eggplant dish I see in China. Chinese people dominate the world in eggplant cooking – not even close. And Tofu in any form too (except stinky – which tastes fine but that smell). As an American, I hated tofu with a passion and mocked any Americans I knew who professed love for Tofu (in America). Turns out, I was right! That stuff was complete garbage. One bite of the real thing here in China and I was singing the praises of REAL Tofu from that day forth. Chinese tofu is heavenly.
I’m one of the few foreigners who does not like dumplings much at all. I enjoy eating the really good ones but you can keep your run of the mill, regular ol’ dumplings.
High five on eggplant! I don’t know if I had ever tried tofu before coming here! But yes, I also like it :D
Hola Marta! Muy pero muy de acuerdo, muchos de estos platos eran los favoritos de mis compañeros extranjeros! ideal para diversos paladares y sobretodo para la gente mañosaa (odiaba eso de mis compañeros extranjeros, algunos de verdad ni se daban la oportunidad de probar más comidas chinas y se quedaban por siempre en estos mismos platos…)
En mi caso yo también llegué a China sin comer mucha berenjena pero cuando probé las que cocinan allá, UFF!! pucha que las extraño, eran deliciosaaas!! mis favoritas eran 鱼香茄子 y 红烧茄子 , ÑAM ÑAM!!
¡Por lo menos probaban algunos platos! Yo he tenido compañeros de trabajo que se negaban a comer cualquier comida china…
Yaaa! que tontos :( si es cierto que hay cosas raras y bien picantes que a mi no me gustaron mucho pero igual hay que probar todo lo que se pueda!!
Dumplings! Oh, yes. And the eggplant, yes, aside from eggplant parmesan, Chinese eggplant is the the best version. And kung bao, yes, love that, too. I’ve never had potatoes — maybe it’s not authentic enough for Andy. :)
Now I am so hungry and cursing you.
Potatoes might be more of a northern dish! And yep, I was also hungry writing this right before dinner haha.
Hago 4 de esos platos en casa, un poco a mi manera. Ya me gustaría saber hacer el pescado mandarín!! En el punto de mira tengo los xiaolongbaos, tengo buscada la receta, pero aún no me atrevo.
Te has dejao los pinchos de cordero y los noodles uygures… Tienen fans por doquier.
Pensé poner los pinchos de cordero, pero al final los dejé fuera porque en verdad a mucha gente le da cosita comerlos pensando que a saber qué animal es en realidad… A mí me encantan jajaja.
Ni en mil años hubiera imaginao que lo hacen así:
Ah pues yo sí me imaginaba que era así más o menos. Lo más complicado parece cortar el pescado y que luego no se te rompa ninguna parte…
I agree with the whole list. Once my aunt visited us in Finland and my wife also made the tomatoes with egg, some eggplants and something else I forgot already :p
I told C. he has to make the eggs and tomato the next time we go to Spain! The ingredients are easy enough to find.
All good choices, especially eggplant, dumplings, and kung bao chicken. I have a recipe for squirrel fish, and when I made it ages ago, it was delicious. Eggs and tomatoes is good when it’s late and no time to cook.
Uuuh, you made the fish yourself?? It looks like a lot of work. After cutting the fish it would probably all crumble on me…
Hahaha all these dishes, I have made them in my kitchen before at different points of my life. And… you know, (minus the fish) they are all dishes which you can get in American (and European) Chinese restaurants. I guess it is that familiarity factor that makes the expats comfortable to eat these dishes?
Really? I never ate any of these dishes in the Spanish Chinese restaurants (except the fried rice). Well, there was an authentic Chinese restaurant in Valencia and that one was pretty much like eating in China, but all the rest… In the “Spanishized” Chinese restaurants people normally order a spring roll (they are huge) and things like sweet and sour pork, orange duck, lemon chicken, beansprouts salad…
Hmm, well, not European then, just American and English… the tomato omelette, kung pao chicken, dumplings, eggplant, broccoli, and of course fried rice. I dare say they are more common in PF Chang’s (American) than in any Chinese restaurants in Malaysia.
I used to wonder how unauthentic American Chinese food was, but I guess… Malaysian Chinese food might be the unauthentic one… :/
My daughter, who was adopted from China at 7 and is now 19, loved noodles of any kind. She still loves dumplings and lo mein more than anything. I love Egg Fu Yong and have always wondered if they make it in China. Our Chinese restaurant makes Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken very sweet, but they will tone down the sugar for us if we order it.
I made fried rice tonight with bok choy, carrots, onions and chicken plus a couple of scrambled eggs. I use much less rice than usual to keep the carbs down. I make it with garlic, soy sauce and a bit of toasted sesame oil. It is SO good!
I have never seen anything like the squirrel fish! Really interesting. Sweet fish doesn’t sound too good. But when we went to China and were taken to restaurants Westerners don’t usually go to, not only were the prices at least a fourth but everything I ate was so good, even though I didn’t know what it was! I did turn down the fried duck’s blood LOL!
I have never seen Egg Fu Yong, I guess they don’t have it in mainland China! Your fried rice sounds very good, we don’t cook it often at home because we usually eat plain white rice.
The sweet fish is surprisingly crunchy and good haha. Local restaurants are very cheap, yes, and everything is very tasty! Except the blood. That doesn’t really have much taste :D
I just ate tomato and eggs rice today, love it so :)
Haha nice! C. is currently addicted to it, but the doctor told me not to eat too many eggs.
I love all the vegetarian dishes you have mentioned…lived on them for three years and during my recent return…such fabulous dishes you have mentioned Marta. I also love the green beans with garlic – delicious.
Oh yes, the green beans are also very popular! I also like them.
I love 地三鲜 too, and not a lot of Chinese people know about it, I always order it if it’s on the menu. I’m determined to try and win my family over with 茄子 when I go back to the UK. I can’t live without aubergine now!
Can you cook 茄子 Chinese style? I have not tried for the moment, I always do it in the oven!
No, but when I get back to life with a kitchen I will try!
Tried “地三鲜” first time, I am ashamed that I didn’t know this dish and I am a native Chinese. Thanks for the mentioning of this, guess where I had it? A restaurant in Suzhou named “清华”， most hated university in China, by me.
Uhm, I think 地三鲜 is a northern dish, I always had it in 东北 restaurants. Haha, did you go to that restaurant to remember old times? :P
When P’s here he makes the best dumplings (veggie filled of course!). I usually avoid Chinese food if we eat out as I can’t guarantee it’s vegan even if they say it is.
Anything potatoes yes, and broccoli yes too.
He makes the dumplings himself? Dough, filling and everything? Wow! I tried once with a teacher, back in Spain, it is a lot of work. C. says that no one makes their own dumplings in Suzhou, buying them is much easier xD
No! He buys the dough or the dough circles from the Asian supermarket here, then makes his own filling! He’s a chef, so he doesn’t mind, but I think there’s no way he’d do it if he had to make the dough :)
I think kung pao chicken was invented in North America..
According to Wikipedia it was invented in China during the Qing Dynasty, but it sure became very popular in the US, it seems!
Yeah, it’s Chinese. I had Kung Pao Chicken in Shanghai – except they make it super duper sweet instead of spicy like I had in other parts of China.