When preparing food, the Chinese always adhere to the traditional philosophy that food should act as medicine. Here people prefer to replace sugar with fresh fruits, consuming them after meals. Therefore, Chinese sweets are very different from the desserts of European cuisine. Such dishes can be served as an independent dish at the beginning of a meal, along with spicy noodles or poultry, and not at the end of the meal. They are prepared not from products familiar to Europeans, but from vegetables, rice flour, oil, spices with a little added sugar.
Chinese desserts
In traditional Chinese cuisine, it is not customary to separate sweets into a separate category of food. In the Middle Kingdom, it is not customary to eat a lot of sugar, so such Chinese delicacies are healthier than European ones and can act as medicine.
Chinese delicacies are served as independent snacks or special dishes served with tea. They differ from European ones in their unusual appearance and exotic ingredients, which contain recipes for Chinese confectionery products, which may contain more oil than sugar.
If Western culture evaluates the gastronomic merits of dishes, including sweet ones, by appearance and taste, then in China, over the millennia of the existence of this state, a fundamentally different tradition has developed. The Chinese understand culinary taste as a complex perception in which one must take into account:
- smell;
- taste sensations;
- consistency of the dish;
- Benefit for health.
All this is expressed in the concept of kougan, with the help of which they form their perception of tasty and healthy food, which also extends to Chinese desserts.
Young tofu soufflé
The hua principle denotes the concept of smooth, slippery, wet. This category includes:
- puddings;
- jelly;
- mousses;
- marmalade;
- soufflé made from butter and milk;
A classic Chinese dish of this type is unripe tofu cooked in sugar syrup. Crushed ice, ginger, honey or jams can be added to it and served as a dessert.
QQ milk tea
The concept of QQ or tanya refers to elasticity in Chinese dishes such as jelly candies. It also refers to QQ milk tea, popular among Chinese youth. It is prepared from black or green tea based on milk powder. It is customary to put various additives in it: sweet potato, canned coconut, beans or aloe. Dried fruits also belong to this culinary concept in China.
Biscuit "Tiger Skin"
The concept of sunzhuan refers to baked goods and flour products. It means lightness, softness, airiness. Biscuits are very popular in China. The most famous and widespread Traditional Chinese sweets of this type in the form of a biscuit are known as “Tiger Skin” and Taiwanese biscuits. They are baked according to special recipes from eggs, flour, vegetable oil, cocoa or green tea powder.
Mahua fried in peanut oil
The tsui category refers to crispy snacks that are fried in oil:
- waffles;
- nuts;
- kozinaki;
- juicy fruits.
This hieroglyph denotes crispy, fresh and brittle foods. Among the baked goods in this category, the most famous product is mahua. This is the name given to intertwined pieces of dough fried until crispy in peanut oil. They can be sweet or non-sweet. The dough fried in oil can be served with honey, sesame seeds, nuts, and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
In addition to the dough, Chinese hawthorn, strung on skewers, is fried in oil. This dish is called tanhulu. It is very popular among foreigners.
Fanlis
The hieroglyph su denotes oily, crispy and crumbly foods that are cooked in oil. It refers to Chinese pastries made from puff pastry and shortcrust pastry, for the preparation of which vegetable oil is used. One of the most famous Chinese shortcakes is fenglisu, the filling of which is made from boiled pineapples. Modern recipes for such baked goods can use melon, strawberries, blueberries, melon or their flavor substitutes instead of pineapple for the filling.
From golden beans
Bean pastries are considered a calling card in the Celestial Empire. Recipes for their preparation come from ancient times. They were usually prepared for the Dragon Boat Festival. These Chinese food snacks in China were served with rice flour dumplings, salted duck eggs and an herbal liqueur made from the realgar herb.
Bean Cakes
You can prepare this Chinese snack with or without oil. The most popular in China are delicate Beijing bean cakes, which are prepared without oil. The photo shows that they are quite simple in appearance, but the Chinese themselves value them very much for their delicate taste and beneficial properties.
Making delicious Peking pears
The Chinese sweets, the recipes for which we are considering, can not only be made as an everyday dessert, but also served at the holiday table.
To prepare Peking pears yourself, you need to purchase:
- ripe soft pears (take “conference” or “duchess”) - about 4 large pieces;
- peeled walnut – approximately 50 g;
- honey of any kind - about 3 large spoons;
- butter – about 10 g;
- chopped ginger - use to taste.
Rice flour cakes
Rice cakes are one of the most ancient and beloved confectionery products among the Chinese. The first recipes for their preparation date back to the Han era. They are prepared from glutinous cooked rice, bamboo leaves without oil for any occasion in China. They are not baked, but simply made from boiled rice flour without the use of oil.
