Fujian cuisine
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One of the eight great Chinese cuisines, food from the Fujian region is sweet and lightly spiced. Fresh seafood is the specialty and appears in most meals. The soups and stews are also renowned.
Fujian province is sandwiched between the sea to the east and mountains to the west. The cuisine from the city of Xiamen (formerly Amoy) is probably the most representative of the region, though tastes vary and the western dishes are more salty and hot than the fresh, sweet food in the south. As Fujian people emigrated overseas, their cuisine has become popular in Taiwan and beyond.
Fine cutting techniques are an important skill for chefs - fish is often sliced to a very thin shred. It is thought that seafood not cut well will fail to have true flavour. Cooking methods include stewing, boiling and steaming. When cooking in woks, a dash of water is added to create steam and the food cooked with the lid on. Many dishes are served in a thin sauce or broth.
Try some recipes
• Minnan spring roll
• Pan-fried seafood Xiamen style
• Chinese seafood omelette
• Stuffed fish ball
Staple ingredients
Seafood is exceptionally fresh and abundant in Fujian cooking. As early as the Quing dynasty, customers could pick out live seafood to be cooked to order in restaurants. The tradition continues today, and popular catches include oysters, crabs, grouper, prawns and snails. The region also is rich in fresh fruits, and peanuts are used in many dishes.
Cooking style
Sweet and sour notes typify Fujian cooking. Red distiller’s grain with its unique sweet-sour flavour is a key ingredient for both taste and colour. Salt is used only sparingly and spicing is light, if at all.Fine cutting techniques are an important skill for chefs - fish is often sliced to a very thin shred. It is thought that seafood not cut well will fail to have true flavour. Cooking methods include stewing, boiling and steaming. When cooking in woks, a dash of water is added to create steam and the food cooked with the lid on. Many dishes are served in a thin sauce or broth.
Sweet peanut soup
A local specialty is peanut soup, usually served with youtiao (deep-fried dough twists), fried dates or buns. Peanuts are the only ingredient, stewed slowly until soft and thick and seasoned with sugar.
Hakka cuisine
The Fujian province is home to the Hakka or ‘guest people’, migratory tribes of the ethnic Han Chinese. They settled in the sparse hill country where they live in traditional circular buildings and cook in the central courtyard. As fresh produce is limited, they rely on dried ingredients. Preserved meats are the specialty and texture is key - the skill is cooking meat to bring out the natural umami flavour without toughening it. The roasted belly pork ubiquitous in Hong Kong was originally a Hakka dish.
Popular regional dishes
Specialties include fish ball soup, oyster soup, soft fajita-like spring rolls and noodles with dumplings. The most famous classical dishes have poetic names such as ‘half moon sinking in a river’ and ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’.Try some recipes
• Minnan spring roll
• Pan-fried seafood Xiamen style
• Chinese seafood omelette
• Stuffed fish ball
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