Chinese cake Fa Gao
One of the most popular New Year's baked goods in China is Fa Gao cake. Translated into Russian, its name means happy cake. The Chinese believe that colorful Chinese cupcakes are supposed to bring prosperity, good luck and happiness to the home. The best cakes of this type are made in the Chinese city of Chongcun, located in southern China. For their preparation the following are used:
- rice flour;
- glutinous rice;
- food colorings;
- sugar;
- raising agents.
The photo shows that such Chinese cupcakes are more reminiscent of a colored soufflé than similar confectionery products traditional for European cuisine, in which butter is placed.
Chinese water chestnut cake
To prepare this Chinese sweet pie, more like jelly or jellied meat, you need very few ingredients:
- sugar;
- water;
- river chestnuts, ground to flour.
Preparing this Chinese pie does not take much time. All ingredients are simply mixed and then steamed until a jelly-like mass is obtained. Jelly-like pie is loved in the Middle Kingdom by both children and adults for its delicate taste and beneficial properties. It contains B vitamins and fiber and is completely oil free. Minimal heat treatment allows you to preserve all the beneficial properties of water chestnut and turn the sweetness into a healthy food.
Cooking method
Chinese sweets are very popular in our country. This is due to the fact that such delicacies cannot be found in Russian cuisine.
To diversify your everyday or holiday table, we recommend baking Peking pears. To do this, the fruits are thoroughly washed and, without peeling, cut in half. At the same time, the core of the pears is carefully removed, making peculiar boats.
The removed pulp is finely chopped. Next, chopped walnuts and chopped ginger are added to it. After this, all ingredients are flavored with fresh honey and mixed thoroughly.
The resulting mass is carefully stuffed into all the halves of the pears. The finished semi-finished products are laid out on a mold greased with butter, which is then placed in a preheated oven. This dessert should be baked until done. As a rule, this does not take too much time (about 10-12 minutes).
Peking pears should be served at a festive or everyday table slightly cooled. If you do this immediately after cooking, you risk getting severely burned.
By the way, this dessert should not be consumed with your hands, but with a small spoon.
Spicy Yam Cake
Although this dish is called a cake, its composition is not at all similar to European confectionery products. For its preparation the following are used:
- rice flour;
- yam, or sweet potato;
- garlic;
- pepper;
- salt;
- green pea;
- spices.
This Chinese cake is more like a snack than a confection. Due to the absence of oil in it and the presence of spices with garlic, it has medicinal properties and helps people suffering from kidney and spleen diseases.
Preparing Chinese sweets for children
Children are the main connoisseurs of various sweets. By preparing Chinese delicacies yourself, you will definitely surprise all your household members.
Fruits in caramel are the most popular among children. To make this dessert at home, you should purchase:
- medium-sized green apple – 1-2 pcs.;
- any kind of honey - according to your taste;
- sesame seeds - optional;
- fine white sugar - to taste;
- vegetable or sesame oil - optional;
- rice or potato starch - about 3-5 large spoons;
- chicken egg not very large - 1 pc.
Chinese pea cake
The second most popular food among the Chinese after rice is peas. In China, not only first and second courses are prepared from it, but also ice cream and desserts. One of the most beloved sweet snacks by the Chinese is pea cake, about which poets wrote odes and poems in the Ming era. It is eaten in Beijing at the beginning of the year, in spring and summer. It causes mixed assessments among foreigners.
Sweets in China are a unique and inexhaustible topic for culinary tourism. They are not at all similar to the usual sweets from European cuisine. However, they can be used to create a diet for those who decide to go on a diet without giving up sweets. The culture of ancient China is largely reflected in its national cuisine, which is one of the most ancient. Chinese cakes, pastries and muffins can heal and rejuvenate the body, allowing gourmets to enjoy the unusual, subtle flavors of such dishes.
How to cook at home?
To please your children and make a delicious dessert for them, we recommend using this recipe.
After thoroughly washing and peeling the green apples, squeeze out the core using a special device. After this, the fruit must be cut into circles 5 mm thick.
You also need to separately mix a chicken egg and potato starch (rice can be used). Having received a kind of batter of uniform consistency, you should dip all the apple slices in it, which must be immediately deep-fried.
After discarding the fruit in a colander, pour sugar into a dry frying pan and, stirring continuously, heat it until it turns light brown. After this, you need to add honey and sesame seeds to it. All the pieces of apples should be dipped one by one into the resulting mixture, which then need to be placed on a plate previously greased with sesame oil.
At this point, the process of preparing children's Chinese sweets is considered complete. As you can see, there is nothing difficult in creating such desserts.
